11/07/2004 Nonpoint, A Day Without Rain, Without Jade (Rochester, NY @ Steel Music Hall)
By Eric | November 7, 2004 11:59 pm
A rare Sunday night show just across the river, with two Rochester bands for support. Without Jade opened things up, and while I’ll admit that their mix sucked, I don’t think much would have helped them. Just not interesting at all. We couldn’t hear the singer, the bass was overpowering, and it probably was just as well. It was punky/emo-y type stuff, not even not my scene, just not interesting. A Day Without Rain was next, and while their mix was much better, and their singer definately into what he was doing, I couldn’t get into their stuff either. This kid could actually sing too, but he didn’t do that nearly often enough. Then for the last song, they brought one of their friends up, and this kid proceeded to scream at the entire crowd, calling them “lame motherf*ckers” because they weren’t moshing or whatever. Dude, your song sucks, shutup and get off the stage, you’re ruining it for your friends band. But after all that, Nonpoint came on and played a high-energy set that got the smallish crowd that was there to see them in a frenzy. Kinda hard to draw people when the radio stations don’t really push the band here. Anyway, the set was quite heavy on Statement material, with only two songs from Development, and obviously the rest from the new Recoil album. Being that at least two of the members of the band have Puerto Rican roots, there’s more than a subtle influence in the music, and that brought out fans that like them specifically for that reason. Not disappointing, Nonpoint closed their set with their two latin-influenced songs, Orgullo and Rabia. Made for a energetic end to a great set.
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Tags: 2004, A Day Without Rain, Nonpoint, rochester, Steel Music Hall, Without Jade
10/30/2004 Toby Lightman, Eric Hutchinson (Geneseo, NY @ Wadsworth Auditorium)
By Eric | October 30, 2004 11:59 pm
We’d seen Toby Lightman twice in two days open up for Gavin Degraw back in August, and now we got to see her headline her own show. But kicking things off was a single kid and his acoustic guitar, Eric Hutchinson. Eric was quite entertaining, running through a bunch of his own originals, plus a cover or two (or more, considering the “medley” he played. Towards the end of his set, he gave us a “preview” of the rest of the songs on his CD, condensing 7 songs into roughly 45 seconds. Made us buy it! He was having a good time up on stage, and the crowd, who started to trickle in once he started, seemed to be having just as good of a time watching him. So he finished up, and Toby and her band came on. She ran through most of her album, plus a couple of cover tunes herself. As it turns out, this was the last night of the tour, and as such, we got an encore, something that she supposedly hadn’t been doing. Obviously, being in Geneseo, it was a predominantly female audience, but there were more than a handful of guys there also. Tiff managed to snag a setlist, and grab an autograph to cap off the evening.
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Tags: 2004, Eric Hutchinson, Geneseo, Toby Lightman, Wadsworth Auditorium
10/19/2004 The Tragically Hip, Sam Roberts (Rochester, NY @ Auditorium Theatre)
By Eric | October 19, 2004 11:59 pm
A tuesday night at the Auditorium Theatre, a beautiful place to see a show, as always. I got there just as Sam Roberts was starting, and he was definately entertaining as an opener, but I still can’t get into him. Not sure what it is, I liked him well enough in Syracuse also, but not well enough I guess. Still, he certainly kept my interest during his set. Then it was time for the Hip. Coming out to a rousing welcome from the packed house, they rocked the place. The setlist was a bit peculiar however this particular night, as expected the focus was on In Between Evolution, but there was a focus on Phantom Power for some reason as well, as the playing of Membership was a surprise. We got Wheat Kings again, but oddly enough, nothing off of Road Apples, Day For Night nor Music @ Work whatsoever, and in what had to be a rarity, the conspicuious absence of Nautical Disaster. It doesn’t matter much to me, but there were more than a couple complaints after the show that I heard. (Shades of PJ not playing Jeremy in Buffalo?) Regardless, the show was excellent as always, and I came away with a new-found appreciation for the IBE songs, moreso than Darien Lake for some reason.
