Sorry Stephen Lynch, There's Something Wrong with a Peepshow
Friday night was the Barenaked Ladies concert I've been looking forward to for two months, and while I thoroughly enjoyed it, it just didn't feel like a BNL concert. Since Stunt was released, I'd seen them 7 times, and they always brought their A-game, living up to the hype I've told friends and family as The Greatest Live Band Ever. However, The Peepshow Tour is very different from every other show, and while it definately has it's strengths, it fell short of expectations for me.
First of all, previous shows have been in large venues, stadiums amphitheatre, but this show took place in the Berkeley High School Theatre. Bascially a place you'd go to see a community performance of Oklahoma. Our seats where in the final row of the floor, up against the wall, under the balcony. What this setting did was make the audience more reserved. Usually you have fans belting out their lyrics, but here, you could see most were a little self-conscious (not me of course, I had no trouble singing along). Also, the acoustics weren't very conducive in my opinion, as the music became drowned out my the singing.
The Peepshow Tour was also designed for them to get a feel for their new album, so on each show, the play every single one of the tracks off Everything to Everyone. This is a double-edged sword. One one hand, my friends all agreed the best song of the night, and one of the best songs performances I've seen Steven give, was Next Time, which somehow blew the recorded track (which on it's own is a favorite) away. However, this means we also had to listen to For You and Have You Seen My Love. The strangest performance, though, was Shopping. This song has split many fans, with a majority disliking it, and not picking up on the subtext, but the band did everything they could to get the audience to love it. It was one of the few times the guys ran around on stage, and the only real Sing-A-Long with the audience. Didn't work though... while I like the song, walking out, I heard many people say it was the lowpoint. Oh well.
The biggest drawback though was the absence of two BNL staples. I had heard rumors that they weren't going to be doing If I Had $1,000,000 on the tour but couldn't beleive it, but sure enough, no Kraft Mac-n-Cheese flew. The other absense was the BNL Rap Medley, where they just go buckwild on alot of covers. No Medley make Holz a sad boy. I really don't understand the artisitic choice there...
Final thing to comment on was the Q & A session halfway through. Sure, it was funny, but really, the questions were pretty piss poor, and didn't really add to the experience. Thank God the boys are comic geniuses and they can improv with the best of 'em.
posted by Holz |
12:51 PM |
Rant & Rave, Bitches! (0)
Watching: Lost, Heroes, 24, Criminal Minds Listening: Brobdingnagian Bards Reading: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman Playing: Final Fantasy XII Eating: Healthy...er Doing: Running... hopefully Wishing:
Comic Quote of the Week
"It's trying to end the suffering of everything. Do you want to discuss our options? Maybe together we can, you know, workshop?"
"Okay, best way to stop a ten-story godlike monster from destroying existence? I'm gonna go with hitting, you have anything?"
"You took mine."
Wesley and Angel, Angel: After The Fall #15
Who Am I?
Name: Holz Home: Sonoma County, California About Me: I'm a comfortador. See my complete profile
AKA: Ozymandias, DrOzymandias, Darth Angelus, Darque Feonix, Trip McNeely Kicking ass for: 29 years Job: UWing Systems Design Specialist Walking Theme: Believe It Or Not by Joey Scarbury Most watched movie: The Princess Bride Most read book: The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King
"Let a man get away with fuckin' you once, you stay bent over so's he can fuck you again whenever he damn well pleases. An' if one man can do it? Another will too. An' another, an' another still. So's being fucked, that's yer life. 'Til who you were, you ain't. 'Cause all you are is an asshole." 100 Bullets #42
