Hootie, Collective Soul, and Edwin McCain

It's been a while since I wrote about attending a concert, but you're in store for a special post filled with witty observations and poor concert videos! Over the weekend (as you can tell by the title), I saw Hootie and the Blowfish, Collective Soul, and Edwin McCain perform at Jiffy Lube Live. I saw Hootie perform at the same venue five years ago and Collective Soul at the 9:30 Club in DC nearly 15 years ago. This was my first Edwin McCain experience, and I'll write more about that later.

Let's start with the headliner. Actually, I want to start with the blue, polo shirt club. 

Or maybe the Butt Life guy. 

No, let's go with the artists.

In 1995, Hootie and the Blowfish were the biggest musical act in the country. Cracked Rear View (released in 1994, so the band is celebrating its 30th anniversary with this tour) was massive and finished as the highest selling album of the year. If you’re of a certain age (like 45-55 give or take a few years on either end like me and much of the audience), many songs from the album are instantly recognizable and received the biggest reaction during the show. I wrote this after the 2019 show and it still holds true today: Darius Rucker has an amazing voice. Alright. Enough of me writing. Let’s go to a video. I really enjoyed Hootie performing covers during the show including of Led Zeppelin's Hey, Hey What Can I Do, Stone Temple Pilots' Interstate Love Song, Kool & the Gang's Get Down On It, and Losing My Religion by R.E.M. Please note that I don’t record full videos of songs. I never want to be the guy who is watching and experiencing a concert through my cell phone.*

Personal highlight of the night. Guitarist Mark Bryan, who is originally from Silver Spring, Maryland doing a brief "Hail to the Redskins" song and getting booed. Even with a brand new owner and QB, the team still isn't that popular right now. Or there were plenty of Steelers and Dolphins (since the Dolphins make Darius cry) fans in the audience.

2024 is also the 30th anniversary of the first studio album of Lective Oul, I mean Collective Soul. Such an underrated band. I was going through their catalog after the show and realized there were several songs (such as Gel, Better Now, and Why, Pt. 2) that were major hits on various rock, adult, and alternative charts that the band didn't play on Saturday night. I guess that's what happens when you're the opening act and have lots of songs. In honor of Aerosmith's retirement, the band incorporated Livin' On The Edge in the middle of Shine. In both this and the cover of AC/DC's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, they enlisted the assistance of Edwin McCain. 

Second personal highlight. Collective Soul lead singer Ed Roland concluded their set by talking about unity and love and had audience members hold hands with their neighbors and raise their hands in the air. Several minutes later, a fight nearly broke out in my section. I don't know what happened, but the wife/girlfriend/mistress/friend of one of the guys involved got him out of there. (They never returned.) A fight at a Hootie / Collective Soul / Edwin McCain show? Really?

Finally, I need to write about Win McCain, I mean Edwin McCain. McCain and Rucker/Hootie and the Blowfish go way back. Apparently, Hootie wouldn't sign a record deal without the record company also signing McCain. My joke before the show was that we might hear McCain play "I'll Be" 2-3 times. I forgot that he also sings I Could Not Ask For More. That's my entire knowledge of McCain's catalog. He performed a few other songs too that I didn't recognize, and I don't have any plans on downloading them. Still, McCain was the winner of the night. As I mentioned above, he joined Collective Soul twice during their set, and he also performed with Rucker during Hootie's set. McCain really seems like a down-to-earth guy who has been able to make a nice career out of music (he referenced hearing his song being played at Home Depot and telling his kids that this was paying for community college) and gets to tour and hang out with his friends. He could not ask for more.

 

* With that written, if I can make millions on YouTube by posting concert videos, I will definitely become that guy who watches and experiences concerts through my cell phone. 