Complete Setlist: You’re Everywhere, Fully Completely, Poets, Gus: The Polar Bear From Central Park, Ahead By A Century, Summer’s Killing Us, Courage, Membership, It Can’t Be Nashville Every Night, Bobcaygeon, Fireworks, Mean Streak, At The Hundredth Meridian, Goodnight Josephine, Springtime In Vienna, New Orleans Is Sinking. 1st Encore: Vaccination Scar, Wheat Kings, Silver Jet 2nd Encore: Heaven Is A Better Place Today, Blow At High Dough
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Tags: 2004, Auditorium Theatre, rochester, Sam Roberts, The Tragically Hip
08/20/2004 Gavin DeGraw, Toby Lightman, Jennifer Marie (Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall)
By Eric | August 20, 2004 11:59 pm
We weren’t sure how much of a crowd Gavin was going to draw this time around, seeing as the show wasn’t free. We kinda underestimated, because there were a TON of teenage girls in line. This meant more screaming for my poor ears. The first opener, Jennifer Marie, supposedly is from the Rochester area, and has a backing band, but not on this night. Just her and a keyboard. She sang decently well, but seemed to force a lot of embellishment on certain notes, missed a couple other notes, and all the songs kinda sounded the same. She’s young though, so I can’t just write her off completely yet. Toby Lightman was up next, and we got to see her entire set this time around, and it was just as good as the night before. I ended up buying the CD, I was that impressed. Gavin rocked the spot again as well, and we had a lovely time fighting off the drunk slutty girl that we got stuck next to up front. Such is concert life… 🙂 We were entertained yet again, and had a much shorter drive home this time 🙂
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Tags: 2004, Gavin DeGraw, Jennifer Marie, rochester, Toby Lightman, Water Street Music Hall
From The “Week’s worth of nothing” Dept.
By Eric | August 20, 2004 11:32 am
So what’s been up since Monday? Not too much, worked a full week, about to have my first weekend off in who knows how long (thankfully its a trend that will continue!), and even got some bike riding in. Last night Tiff and I journeyed to Thursday in the Square down in Buffalo to see Gavin DeGraw. The review will be up shortly, but suffice to say Mr DeGraw is a performer. He plays piano and guitar, and is quite the singer… with stage prescence! Needless to say, there were quite a few screaming young girls in the audience. His opener, Toby Lightman was equally as impressive, and I’m not usually one for female singers. Good thing too, because she’s opening for Gavin again tonight at Water Street, and since Tiff’s shows are few and far between, we’re hitting up this show as well. Should be a good time, and then its off to Horseheads for the weekend before I get to come back for Game Changes… Video Poker!
Topics: Blog | Comments Off on From The “Week’s worth of nothing” Dept.
Tags: Buffalo, NT, tiff, video, Work
08/19/2004 Gavin DeGraw, Toby Lightman (Buffalo, NY @ Thursday In The Square)
By Eric | August 19, 2004 11:59 pm
Tiff and I headed down the thruway to check out one of her favorite artists, Mr. DeGraw. However, before his set, we had a pleasant surprise of an opener by the name of Toby Lightman. At first glance, we thought we were in for a Lillith Fair type thing, as Toby is a female with an acoustic guitar. Nope, her stuff has more of an R&B feel to it, as evidenced by her cover of Mary J Blige’s Real Love. The rest of her set was quite engaging as well, with her single Devils and Angels, and a song alluding to the infamous “guy in the front row”. After her set, Gavin came on and hot damn if we weren’t at a teenybopper show. The screaming was deafening! He played everything off of Chariot, and then a couple of unreleased songs, plus covers! The show was almost a solid two hours, and he was quite the showman, definatley had the female members of the audience (and there were many) in a frenzy all night. It helps that he can perform, and his backing band was spot-on as well. A trip well-spent, and even better because the show was free!
Found a couple of short clips from the show on YouTube:
Let’s Get It On 1
Let’s Get It On 2
Follow Through
Meaning
Topics: Concerts | Comments Off on 08/19/2004 Gavin DeGraw, Toby Lightman (Buffalo, NY @ Thursday In The Square)
Tags: 2004, Buffalo, Gavin DeGraw, Thursday In The Square, Toby Lightman
From the “Reposting Fark” Dept.
By Eric | August 11, 2004 10:29 pm
This one almost made me snort chocolate milk out my nose…. from this thread about guilty pleasure songs…
2004-08-11 02:39:13 PM Radworld4
Most embarassing song moment…
Sing/screaming along to Faith No Mores “Epic” as I danced/stomped through my apartment in college while my girlfriend and her roommate walked in on me. Oh and I was naked.
When she broke up with me…I knew why.
Can’t say I’ve ever done *that*, but… getting caught belting out songs is certainly a red-faced moment (fully clothed, mind you!)
Topics: Blog | 11 Comments »
Tags: NT
From The “Will Write For Tea” Dept.
