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| Gavin Rossdale |
I walked up to the Horizon expecting to see a mixed crowd of
teenagers and young adults, but I was assaulted by a view of purely
pubescent throngs. I felt really old until I finally caught sight of
the Dude on the Right - I always feel young around him. Anyway,
after a few comments with him I departed for my seat before the
concert began. All the while I was sitting there I kept thinking
that the possibilities of statutory rape did not look good to me so
I kept my eyes from focusing on any particular person. Luckily for
me the lights went down quickly and Veruca Salt hit the stage, but
I'll get to them later.
Bush was the headliner, and when 9 o'clock came around the band
strolled on stage and the crowd of hormonal females immediately
began to wail for Gavin Rossdale, Bush's lead singer, and Gavin
played those young girls well, so well in fact that it almost made
me sick how he would strut across the stage to the platforms set up
just so he could get more screams. This is nothing against Bush, I
just think Gavin, whether intentionally or not, played it up too
much.
Anyway, the boys of Bush came out of the blocks racing with two
songs from "Razorblade Suitcase," including their first
single from that CD called "Swallowed." Now, I admit that
I have both "Razorblade Suitcase" and "Sixteen
Stone" at home, and this night the band had a very tight sound
that was true to their releases, all except for the fact that they
tended to extend almost every song ending so that Gavin could throw
a palsy-like fit that would set the girls in the crowd screeching so
loud that my eardrums nearly burst. The endings were cool, but I
could really do without the hearing loss.
Over the course of the concert Bush played all of its big hits from
both CD's including "Machinehead," "Comedown,"
"Everything Zen," and a fantastic solo performance of
"Glycerine" by Gavin. While the night held a couple of
surprises for the crowd, the band got one as well.
As the intro to "Cold Contagious" started, Gavin's
microphone fizzled and needed to be replaced. Rather than stop
playing, the band just kept jammin' an extended intro while doing a
very good cover-up for the road crew so that they could wire up a
new mic. I was impressed the band didn't bail, but I guess that's
why they get paid the big bucks.
Now maybe the band was surprised at the technical problem, but
the surprise for me came when the band covered the Rolling Stones
classic, "Wild Horses." The young crowd didn't seem to
recognize it, but I grew up with my brothers and sisters listening
to the Stones and this was always one of my favorites. Personally I
found it a little strange, Bush covering a Stones song, but overall
it was a treat.
The night was starting to come to a close, the band left the
stage, and after an insufferably long break before the encore (about
7 minutes), Bush finally returned to a deafening high-pitched
scream. Three songs later, including the songs "Swallowed"
and "Little Things," the show was done.
I thought the entire show was good by most standards, but was a
little disappointed that the rest of the band, that is all except
Gavin, showed little enthusiasm throughout the entire show. Gavin
though, had this amazing talent of showing tons of enthusiasm while
still maintaining his brooding character that could just provoke
depression in the teenagers. I don't know if that's too difficult,
though, the depression part, because wasn't it Bart Simpson who said
"Making teenagers depressed is like shooting fish in a
barrel?" Me, I just wanted to walk up to Gavin and tell him to
turn his frown upside-down - life's not that bad.
Well, Bush played around 18 songs and kept the crowd screaming
and moshing for nearly two hours. Overall I give Bush TWO THUMBS UP
for keeping the crowd happy, but I would really like to see more
excitement from the rest of the band rather than it just being the
"Gavin" show. They've got the talent, let them showcase
it.
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| Nina Gordon |
Like I said before, opening for Bush was Veruca Salt who luckily for
me hit the stage at 7:30PM. With the band's arrival came the
high-pitched squealing of teenage female adoration. The band ate it
up, and the girls in the crowd just kept getting louder
Now, before I get on a little with the music let me describe the
band. The drummer, Stacy Jones, and bass guitarist, Steve Lack, were
nondescript guys that really didn't draw any attention from either
the crowd or Louise Post and Nina Gordon, the lead
guitarists/singers. As much as the guys in the band were important,
the ladies were leading this show.
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| Louise Post |
The band played, the girls in the
crowd were going crazy for the songs, but the guys in the crowd, me
included, were standing at attention at the sight of these two hot
Chicago women playing their axes. Oh my!
As I listened to these women play it brought me back to high school
and memories of Vixen and Lita Ford - it's been a long time since
I've heard anything so heavy-hitting by women. With songs like
"Awesome," "Spiderman '79," and "Don't Make
Me Prove It," these hometown ladies kept the crowd going for
nearly an hour. I was kind of disappointed when they didn't come
back out for an encore, but they were the opening band after all.
Give this band 2, maybe 3 years, and they won't be opening any more.
No, in my opinion, they've got potential for headlining days in the
near future.
And wrapping this review up, all in all I give Veruca Salt ONE
THUMB UP for an up-and-coming performance and an ADDED APPENDAGE for
Nina and Louise.
Oh well, till next time.... |