Pink

On Sunday afternoon, I started hearing reports about the high potential for severe thunderstorms with an outside chance of a tornado on Monday afternoon and evening. This was very concerning since I had tickets to see Pink at Nationals Park at that exact time. The weather reports didn't change throughout Monday. Dangerous storms. Destructive winds. Torrential rain. Frequent lightning. I'm on an email list from someone at the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Center for Weather and Climate Prediction. He sends emails for possible snow storms, and Monday was the first time I ever received a message from him during the summer. As the afternoon progressed, the federal government announced that offices were closing at 3:00. Meanwhile, this is the message Nationals Park posted on social media.

With no further announcements, we decided to try to get near Nats Park before the storm arrived. We figured we could shelter in place in the underground parking garage or at a restaurant. Not ideal, but for a rain or shine event (and expensive tickets) and no updates, we figured we had to get close to the venue. While walking from the garage to the stadium, the downpour began. We were able to duck into a Cava restaurant about a block from the stadium and hunkered down for dinner. After about 30-45 in the restaurant and the rain stopped (and still no update from Nats Park), we entered the stadium. The concourses were packed since the stadium wasn't allowing people to their seats yet. We heard someone mention that Grouplove, the opening act, announced on social media that they weren't playing due to weather conditions. Again, no notice of this or anything else in the stadium or online. Finally, people were able to get to their seats, and a DJ named KidCutUp did his DJ thing (he was actually really good) before Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo played a shortened set.

As you can see from the videos in this post, there was definitely heavy rain throughout the night. I mean, it certainly seemed like the performers and most people in the audience were getting soaked. I don't actually know. Amazingly, our seats were under an overhang keeping us completely dry.

This is a very long introduction to the fact that Pink is awesome. The show is completely unlike anything I've seen before. It's a major artist playing her hits while essentially incorporating Cirque de Soleil into the act. What's amazing is that Pink still sings her songs while jumping and bouncing all over (and above) the stage. If you have a chance to see Pink live, I highly recommend that you go.

A few notes from the concert:

This was the first concert since seeing Christina Aguillera in 2000 where there were more women than men. No lines for the men's bathroom!

Speaking of bathrooms, during my first year at the Celebrate Fairfax festival, I ran into Neil Giraldo in the bathroom. I said hey as I was leaving, and he replied hey as he entered. We didn't see each other this year.

Lots of people wore pink to the concert. I don't remember many people wearing green when I saw Green Day. 

My only disappointment with the show (besides the lack of communication by Nats Park) was that Pink didn't perform U + Ur Hand. Such a good song.

Finally, while the weather wasn't as bad as predicted, don't tell that to the owner of this car in my neighborhood.

UPDATE: USA Today has a recap of the show here.

Coldplay Plays Mary Land

I was one of the first people to discover Coldplay. This obviously isn't true, but it feels this way. I was in England in the summer of 2000 and heard Coldplay's "Yellow" well before the song debuted in the United States. While I've followed the band over the last two decades and like many of their songs, I don't think I ever bought any of their music. Still, when I saw that they were coming to the Washington DC area, I was definitely interested in seeing the show.

Here are my thoughts about the Coldplay concert:

* Is it bad that I can't name any Coldplay band member other than Chris Martin? For a band so big internationally, it seems odd that (at least to me) no other members are recognizable. Maybe I'm completely off here and everyone knows, um, The Edge, Flea, Mike Dirnt, and (the late) Taylor Hawkins. 

* It's not exactly shocking that a band as successful as Coldplay that have played together for over 20 years put on an amazing show. Chris Martin commands the stage, and Coldplay has a really deep catalog so even casual fans know most of the songs they performed. Add in really cool bracelet light things (technical term), giant balloons, and multiple stages and you have a fantastic concert. This is a sample:

* Coldplay's first number #1 song since 2008's "Viva la Vida" is the recent collaboration with BTS titled "My Universe." I think it's fair to say that BTS is currently the biggest musical group in the world. The day before the Coldplay concert, BTS visited the White House and met with President Joe Biden. This got me thinking that maybe BTS would stick around and join Coldplay on stage. While this didn't happen, Chris Martin ate dinner with BTS, and they all went bowling along with H.E.R.

