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GETTIN’ SMART AT Good morning AmEmPbdy and Bolony7. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to crash the private show at Georgetown University on Sunday August 24th, 2003. If you are captured this agency will disavow all knowledge of your existence. Good luck, and this message will self-destruct in 5, 4, 3… This and the "Mission: Impossible" theme were running through our heads as we listened to Kevin direct the crowd at the "Live on Penn" show to crash the private Georgetown University show the following night. We had been given preliminary information regarding the very existence of this private event the night before from a very reliable source on the inside. Kevin’s directive corroborated that top-secret intelligence so we set out to probe our source for more details immediately after the show..
"Sir, our informant discovered that a special "student I.D." would be necessary to gain entry to this event. We may have to abort this mission, sir." He was not detracted by these seemingly insurmountable odds. "What?!", roared Agent Green, "You’re not even going to try to crash it?" "But sir! Our mole says these ID’s are crucial!" Undeterred, Agent Green rolled his eyes and folded his arms over his chest. "Ttthbbpptt!! A lack of ID has never stopped me!" He said with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. So, not wanting to disappoint or anger our handler any further, we reluctantly accepted our mission. 19:30 ZULU Georgetown University Campus 24.8.2003 Our Mission Begins After a morning spent conducting reconnaissance missions to gather further information we could use to aid our mission, we arrived on campus ready for covert action. AmEmPbdy began searching for holes in venue security while Bolony7 assumed the role of lookout. By 20:30, we’d taken advantage of a breach in security to make our way into the building. We were in, but we still had a long way to go. There were Gestapo security guards posted near every possible entrance into the auditorium. We needed to regroup and re-evaluate. We paused in an undisclosed location to discuss the next steps to take toward completion of our mission. Perhaps it was the gravity of the situation – or maybe it was the lack of sleep – that made Bolony7 lose sight of the directive at this point: "What the hell are we doing?" she wailed. "You realize that we could be captured and tortured, right? I’m so not cut out for this!" "Suck it up B7, we ain’t going down like that" AmEmPbdy deadpanned. "We’ve come this far, we’re not about to give up now. Think of Agent Green." This seemed to calm B7’s nerves a little and we continued to brainstorm ideas for getting past security. As if on cue, a door opened and out stepped a mysterious figure that eyed us curiously. Our hearts were immediately filled with dread as we struggled to accept that B7’s fears might come to pass. Then, he spoke. "What time does the show start? I’m making phone calls and I need to know when to put my earplugs in." We immediately recognized that phrase as our code to identify friend or foe. B7 quickly provided the appropriate response. "Doors open at 8:45 and the show begins at 9:15." With a smile, the stranger identified himself as Agent Ripken and led us to a safe room where we were given the information we needed to complete our mission. His information proved invaluable and access was easily obtained within minutes. We took our place in the crowd without anyone realizing we were there. |
The concert was held in McDonough Gymnasium as part of the Convocation/Freshman Orientation weekend. The stage was sparse and not bordered by the now traditional silver curtain backdrop. The stage was backlit by a single row of lights making this very different from the well-lit affairs to which most Ezralites have grown accustomed. This was a completely student run event and there was no representation from administration visible. This was most evident when the student security force decided to line up across the front of the stage effectively blocking the view for the first few rows of concertgoers. Only minutes before the show was scheduled to start did they realize that they were not made of glass (surprise) and they stood on the floor between the stage and the barricade. The audience was mixture of devoted fans (all 5 of us), the curious, and those who were forced to be there because of their new student status. It was obvious that quite a few people there that night were asking why they had booked Better than Ezra to play that show. There was no opening act so finally the sound of the rooster announced the emergence of our ‘Fab Four’ from the backstage area. The opening riffs of "Recognize" caught the somewhat jaded audience by surprise. If they had been expecting an "adult contemporary" sounding show (e.g. Air Supply), they were wrong. Dead wrong. BTE knows how to rock a crowd and rock they did. They blazed through "Misunderstood" and "Good" rounding out that high-energy trinity of songs to start the show. They paused briefly to greet the crowd before going right into "Rolling". The band was met with enthusiastic cheers proving that their rock hard right out of the gate tactic had worked. They’d won the crowd over. Between songs, Kevin made the comment that Travis had attended Georgetown University for a little while before he decided to join a band and be a rock star. Whether this was a M.O.M (bte lexicon link) or not, we may never know. The student crowd took that statement as an invitation to welcome BTE as one of their own. The pace slowed down a bit with "Live Again", but a few misguided souls expressed their fervor in an untimely, inappropriate way. A mosh pit popped up near the front of the crowd much to the dismay of the non-participants standing nearby. They kept moshing off and on through "Special", "Extraordinary" and most of "King of New Orleans". At this point Kevin realized that the student security force wasn’t going to do much to stop the fray. During the breakdown of KONO, KG took a moment to admonish the offenders by saying, "Now we all know Better than Ezra is not a moshing kind of band. We’re all about love." He then proceeded to criticize their testosterone-influenced behavior and told them to stop or take it to the back. This stopped the mayhem (temporarily anyway). "Rosealia" came next, followed by "At the Stars" and "A Lifetime". In a break between songs, someone passed 4 Georgetown University t-shirts up to the stage. KG accepted them graciously, saying that if they get the chance to play an encore they would change into the shirts. Jim decided to drape his over an amp and pretended to affectionately pet the screen print of the university mascot. The audience was next surprised by a cover of The Ramones’ "I Wanna be Sedated" as an intro for "Sincerely Me". BTE closed out their set with "Desperately Wanting" and even though the moshing returned, an adventurous security guard and few guys in the crowd acted quickly to break it up. When the guys returned for the encore, Travis and Kevin were wearing the G.U. t-shirts to which Kevin quipped, "I’m such a brown-noser". The audience was then introduced to BTE’s newest song, "Daylight", and it received a warm reception from the crowd. The guys ended the show with "In the Blood" and the cover of "Don’t Fear the Reaper" garnered an ecstatic buzz from the crowd. If you are in college and a fan of rock music, it’s almost a prerequisite to know that song. All in all it was a night filled with good music and good times. Even though most in the crowd only knew Better than Ezra because of "Good" or "Extraordinary", they still allowed themselves to be overcome by the music. They may not have been singing along, but they were moving along and their energy was infectious. Better than Ezra proved that having a video in heavy rotation on MTV doesn’t make a band rock. Their music does. The students of Georgetown University were shown that whether they wanted to be there or not. Mission: Accomplished. Another great review from the fabulous duo of AmEmPbdy and Bolony7. James Bond (007) ain't got "you-know-what" on them... |
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