|
|
 |
|||
|
IN THIS ISSUE:
Fest-Heaven or Festi-Hell? / Birmingham BTE's "Imperfect" / Graham Colton Band Ezra Radio / USAToday Pic Just the Fakts Ma'am The Bootlog The Reviews BTE Caption News & Links TTOY Hall of Fame BTE Impressions
|
BTE WALKS THE FINE LINE BETWEEN FUNNY AND JUST PLAIN
WRONG Atlanta. Hotlanta. The ATL. Whatever you call it, I always have a good time at shows there. And this evening was certainly no exception.
The night of rawk kicked off with Jad, a motley crew of a band who apparently won their opening slot in some beer-sponsored contest. I’ve seen worse openers in my life, but they were still not enjoyable in the least. Imagine a cross between Nickelback and Living Color. They were trying *really* hard. Way TOO hard. The singer even tried a little flirtation with Laura Leigh, but she wasn’t having any of it! Toward the end of their seemingly-endless set, the singer introduced a song by saying something to the effect of, "Take a moment to look at the person to your left. Then take a moment to look at the person to your right. 1 in 3 people think they’re better than everyone else." To which Nova replied, as she pointed down the row at me, Dina and Laura Leigh, "I think we’re *all* better than you!" Ha! The second opener of the night (yes, SECOND opener. Ugh!) was a William Katt lookalike named Chuck Carrier. The Greatest American Hero picks up an acoustic/electric guitar. Woo. After Mr. Sensitive Superhero Man finally left the stage, we were treated to some different pre-show music, culminating with Queen’s "Fat Bottomed Girls." I * love* this as the pre-intro song, almost as much as the Hives’ "Main Offender."
The Ezra boys took the stage and launched into "King of New Orleans." KONO might not be my favorite opener, but I really liked it as the lead-off song this night. Maybe because I was just so happy to finally see them on stage again, after the rain-out nightmare of Southaven and a rather lengthy Ezra dry spell (Insert readership groan about yet another Ezra-spoiled New Orleanian!). The KONO breakdown featured Biz Markie’s "Just a Friend" instead of the usual bit of Beck’s "Debra."
"Hollow" came next, the oldest new song EVER, followed by "Misunderstood" (which underwent a complete rearrangement thanks to KG’s lack of concentration!) and "Rolling." Tom gave a shout-out to "A-Town" and mentioned that the fine folks of Atlanta always expect the best, so that’s what the band was giving that night. There was then the obligatory talk of the DVD, with no mention of a release date, just "soon." Yay for "Get You In," which is one of my all-time favorite songs. I never get tired of it. "Extraordinary" with a bit of Donna Summer’s "Love To Love You" and the Outkast "Ms. Jackson" outro was fun, as was a particularly energetic version of "Good." |
After "Rosealia," Kevin proposed a little bit of "call and response" with Jim Payne. KG would sing a line, and then Jim would sing his response back. Kevin warned us that this was either going to be "brilliant or totally suck." After their first try, Jim decided "it sucks." Realizing that Jim Payne was not going to play along with his game, Kevin then enlisted Tom to try a little "rock translation" with him. Tom would say something to the crowd, then Kevin would give it a "rock" translation and sing it Axl Rose-style. This went on for much longer than Jim Payne’s call and response, and went over very well with the Atlanta crowd! As Kevin started the intro for "At the Stars," he told his usual story about being inspired by a Loudon Wainwright song. "I don’t know which chord it is. If John Mayer was here, he’d know. I think it’s a suspended fifth or... I don’t know what it is, but that’s how it goes. John, if you’re here, let me know after the show." Priceless!! Tom then told KG he’d pay $20 for him to sing it Axl Rose-style. Kevin decline, recognizing that "there’s a fine line between funny and just plain wrong." Kevin then mentioned that Travis had lived for a while in Atlanta/Athens, and was in a band called Vigilantes of Love. He also mentioned that Travis had done various other things while living in ATL, like overdose on drugs and have a sex change. "See, Travis, if you had a mic you could defend yourself." While KG tuned his axe, Tom thanked us all for giving them another sellout in Atlanta. KG then chimed in thanking us for braving Buckhead (the area of ATL that’s home to the Roxy), as he’s heard it’s become "like New Jack City." Ha! "A Lifetime" led into "In a Little While," which led into "This Time of Year." Guest guitarist Rodney was apparently on crack. He could not take directions from Kevin to save his life. The best quote of the tragic experience was "I’m the fucking lead singer, you follow my sh*t!"
"Desperately Wanting" closed out the main set. Toward the end of the song, KGs delay was missing. "Where’s my delay, bitch? I’m trying to get trippy!" Kevin opened the encore, all by himself, with an absolutely beautiful rendition of The The’s "Love Is Stronger Than Death." It will be a *crime* if this wasn’t recorded by someone. After the rest of the band came out, KG started looking for requests. At that point, I was getting a wee bit irritated because "Particle" was next up on the set list, and I was going to have a *major* problem with that song being skipped!
Instead, someone yelled "Beautiful Mistake," and so that’s what we got. Nice. Then, "Particle" as well. YAY! Yes, some of the words got screwed up, but I can live with that. It was pure heaven. "In the Blood" closed things out, and all was right with the world. Pamela, merci beaucoup for another great review. |
||