* H.E.R. opened for Coldplay, and it's not exactly breaking news that she is extremely talented. She has an incredible voice, can really play the guitar, and even played drums at one point during the set. H.E.R. turns 25 later this month and already has a Grammy and Oscar. I think she's 1-2 huge songs away from being a superstar. 

* Instead of BTS, H.E.R., or any other special guest performing with Coldplay during the show, we got a Muppet. Actually, we got a Masked Singer character on screen singing alongside Martin. I think bizarre is a good word to describe this.

* You might be curious about the post title. Twice during the show, including around the 8:30 mark of the video below, Martin referred to Maryland as Mary Land. This made me smile. After saying Mary Land, Coldplay performed a song about one of their first big performances which took place in Washington DC. It's a cool little song that the band has played exactly once on stage. Oh, the video and song are NSFW due to language.

* Although I don't think they were announced to be on the bill, the band Shaed performed before H.E.R. It's possible that you know their song "Trampoline" from a few years ago. I'm bringing up Shaed because even Chris Martin pronounced their name incorrectly (at the 6:45 mark of the video above). They need a manager to change the name from Shaed to Shade like Tom Hanks did for the Onedors.

* Finally, Coldplay pledged to make the tour sustainable and low-carbon and had people ride bikes to create power. Seems like some people paid a lot of money for floor seats only to ride a stationary bike in 85-90 degree temperatures. Anyway, good for Coldplay for supporting initiatives like reforestation, ocean clean-up, reducing emissions, and building a park for dinosaurs from the Jurassic period. 

Concert T-Shirts

I attended the Hella Mega Tour concert at Nats Park in Washington DC on Sunday evening. It was nice to do something "normal" again in seeing Green Day, Weezer, and opening act The Interrupters even though Fall Out Boy didn't perform due to one of the band's team testing positive for COVID. So even normal isn't really normal when one of the acts can't play and many of the attendees (including me) wore masks throughout the show unless this is what counts as normal right now. I just wrote normal so many times that I don't know what that word means or if I spelled it correctly.

While I'll share more pictures and videos below, I have a question. Let's say that you attend a football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys. If you are a fan of one of the teams, you might wear some type of Steelers or Cowboys clothing. You probably wouldn't wear a New England Patriots jersey or a Seattle Seahawks T-shirt. I mention this because at the concert, I saw people wearing T-shirts of the following musicians:

The Rolling Stones

Ramones

AC/DC

Foo Fighters

Run-D.M.C.

Nirvana

Slipknot

Jimmy Buffett

There are probably more that I'm missing, but the point is that none of these bands performed in DC on Sunday. Obviously, music is different from sports. While there's a rivalry between the Baltimore Ravens and the Steelers, there isn't any animosity (that I know of) between Weezer and The Rolling Stones or their fans. What do you think? Is it appropriate to wear a band's T-shirt to a concert of a completely different band?

This is the start of the Green Day show and definitely not suitable for work.

Even though you can see "Holiday," possibly my favorite Green Day song, above, this is from a  different perspective.

If you ever wanted to see the chorus of Weezer's "Hash Pipe" signed, you're welcome!

Weezer has a new song called "All My Favorite Songs" featuring the band AJR. When Weezer performed this song, I sent a 30-second video to my wife to show my kids since they like AJR and know the song. My kids were convinced that the video was of AJR, even though the band name Weezer was prominently displayed on the stage!

Finally, even though Max Scherzer was traded to Los Angeles, he's still watching you!

Friday Video: Barenaked Ladies and Hootie and the Blowfish

During the 2019 Sean summer concert series, I saw the Hootie and the Blowfish and Barenaked Ladies twin-bill at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Virginia. Since I am always write about recent events, I thought now would be a good time to share some videos, pictures, and thoughts from the, um, July show.

