Field of Deets

The Black Crowes Concert:

The first time I saw them, four years ago to the month, and in the same venue, the Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee, they were outstanding. It was the second best concert I have ever seen. It was also their last concert before "breaking up."

Well now they are back and they came back to Milwaukee and played a three hour show with no opening act on a candle-lit stage. Not having an opening act was great. The candles were cool. Three hours is great. The content was eh.

It took them two-three songs to straighten things out behind the sound board, which was frustrating. When it was good, it was great. When it sucked, it sucked.

The songs they played were good, the band sounded good, they jammed for a while during each 90 minute set and was well. Except I didn't hear a bunch of songs I wanted to hear.

Go Faster
Stop Kicking My Heart Around
Virtue and Vice
Thick and Thin
She Talks to Angels
Hard to Handle
Miracle to Me
Young Man, Old Man

Those were eight songs on my mental list of songs I really wanted to hear. They didn't play them. I understand not playing Hard to Handle and She Talks to Angels. I'm sure they are sick of those songs and it's cool with me if they don't play them. But I really, really wanted to hear Go Faster, Stop Kicking My Heart Around, and Virtue and Vice. If they would have played three or four of those, I would have been very happy with the show.

The other songs on my list they did play: Thorn in My Pride, Soul Singing, Remedy, Jealous Again, Greasey Grass River, Midnight From the Inside Out, Black Moon Creeping, Twice as Hard, By Your Side

The show also lacked crowd interaction. Not a big deal.

Chris Robinson is a fantastic front man. I have to believe he is one of the best in rock n roll today. But they really didn't need him to be picking up guitars to play. I don't know if he is new to the instrument or not but he looked a little stiff and didn't really add much to the music.

Annoying things at the show:

There were two big guys, bigger than me, about my age at the show and they were not gifted with either coordination or rhythm and adding alcohol to the mix didn't work out so well for them either. It was painful to watch them trying to dance - and sway arm in arm completly out of sync with the music. An eye sore for sure.

Then there was a stout little man with very curly hair who must have thought he was at a metal concert cause his headbanging to fairly mellow songs was out of control, out of time with the music, and just generally out of place.

Number of cute girls I saw: Zero. If you are reading this and were at the show, I'm sorry, I must not have seen you. All were at least 30 and smoking cigs. This is not to say that women over 30 can't be good looking, of course they can. These were not. And cigs just don't make any girl look good.

And the beers were 6 bucks and double rails 9.50. What are you going to do? Two of each and I had spent all I was going to spend on booze.

I complained a lot but it was still a pretty good show. They are a great band, just forgot some stuff in this show. If they had played every song I wanted to hear I probably would have laughed at two large overly-white guys, instead I hated them. Such is life.

Now I need concert redemption, which I will surely receive November Ninth at the Bad Religion/Pennywise show.

This will be a long week in waiting.

Rock on.

Until the Next.