Well, the month isn't quite over yet, but I'll make up for that by going back to the end of April...
04/29/05: Ryan Adams/Rachael Yamagata, Hampton Beach, NH. Probably not a show I would have gone to by myself, but one of those expand-your-tastes shows instead. Kat was interested, I always like me a show at the Casino Ballroom, tickets were $20, and I figured I could use some stealthing practice before some rather important shows in June which shall go unmentioned. The show was entertaining; Ryan was apparently in a good mood (for him), goofed around on stage, made some horrible seafood-related puns, played a lot of new stuff in the first half and older stuff in the second half. I'd never heard anything of his except "New York, New York", which was practically unrecognizable the way he played it, and "When The Stars Go Blue", which was only marginally better in its original form than the Corrs' execrably insipid rendition. I wasn't a big fan of Rachael Yamagata's opening set but a second listen sounded much better than the first time. She sounds like a cross between Fiona Apple and Aslyn, and after I heard "Letter Read" on the radio a couple of weeks later, I think I appreciated her more.
Stealthing was an interesting experience; they now use wands at the Casino Ballroom, and since I had a largish hunk of metal nestled up against my reproductive area, I had to do a bit of a Jedi mind trick to get in, telling them it was my keys (taking them out and putting them back in) and my cellphone (taking it out and putting it back in). Sneaky, I know. Of course, once we got in, I realized I didn't have any blank tapes...but Nomah to the rescue. Nomah is Kat's Jukebox 3, an mp3 player that also has the capability of recording CD-quality to its internal hard drive. It got hungry and ate the first set of Ryan's show, but I managed to tape Rachael and set 2 of Ryan Adams on a contraption I'd never even really handled before that evening.
05/05/05: Guster, Boston College. Happy Cinco de Mayo! Guster played a free, but private, outdoor show at BC. No skulduggery or cloak-and-dagger involved in getting the equipment in - just some wind to avoid and my mic stand falling apart to deal with. Good thing I packed the Leatherman. Got it up and running just before Guster took the stage. They played an abbreviated set - about 70 minutes - but managed to pack in four tunes from their new album, which they had just finished recording. First impressions were not great but repeated listening, along with a second show later in the week, made them a bit more palatable. Mrs. Dave refers to them as "KFG" now (Kentucky Fried Guster) but there's really only one song (so far) that's bona fide country - "The Captain" - and they had gone so far as to warn us that it was. "G Major" starts off a little bit folky but quickly departs from that in favor of what appears to be political commentary ("the king who hides behind the pawns"), and good commentary at that. "I'm Through" was a bit rough; it seemed to be a key or two too high for Ryan to hit properly, and didn't leave much of an impression, and "You're My Satellite" is a bit sappy but very catchy musically, including one part that almost sounds like a theremin. I felt old the whole show.
05/11/05: Guster, Quincy, MA. Another free outdoor private show, this time for Providence College, at a place called Waterworks, in a schmancy neighborhood south of Boston that was at one point reportedly home to Tom Brady. Fortunately, we didn't have to drive all the way to Providence, because we wouldn't have made it...93 going through Boston is brutal anytime between 4pm and 7pm; it's about 25 miles from door to door and it took me about an hour and a half. Right on the water and rather breezy, so despite the "beach" setting, it was chilly. None of the students there were feeling any pain (thanks to the Budweiser Tent and Corona Cabana) and the show was much better than the previous one. Again, a short set - around 75 minutes - but despite there being a smaller crowd, they were more into the show, and despite there being no time for a sound check, the sound was more dialed in. Only two new tunes but they definitely sounded better. I still felt just about as old, though.
05/14/05: Ben Folds/Corn Mo, Avalon, Boston, MA. Before last summer all I'd heard of Ben Folds was a depressingly boring Ben Folds Five set at the Tufts Spring Fling in 1999, but then came last summer and four Ben Folds sets which converted me into a fan. The guy can play, and the guy can joke, and the guy can just put on a show. He doesn't, however, allow open taping. Well, he does, but according to the only official word from his management, mic stands can't be any taller than a particularly vertically-challenged member of his crew...so again, it was back to stealthing. Fortunately, the Avalon is more concerned about making sure people get out of their place by 10 so they can turn it into a Eurotrash BOOM-tss-BOOM-tss-BOOM-tss-BOOM-tss dance club (you know the type), so they don't really check for anything on your way in. I could have been carrying a rocket launcher strapped to my back and they would have waved me on, just saying "You'll have that out by 10, right?"
I walked in and found a taper friend of mine standing against the right stack, and after a quick trip to the bathroom to...unburden myself of the strategically hidden gear, we were wired up and ready to go. The opener, Corn Mo, opened with a solo Italian aria accompanying himself on accordion, and closed with a heavy-metal version of "Hava Nagilah Monster", whipping his long hair around like a combination of Dio and Meat Loaf. That last tune was loud but not *quite* painfully so...so I thought I was ok, figuring Ben wouldn't be as loud.
I was wrong.
Still funny, still entertaining, still plays the hell out of the piano, but oh my bleeding eardrums was he loud. Most of the night was played with a bassist and drummer - oddly, a similar instrumental lineup as Ben Folds Five - and they really went over the top. The five-song solo set an hour in was a welcome respite, including a meditative and emotional "Brick", but there were many highlights to the night, starting with an on-stage snafu, of all things. During "Jesusland", his vocal mic started some howling feedback; after the third time it happened, he just said "fuck this" and started improvising a gospel song, apologizing to God for making fun of religious folks. A half-hour later, they covered Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't Shit" - there's just something hilariously surreal about a middle-aged white guy singing "Tight than a muthafucka with the gangsta beats/And we was ballin' on the muthafuckin' Compton streets". If he ever brings his plan to fruition to make a Broadway musical from "The Chronic", I may just have to buy a ticket.
The show ended with a lengthy rendition of "Not The Same", including Ben climbing up on his piano to conduct the crowd's vocal accompaniment. At one point he was getting one side to sing the same note over and over, while the other side sang a different part; the whole time he was motioning with both hands while thumping the piano with his knee. Then he hopped down to play the loudest, fastest, most combustible version of "One Angry Dwarf" he'd probably ever played, by the admission of his drummer after the show.
Links are now up to download the shows for those interested...
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