Barenaked Ladies are awesome. They look like they are having so much fun on stage. Lead singer Ed Robertson enjoyed saying the word “Lube” when talking about the concert venue name and also shared a story about smoking a certain substance with Willie Nelson at the same location 20 years ago. There was also a funny moment when they announced that their friend Sarah McLachlan was there only to have the big screen show a bald guy. They ended the show with an awesome medley that included "Shallow," "Old Town Road," and this:



I thought it was a nice touch that drummer Tyler Stewart and Ed Robertson changed places.

Hootie and the Blowfish came next, and I don’t know if there’s a better voice in music than Darius Rucker. He just has the coolest voice. There was also a heated (well, maybe not so heated) exchange where he saw a few people wearing Clemson gear in the audience. With Darius and his band mates being graduates (or at least students) at rival University of South Carolina, Rucker said something like, “Let me know if anyone from the school up north ever wrote a song like this” and went into "Let Her Cry."

Here are a few videos from their performance:



To close the set (but before the encore), Barenaked Ladies joined them on stage.



I could probably include 30 seconds of my own poor video of Hootie and the Blowfish covering R.E.M.'s Losing My Religion, but I'll close with a few pictures that I took of the show instead. My streak of taking awful pictures at concerts continues.

Oh, it was nice seeing St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina at the show!

Dave Matthews Band Field Trip

I’ve been on an amazing run lately. I mentioned that I won DC United tickets and tickets to the first home game for George Mason’s men’s basketball team for the 2019-2020 season. I also won passes for 10 at a piano bar in the DC Metro area. Last week, I had the radio on in the background when they mentioned that they were giving away tickets to see Dave Matthews Band (DMB). I called the number once, and it was busy, and called again, and had this conversation:

DJ: Hi. Who’s this?

Me: Sean

DJ: Where are you calling from today, Sean?

Me: Arlington

DJ: And what are you doing right now?

Me: Working

DJ: Well, hopefully you’re in somewhere air conditioned and staying out of the heat. You won two tickets to see Dave Matthews Band at Jiffy Lube Live. (Or something like this.)

Me: Nice

It was riveting radio. So after seeing DMB four times in the late 90s and early 2000s in Pittsburgh, San Diego, Darien Lake (between Rochester and Buffalo) and in Bristow, Virginia when the venue was still called Nissan Pavilion and before I had a blog, I was going to I see the band again for the first time in at least 15 years. This is the story of the concert:

My brother wanted some food before we got to the venue, and I figured that I could use a pre-concert desert, so we saw a sign for Sheetz at an I-66 exit and stopped there. While I realized too late that I should I purchased a milkshake, I was pleased with this selection:

I don’t think I’ve had Zingers since high school!

Let me vent for a second. Jiffy Lube is a fairly standard outdoor concert venue. There’s a covered area with seats in front and a giant uncovered lawn in the back. I had no idea where I was sitting after I won the tickets. The radio station didn’t know and neither did the venue. They both said to try will call at the day of the show since that’s when the radio station delivers the tickets. When I called will call, they said that they couldn’t give this information over the phone, only in person with an ID. This really isn’t practical. For seats, I just bring myself. For the lawn, you need a blanket and/or chairs. They suggested bringing chairs and then take them back to the car if I had seats. On a normal day, this is inconvenient. On this day, it was 100 degrees for the show with an excessive heat watch and a heat index of 110. I hoped that the station would give away actual seats, so I left the chairs in the car and walked at least a half mile from the lot to the front gate. After getting to will call and opening the envelope, I learned that I won...lawn seats. I was not turning around, especially after I accidentally left the blanket in the car. We were going to sit on the grass and/or stand! Anyway, I feel like it shouldn’t be too much to ask for the radio station to know where the seats they are giving away are located.

Minutes before I left for the concert (well before stopping at Sheetz) I found a 1999 DMB concert T-shirt that I haven’t worn in at least a decade in the back of my closet. My brother wore an orange Netherlands soccer jersey that he got in 2001. Together, our shirts were 38 years old which was older than the majority of the crowd!

