Rochester Hills, MI (Blues Traveler and Collective Soul), July 24, 2008 Options

[SJN1279]

July 24 @ Live / Collective Soul / Blues Traveler Meadow Brook Music Festival 7:00 p.m. $45.00, $29.50 pavilion, $15.00 lawn

I believe tickets go on sale monday and there are family of 4 lawn ticket specials.

http://www.palacenet.com/news.asp?news=350

[icewaterike]

It’s always a treat when one of the shows you least expect to surpass expectations does just that. We departed London in the afternoon, leaving enough time for the expected disgusting border delays and traffic. We made horrible time getting to the Detroit area, but it was all mainly due the aforementioned traffic issues. A beautiful day weather-wise though and the drive was fairly uneventful. We rolled into Rochester Hills around 5:30pm, stopping just outside the gates to get some cheaper chow than was likely available inside the venue. After paying $10 to park (apparently the smarter person would have just parked in the strip mall we stopped at and walked in!) we were inside the venue.

After a quick jaunt to the merch booth to find nothing of extreme difference - other than some pretty rad free postcards that I hadn’t seen before - we got a couple of king-size summer beers (“imported” from my hometown in Canada I might add... go Labatt’s!) and were on our way to our seats. We arrived part-way through opener Hana Pestle’s set. She must have started very early and there were only a handful of people in seats at this point. She was good, but in my opinion just average as a performer. Gotta hand it to her though, she did a decent cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” to end her set and then proceeded to her merch booth to meet everyone. She stayed there for the entire show and that kind of dedication is nice to see in a young performer.

Collective Soul was up next. Like last summer, their set was a whirlwind of greatest hits, and the crowd really seemed to enjoy it. Their drummer is the only player I’ve seen to use a traditional style grip but play in a heavy rock style. He was working his butt off up there to get sound out of the drums... he sounded great and looked great but it was a very odd thing to see done. Good for him for carving out a niche technique for himself. That’s the kind of stuff that gets musicians noticed and remembered. The energy from CS was great, especially from singer Ed Roland, whose spins around the mic stand during “Shine” were both believable and genuine in nature. I’ve given CS some flack in the past for seeming like they might fall into the “tapered-jeans-died-blond-long-hair-classic-rock” syndrome that effects many bands in their middle-ages, but last night they seemed less like that and more like an honest rock band playing music they love. That was a very refreshing thing to see and a extremely nice way to start out the show. So classy, too, was their decision to end their set on a relatively low-key vibe, playing “Run” and having the audience sing them off with simple acoustic-guitar accompaniment. Good set from CS last night, and the crowd thought so too.

Next up was Blues Traveller. I’ve never seen BT before and didn’t know quite what to expect from them. Clearly the most musically talented (technically speaking) band of the night, these guys were on fire throughout most of their set. Although their music is sometimes not the most audience-friendly in nature due to their long jams, complicated harmonic structures and virtuosic playing, their energy and interactions with their fans were clearly appreciated by the crowd. Some of the extended solos were nothing short of amazing to watch and special credit should go out to their bass player, who I felt (apart from Popper’s incredible talents on harmonica) was the driving force behind their sound and tightness as a band. This guy was incredible, seriously. I would definitely check these guys out again if they came to the area. They were fun, talented and very entertaining.

Next up, +Live+. From the top of the set, I could feel this show was going to be a good one. Gracey had a shiny new bass drum front skin that has the +Live+ cross slightly off-centre to accommodate the sound hole in the head... very nice!

The opening chords of Simple Creed were amazing, seeing as I’ve never heard this tune done electrically before (the one Toronto-area date on their V tour was with Jane’s Addiction and most tunes were performed acoustically). It was very cool to have this addition to the set, and although it clearly wasn’t the most ‘popular’ of +Live+’s hits, the crowd was still on its feet clapping and singing along right away, which told me this show was going to be good on both sides of the stage.

Some personal highlights:

Simple Creed: See above

Turn My Head: Not since the late nineties have I heard this one, and it was a refreshing change to have it back. Although Ed did dedicate it to “All the ladies”, as Hoodie said it was cool to hear for everyone.

Wings: This tune, I’m assuming, will disappear from their sets after the DVD comes out, so I tried to appreciate it as much as I could seeing as this might be the last time I hear it in concert. The vocal harmonies from the whole band (Pat included) are very impressive in this tune, and in a way I’ll miss hearing it at shows.

Iris: EASILY the fastest Iris ever. I’ve never heard a faster recording from any show. It was bordering ridiculous and Gracey was a madman. I hope a recording surfaces of this because seriously it was insane. Intro and outro by Pat were ballsy on bass. Super pumped about this version I heard last night.

Shit Towne: Ed took the guitar solo. It was much better than the time he tried it in Cleveland, and it was neat to see Ed take on that responsibility.

Lakini’s Juice: One of the harder-rockin’ versions of this I’ve heard ever, and the little tease of Ramble On was cool. It was only a one-line thing Ed threw in near the end of the tune, and I guarantee not a lot of people in the crowd caught it, but I’m hoping this inclusion is foreshadowing a full-on cover of this by the boys in the near-future.

Ed, in general, was in a very playful mood. He was dancing a lot, genuinely having fun and high-fiving the crowd a lot. The shirt (amazingly) didn’t come off this time, and again I think this was a refreshing change for some of us who have seen a lot of Ed’s naked torso recently. They’ve also censored a lot of the swearing in tunes, and I’m not sure why necessarily. I think maybe they are trying to clean-up the show for some reason... marketing to a more family-oriented/conservative audience? Not sure.

Quick trip to the merch booth afterwards earned me a new hat, a couple more postcards and a lanyard. I was hoping to get a signed setlist but although they had a few leftovers from past shows, they didn’t get a delivery of setlists from +Live+ for that night’s set. Strange, as I thought that was kind of the point?

Overall, a great show. I think part of it is that I went thinking it was going to be a greatest-hits tour from all three bands and a crowd that only wanted hits, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of enthusiasm from the crowd, a packed venue and a few extras thrown in from the band that all added up to equal a very memorable +Live+ experience. Sorry I didn’t get to meet anyone from the board at the show, hopefully next time we can meet face to face and have one of those imported Canadian Beers