By Eric | August 10, 2004 9:08 pm
As alluded to by Sara’s comment in the last post, the Tea Party have their current single available for streaming, called “Writing’s On The Wall”. After one listen, I don’t know what to think. It’s a lot less complex than the previous stuff, more straightforward. Sara said it sounded like a Rage Against The Machine throwaway… I’d say it very strongly reminds me of a Stone Temple Pilots song, personally, but I can see how the main riff sounds Morello-like. I’m gonna obviously buy the CD, and probably end up loving it, but the first impression is not a bad one, just more of a “that’s it?”. I’m hoping the rest of the album is more of the Tea Party we all know and love. Not saying don’t change, don’t grow, just don’t lose the signature sound.
Topics: Blog | 3 Comments »
Tags: NT
From the “Needs More Cowbell” Dept.
By Eric | August 10, 2004 3:48 pm
I just put up the review of the Finger Eleven / Thornley show from last week on the reviews page. I swear, I’m either getting old (most likely), more jaded about concerts (not likely), or some shows have just started to become not as entertaining as they used to be (wouldnt be surprised). Take the last four I’ve been to, and the contrast is amazing: Sister Hazel, they were amazing, the musicianship, the energy from the band and the fans, everything was great. Then Nickelback / 3 Doors, where I’ve seen way better from both bands. For all the pyro and stuff, it was cool, the bands were into it, and I like both bands, but the performance left something to be desired. Then the Hip, which for having little more than a light display, played an awesome show just being on stage and playing. A raucous crowd helps, but still. Then Thornley / Finger Eleven, where Thornley was everything a club show should be, and F11 came up short. Having them 1/2 hour apart made it even more obvious. To me, considering I like all of these bands equally, and with the exception of Thornley, I’d seen them all previously, makes my feeling music-wise about equal. That is, I can rate the “show” and the “performance” a little more objectively, without loving something so much I get the rose colored glasses.
I’ve run on about this, and my end point is what? Not sure I have one, other than that I’m increasingly becoming more and more agitated by the fact that sometimes I feel like I’m not getting my money’s worth for these shows. Must be a sure sign of getting old. *sigh* I’m waiting for everyone to comment on how the big music guy is finally seeing it how everyone else does, but so be it. Gotta learn the hard way, eh? 🙂
Topics: Blog | 7 Comments »
Tags: concerts, music, NT
08/01/2004 Finger Eleven, Thornley, Moments In Grace, Strata (Rochester, NY @ Steel Music Hall)
By Eric | August 1, 2004 11:59 pm
Steel Music Hall is a pretty small place, smaller than Water Street’s main stage, about on par with the club side. Regardless, Finger Eleven probably wouldn’t have filled Water Street, so this was about the right size room for them to play. I got there just as the doors opened, and parked myself fairly close in front. Strata was on first, and I kind of knew what to expect since I’d seen them on the Sno-Core tour in March. This time around, however, their singer sounded really hoarse, and wasn’t quite hitting everything. The band sounded pretty good, and there seemed to be a healthy amount of people there for them. Moments in Grace were next, and I wasn’t digging them at all. An emo-ish type band, the songs were just kinda plain and bland, and while the band showed a lot of excitement, the crowd didn’t at all. Their half-hour came and went, and then it was time for Thornley. What a difference! Rocked the joint from beginning to end, and they sounded awesome. Seeing Ken, the bass player, was a shock compared to how he appeared when he was with the Watchmen. Mowhawk anyone?!?! They played a good chunk of the Thornley album, including my favorite (which is the next US single, hello overplaying!) Easy Comes, All Comes Out In The Wash, Found Another Way, Keep a Good Man Down, Falling To Pieces, Come Again, and of course So Far So Good. They capped off the set by playing a Big Wreck tune, The Oaf, which was surprisingly well received by the crowd. I guess more people had heard of Big Wreck than I thought. I moved to the back after Thornley, and I’m glad I did, because Finger Eleven was just okay. Not terrible, but I’ve certainly seen them better (Thursday in the Square last year for one). A big reason for this was the fact that they had a heavy slant on the latest self-titled album. It’s not that the music on the album is bad by any means, its that a lot of time-honored favorites got left out of the set. Guys, you have three albums, and the latest one has been out for a year now, you can mix it up! No Suffocate, no Tip, although we did get Above, Costume for a Gutterball, and Stay and Drown. They also did a cover of a Bob Mould (Husker Du, Sugar) song called Can’t Fight It that was pretty cool. The obvious closer was One Thing, and the encore was Good Times. Band-wise, there was energy, but it seemed like they were back to the 5 guys in 5 separate worlds thing again. So the show was good, okay, but not stellar.
Topics: Concerts | Comments Off on 08/01/2004 Finger Eleven, Thornley, Moments In Grace, Strata (Rochester, NY @ Steel Music Hall)
Tags: 2004, Finger Eleven, Moments In Grace, rochester, Steel Music Hall, Strata, Thornley