Just thought I would mention that there was a lot of marijuana, vaping, and tattoos on the lawn. I have no point here, just wanted to state this for the record.

Maybe 30-45 minutes into the concert, I looked to the west and noticed that the sky was getting really dark. A few minutes later, Dave Matthews announced that they were temporarily stopping the show because a thunderstorm was coming through. Apparently, this was the third consecutive DMB show where this happened. Someone from the venue got on the microphone and said that the people in the covered seats could stay, but that the people in the lawn should go to their cars to seek shelter. Stupid radio station! We quickly went to paved walkway directly behind the seats and were joined by dozens of other friends. If it rained, we were probably going to stay dry. Probably. Meanwhile, some people decided to just stay on the lawn. That seemed like a dumb decision to stay on a giant lawn at the highest point in the area for a potential thunderstorm. Of course, that didn’t stop vendors from selling beer and water.

After maybe 20 minutes, the storm cleared or at least missed Jiffy Lube completely, and the show resumed.

Overall, the crowd was cool. You sort of expect that for a DMB crowd. There were a couple of guys behind us after the rain delay that we’re jerks though. At least one guy dropped his finished beer can on the ground, and of course it rolled against my back. Fortunately, it was empty. Not sure if is was the same guys, but Dave Matthews briefly addressed the crowd and said this:

"It's easy to hate, it's hard to love. We gotta find another way to talk to each other without guns and bombs because it's bull****."

Nothing controversial here, yet the guy behind us basically said shut up and play. This wasn’t Bono doing a diatribe like he was addressing Congress. Dave barely said much during the show. The guys moved a little later.

Near the end of the show, a different guy near me yelled for them to play Two Step. I thought this was a somewhat absurd request since (besides the fact that the band could never hear him) DMB has a deep catalog and don’t seem to have songs that they “must” play. (For example, I saw Smash Mouth at Celebrate Fairfax last month. People would be upset if they didn’t play All Star.) A few songs later, they closed with Two Step. Got me wondering if that’s a song they play regularly and often end the show on. Therefore, I contacted my friends and super DMB fans, Sista K and Paul. They have gone to (I believe) over 50 DMB shows. They also watched the concert via livestream and provided excellent nuggets about the show, set list, etc.

Regarding Two Step, they told me that the Jiffy Lube show was the 7th time they've played it out of 29 shows this tour. 5 of those times have been in the encore. I guess the guy near me just got really lucky that DMB played the song. Or they heard the guy yelling his request!

They also told me that Dave does the setlist each night before the show and looks at what he's played in the past few years at the venue. It seems like Dave uses analytics here. I’m guessing Smash Mouth doesn’t do this!

Personally, I was happy to hear Ants Marching and Jimi Thing. The Back In Black/Staying Alive/Fly Like an Eagle medley was a nice touch.

I think I’m not going to wait another 15 or so years again to see DMB again. I’m also going to know where I’m sitting before I go next time!

U2 Concert Review

While I don't necessarily have a bucket list of bands/performers I want to see live in concert, if I did, U2 would be on this list. U2 is currently on a tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of The Joshua Tree, so despite the fact that I vowed never go to FedEx Field again, I traveled there to see U2 in June. (For the record, I said I would never see a Redskins game at FedEx again. It's extremely inconvenient to get there, parking and refreshments are extraordinarily high, and it's owned by Dan Snyder. Also for the record, for the U2 concert, it was still extremely inconvenient to get there, but I parked in a non-FedEx Field lot and didn't buy any food or drink at the stadium.)

* There were two songs that I wanted to see U2 perform live more than any others: Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Year's Day. U2 opened with these two songs, so I decided that it was time to leave on a high note.



* I'm sure that you're shocked that I didn't actually leave after two songs. U2 performed four songs on the "small" stage and then transitioned to a gigantic stage to play The Joshua Tree album in its entirety.

