what an amazing band. what an amazing live show. I think this show has had the best energy since those U2 concerts I went to last fall. at no other show did the audience (a completely SOLD OUT audience) sing along to nearly every song with such emotion. it’s amazing to see people connect with art so well…
great audience interaction, great musicianship: the drummer was terrific and fun to watch, the guitar licks were tasty, the bassist and the lead guitarists were great with the audience… it was truly a fan’s show, and every song was a knockout. A+!
openers were mediocre. the first band’s name I don’t even remember, the third band — anniversary — was severely disappointing. they had some sound issues, but all in all, I couldn’t get into their music, which seemed kind of bland, though noisy, nor were they particularly fun to watch. unfortunately, these were the longest openers. the crowd was quite glad to see them off the stage.
the exception to the mediocre quality of the openers was ben kweller. kweller started off with a rocked out version of vanilla ice’s infamous anthem, “ice ice baby” with more funked out attitude and chilled out drawl than the iceman himself. afterward, a backing band arrived on stage and accompanied him in an all too short (maybe 6 song?) set filled with funky melodies and interesting harmonies.
what a neat emo night. =)