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Howdy doody all you folks in net-land. Here I am back to give you
the low down on the latest concert that I took in, and that being
The Black Crowes at the Skyline Stage on Navy Pier, Chicago, IL.
Boy, it is definitely getting more difficult to identify the places
that I see a show. Ya know, when we take in shows from anywhere we
are, i.e. like our trip to New Jersey! Woo Woo!
At any rate, it was sorta an overcast looking night when we took
off for the show. And upon our arrival we, The Dude on the Right and
myself, found that the opening band had already started. So, I took
off for the pavilion while DOTR was getting his photo stuff taken
care of. The band that I found was a very strange looking band by
its own right. They kinda gave ya the impression that they were a
Stray Cats wanna be type band. They were wearing the custom outfits
that made em look as if we had gone through a minor time warp. And
to complement that, they were playing some interesting arrangement
of instruments. For one, they had a full sized bass guitar which is
way kewl in my book. Other interesting instruments included, but
aren't limited to, a fiddle, steel guitar, and miscellaneous other
noise makers. They were pretty interesting, and that interest led to
some pretty interesting lyrics. They sang some song about the Andy
Griffith show, which included some lyrics about Opie doing dope or
something. I believe that they identified the song as the alter ego
of the Andy Griffith show. But let it be known, they were fairly
interesting. The biggest problem I had was finding out the name of
the band, which I did by looking at some of the tour shirts they
were selling. So the band name was, BR5-49. Don't ask me what it
means, I haven't a clue, but I do know that they were fairly
entertaining and I am gonna give them One Thumb Up!
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Okie, with that said, I should really bring up the band for which I
was sent to cover and that was the Black Crowes. First impressions
upon arriving at the show was that this was going to be a very
diverse group of people in attendance. And not only those in
attendance but also the ones hanging around outside of the theater,
as you see the theater is outside and on Navy Pier. Navy Pier is a
pretty popular place to hang out - it has a beer garden and
miscellaneous shopping places on it. So, basically, there is nothing
that they can do to prevent people without tickets from stopping by
and listening to the show which is pretty kewl if ya ask me. Anyhoo,
the diversity of the crowd rivaled that of a Grateful Dead show
which is pretty neat. Ya had all of your skid-row type people, your
hippies, your preppies and your yuppies. You also had those wearing
bras, those not, those that shoulda been, and those I wished
hadn't. But then again, there I go being observant.
Once the Crowes finally hit the stage I realized that the band
might actually be trying to become the next Grateful Dead. The guys
on stage did not resemble anything that I remembered of them. Then
again, I haven't seen or heard them since the Hard 2 Handle/Twice as
Hard album era. But, the lead singer, Chris if I am not mistaken,
had this goatee beard going and the rest of the band
just looked as if they were in a funk. But once again there I go
being too damned observant.
The Black Crowes went on to play about an hour and a half to two
hour show, I forgot to write down the starting time of the show so I
am not totally sure how long it went. And it happened to be a pretty
good show. It seemed as if the band was trying to get a feel for how
the new stuff off of their upcoming new album would go over, and
possibly just start tuning for the big tour coming in the winter
time sometime. That's is why I guess I was surprised to hear that
they were playing at the Skyline Stage, which sits about 1100
people.
Some of the new stuff they played wasn't too bad, but there was
other stuff that I just wasn't real impressed with. Good Friday, a
single that was getting some air time lately, was a pretty nice
sounding song. I guess that is why it is getting the air time that
it is. Right around the time that they played this tune, the rain
came down in droves. It turned the area outside of the cover of the
pavilion into one of the biggest wet T-shirt contests I have ever
seen. But anyway, the band also did a bunch of their more popular
songs, like Hard 2 Handle, and Twice as Hard.
Overall, the band did a pretty good job of putting on the show. I
would not say that this band is a really entertaining band to see on
stage, well other than their radical change in appearance from the
last time I had seen them do anything. But, it was pretty good and
for the most part everyone had a good time. Hell, the poor people
that were standing outside of the venue got dumped on hugely by the
rain and they stuck around to the final encore. I must applaud that,
as many a folk I know might not even ventured out in the weather.
So, I am gonna give The Black Crowes One Thumb Up, based purely on
the enjoyment of the rest of the crowd.
Well, that is it for me for yet another review. |