* Hot take: Side A of The Joshua Tree album (cassette!) with Where the Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, With or Without You, and Bullet the Blue Sky is great. Side B is meh. From top to bottom, the All That You Can't Leave Behind album with Beautiful Day, Elevation, Walk On, and Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of is better than The Joshua Tree. Hot take complete.

* I saw The Rolling Stones in San Diego in 1998 and remember thinking that they were old (yet were still amazing live). At the time of that show, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were 54, Ronnie Wood was 50, and Charlie Watts was 56. Meanwhile, U2 is actually older now than The Stones were then as Bono and Adam Clayton are 57 and The Edge and Larry Mullen Jr. are 55.

* Does The Edge ever not wear a hat? Does he sleep in one and shower with a hat too?

* So despite leaving more than two hours before the start of the concert, we didn't make it to our seats until part-way through The Lumineers set. Therefore, I never saw The Lumineers perform Ho Hey, also known as the only song that I know by them. I did hear Ho Hey twice on the radio the day after the concert, so I'll call it even.

* I'm not taking credit for this observation, but Adam Clayton has an Anthony Bourdain look to him.

* U2 has such a deep catalog. I was (and am) happy that they played Elevation, Beautiful Day, One, Vertigo, and Pride (In the Name of Love) but it would have been cool if they also played Mysterious Ways and Desire. Again, really, really deep catalog.

* Overall, I really enjoyed the show. Yes, Bono talks a lot between songs about a wide variety of topics, but you know that coming in.

* Here's The Washington Post's review of the show. A lot of people didn't like it along with a few songs. The Baltimore Sun reviewed the show too.

* Oh, I was able to take this picture at FedEx Field for free. Thanks, Dan Snyder!

Finally, here are some videos from the show:

Sunday Bloody Sunday


(Another view of Sunday Bloody Sunday)


New Year's Day


Where the Streets Have No Name

Mudcrutch Concert Review

Tom Petty was on my list of musicians that I wanted to see live but never have. So when a friend asked me if I wanted to see Petty's new old band Mudcrutch perform, I reluctantly said yes. Mudcrutch was Petty's original band formed in 1970. The group released one song in 1975, but it never charted, and the band broke up soon after. Several years ago, Mudcrutch reunited and recorded an album. Now they were going on tour to support their second album.

When I reluctantly said yes, I figured that Mudcrutch was Petty wanting to get together with old friends, reminisce about their younger days, and have some fun. I truly thought that the concert would be Petty and his JV team. A few weeks ago, I received the Mudcrutch 2 CD in the mail, a "gift" with the purchase of the concert ticket. I listened to it multiple times over the past week and found it very good. Petty wasn't the lead singer on all of the tracks, but again, I thought he was just being nice and letting his friends have a chance at the spotlight.

Then, Monday night at DC's 9:30 Club arrived. Seeing Petty come out on stage in a 1,300 capacity venue was surreal. Even Petty admitted that he wasn't used to played small venues. He said, "We used to play places this size. They weren't quite as nice as this, but they had topless dancers." I only knew the songs from the second CD and a cover of Bob Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door," but I quickly stopped thinking of Mudcrutch as Tom Petty and his side gig. I was blown away by Benmont Tench on the keyboards and learned that both he and guitarist Mike Campbell are also members of The Heartbreakers. The entire band was comprised of professional musicians that have honed their craft over decades. They clearly were not guys who picked up their instruments for the first time since their 20s. Naturally, I focused on Petty as he was the lead singer of most songs, but this was clearly a band that sounded like they played together forever. Even after the concert, the songs that stayed in my head were those where Petty wasn't the lead singer. Sure, I would have loved to have heard Mudcrutch perform some of Petty's biggest hits, but it turned out to be okay that they didn't.

