Saturday shows
Saturday of Bele Chere – so many bands to choose from, yet I chose so few to go and see.
I headed downtown to catch Menage – I love them. I recently did a podcast with the band, and it was pretty fun. You can check it out here. One of the band members was missing on Saturday (they’ve recently added two guys to a formerly all-girls group.) So, that was a bit weird. My only complaint about the show – the stage the band was set up on. Bele Chere officials should KNOW that this band requires more space than the end of Haywood Street, which is also home to vendors and port-a-johns. And, there were soooo many people. Hopefully, I’ll get my video up soon. I do have pictures though (and they’re uploaded to the server!) The show was still fun. Jordan and I stuck around for a few songs before we had to race off to Cracker (who was opening for Train.)
We arrived at Cracker around 8:00 – well into their set. A large crowd was beginning to gather for the Train show. I wasn’t so into Cracker, so I didn’t pay much attention (though, I did dance a little.) Train came on just after 9. They were set to go on at 9. When they were late, that frustrated me slightly – every other band has been right. on. time.
So, they came out – I was taping for the newspaper. I almost got kicked out for videotaping, but ended up switching to my digital camera for still photos (and still got a bit of video without security noticing.) Back into the crowd….the show was good. It was very over-produced. I’ve not seen such a large production since NKOTB when I was in about the 5th grade. I was un-impressed that the lead singer really didn’t know how to play a musical instrument. I’m used to my lead singers playing SOMETHING. But, he danced a lot, he pulled girls on stage, he interacted with the crowd. He sang. And once, he pulled out a guitar and played a song.
The band left the stage around 10:30. Some other guys came out and re-tuned the instruments (are they that into themselves that they can’t tune their own guitars?!?) and they came out to play one song for an “encore”. Not really an encore, because they never technically left the stage, but they came out and sang one more song and ended by 10:40 – 20 minutes before the show was supposed to end. Why couldn’t they have played the entire time that fans paid for? Ugh.
I heard the Galactic show (which was on a different stage at the same time) rocked. Two people I ran into that night told me how wonderful it was. I almost wished I was there…but I’m still glad I got to see Train. My photos are here.