Copyright 2002 Indiana Daily Student via U

"Better than Ezra impresses Motor Speedway crowd"
By Sarah Lipps

There are three kinds of fans roaming the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during May. There are those who say the Indy Racing League has done wonders for the Speedway; there are those who yearn for the days before the IRL and CART split...and then, there are those unique people who just wish they would bring back the infield snake pit. This special breed of people made up 99 percent of the crowd at the Coors Carb Day Concert.

The concert, which included performances from major label bands Nine Days and Better than Ezra, got its largest reaction from the crowd when a tech played "John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits" while setting up.

They say that money can't make you cool. Unfortunately, no one told Scott Coors that. He took the microphone at the stage named after his family and announced "I'm Scott Coors, and this is my party!" He couldn't have looked more out of place or sounded more spoiled and whiny.

When Nine Days finally took the stage, it was a sad little performance. The band attempted to energize the audience by asking them to follow the band's waving arm movements. Nine Days grossly misjudged the soberness of the crowd, which attempted to wave along for about five seconds, got confused, then quit. Another memorable moment was when lead vocals John Hampson asked to "hear it from the people in the back!" and no one in the back so much as flinched. He couldn't take a hint, and tried it again to no avail.

Okay, now on to the real concert...

Better Than Ezra had an awesome performance. Even though the crowd was much different than who they usually perform for, they played to them, involved them, and won wild applause.

BTE performed singles from their albums Deluxe, Friction Baby, How Does Your Garden Grow, and Closer, interspersed with nods to artists such as Outkast and Madonna.

One feature of the concert was when lead vocals Kevin Griffin called three people onto the stage to take turns playing "This Time of Year," a simple ballad from Deluxe.

There was also a moment where Griffin stopped the concert to explain to everyone how Bass player Tom Drummond had bought his boots at a truck stop on the way to the concert.

The last song performed was "Desperately Wanting," which left the audience desperately wanting an encore. Unfortunately, it didn't happen.