A few other notes from the concert:

- The Denver Broncos visited the White House on Monday. My guess is that current Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Rob Ryan tried to sneak in and was denied entry. He then must have come to the 9:30 Club to see Mudcrutch. (Or it was just some other guy that looked like Rob Ryan.)

- As we left the venue, we were stopped as the Mudcrutch tour buses exited. They weren't messing around. There were no meet and greets or talking with the 9:30 Club staff. They left the stage and immediately went on the tour buses to go to their next destination (probably a hotel).

- The opening act was a band called The Shelters who are releasing their debut album on Friday. I had no expectation for them, but they were also very good. They don't have many more Twitter followers than me, so I recommend that you support them.

- Free parking is always a plus for any concert or any venture into DC.

You can read more professional reviews of the concert from USA Today (with set list), The Washington Post, and Writers on the Storm.


Mudcrutch photo by Mike Snider/USA Today. Rob Ryan photo by Mike Rodak/ESPN.

Paul McCartney Concert Review

How often do you get to see a member of The Beatles perform in the same place where Wily Mo Pena once played? Well, I had that opportunity on Friday when I saw Paul McCartney at Nationals Park. For me, the show's beginning was surreal. I was seeing Paul McCartney perform Eight Days a Week and All My Loving, classic and recognizable songs, live. Here are my thoughts on the show:

- At 71, how does Paul McCartney have the energy to perform a 2 hour a 45 minute show? It's not like he was just sitting in a chair either. He was playing guitar, piano and singing (his voice still sounds great too) while moving around the stage and he never seemed out of breath.

- Meanwhile, it was a long week for me, and with the show starting at 9:00 instead of the announced time of 8:00, I was getting a little tired early in the show. There were times when I fought to stay awake. Clearly, I'm not McCartney.

- At a certain part of the show, I mentioned to my friend that I only recognized about 50% of the songs. Then, this happened:

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Band on the Run
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude

Holy crap! What a run of amazing songs. Live and Let Die may have been the single greatest performance I've ever seen live. Take a look:









This could have been an amazing end of the show, but then McCartney came back with this encore:

Day Tripper
Hi, Hi, Hi
Get Back

I didn't know Hi, Hi, Hi, but I would have been happy with Get Back as the final song. Then, Paul came back by himself for a second encore to perform Yesterday. I figured that would end the show, but then the band rejoined McCartney for several more songs including Helter Skelter and, fittingly, The End.

- McCartney must dye his hair, right? How can he not have gray hair at this point?



- There was no opening act for Sir Paul, which brings up the question, who could open for him? It would have to be someone big enough to handle a stadium tour but also not have the ego that they could not be an opening act. I think Cheap Trick could be a possibility. Alicia Keys would be an interesting choice.

- McCartney's Let it Be was slightly better than the Norwegian television station's version featuring Steve Guttenberg, George Wendt, Katerina Witt, and Philip Michael Thomas from several years ago, but this could be debatable.

- Random story. On the way to the concert, I almost got off at the Metro Center stop to transfer thinking I needed to switch there for the stadium. A guy heard me stating this, asked if I was going to the concert and told me to stay on the train. He then asked me if I was visiting from out of town.

Me: I've lived in the DC area for 12 years.
Guy: So you must not take Metro often.
Me: No, I take it every day.

A bit embarrassing, We got to the L'Enfant Plaza metro stop where I knew to take the green line rather than the yellow line. He made sure I knew this too. He was being partially helpful and partially a jerk.

Fast-forward about an hour and we get to our section to see the same guy in the row behind us. I made sure to go up to him, showed him my ticket and asked him if I was in the right place. He laughed and then mentioned something about 12 years in DC.

- While I understand wearing a Beatles T-shirt to the concert, I don't understand wearing a Who T-shirt.

- On the way out of the concert, I noticed a guy wearing a Baby Bjorn with a baby in there. The show was loud and it was about midnight, so bringing a baby to the concert seems like a terrible idea.

Overall, amazing show. Don't just take my word for it. Take a look at these show reviews:

- Washington Post

- Washington Examiner (with the complete set list)

- Pop Culture Lunch Box

- The Prices Do DC

Chad Smith’s False Hope

Chad Smith is the excellent drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a band I saw perform at the Verizon Center in DC last week. Yes, the show was great though I would have preferred that the band play a few less songs from their new album and perform Breaking the Girl and Snow (Hey Oh). I could write much more about the show, but I want to focus on Mr. Smith. At the end of the concert, Chad Smith was the last member of the band on stage. He threw a few of his drumsticks into the crowd, went to the microphone and said, “I hope that Capitals win the [f’n] Cup!” He did not say f’n. Anyway, I wouldn’t have thought much about Smith’s proclamation except that the next day I saw this article and video of Smith by NHL.com:



This text is from the article:

But the longtime Detroit Red Wings fan has also been lucky enough to live out some of his childhood hockey dreams. For the Michigan-born Smith, a lifelong infatuation with the Wings reached a new level in 1997, when he found himself in the locker room at Joe Louis Arena as the Red Wings celebrated their first Stanley Cup in 42 years.

Your favorite team wins the Stanley Cup and you get to celebrate the victory in the locker room. That’s just awesome.

A Los Angeles resident for decades, Smith has adopted the Kings as another NHL favorite. For the drummer, who occasionally attends Kings games when the band isn't touring, their current run to the Western Conference Finals has been exciting.

Essentially, Smith roots for the Kings unless they face the Red Wings. I completely understand this. When I lived in San Diego, I supported Tony Gwynn and the Padres unless they faced the Pirates. I also lived in Columbus during the inaugural season of the Blue Jackets, so I have a connection to that organization from my time working as a beer man at Nationwide Arena. Of course, as much as I want Columbus to do well, the Penguins will always be my favorite team.

Anyway, let’s get back to Chad Smith. Nashville eliminated the Red Wings in the first round of this year’s NHL playoffs. With the Kings advancing to the Western Conference finals, you would think that Smith now wants Los Angeles to win the Stanley Cup. So why the "I hope the Capitals win the Cup" statement?

Let’s go back to the video. If you watched it, you probably noticed the 4:40 mark where Smith states "I think Washington’s going to win tonight (meaning game 6 last Wednesday). I don’t really want them to win…but game 7 is going to the Rangers." He continues by stating that he hopes that the Kings and Rangers meet in the finals. So what the heck, Chad Smith? Why state that you hope the Caps win when you also want the Kings and Rangers to win? Is Smith looking to run for political office? If so, it's a good strategy to pander to the New York and Los Angeles voters. I guess that you don't want to upset the Capitals fans either. This seems like a Sarah Palin situation from 2008 all over again. With the Capitals loss to the Rangers in game seven on Saturday, I guess that Smith's hopes of the Caps winning the Cup this year are over.

For more about the Chili Peppers concert in DC check out the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post reviews.

Kool and The Gang Concert Review

What is the most unlikely musical pairing you can think of for a concert? Miranda Lambert and Chris Brown? Marilyn Manson and Jars of Clay? Yo-Yo Ma and Odd Future? Van Halen and Kool and the Gang might rank fairly high on this list too, which is why these two groups currently touring together throughout the country seems like an odd pairing at best. I saw them at the Verizon Center in DC a few weeks ago and thought I would share a few thoughts about the show. Sure, I could write about how Van Halen still rocks and how David Lee Roth is slightly (or more) crazy (he showed home videos of him and his dogs on his ranch and yelled several times to turn off the f@#ing blowers), but I saw little coverage of Kool and the Gang’s performance, so I figured I would write something here.

First of all, how did the Van Halen-Kool and the Gang partnership come together? Here’s the answer from Kool (or perhaps one of the Gang):

We were excited when we heard about it. We were surprised too, because Van Halen being hard rock and we're funk pop. But then as I was speaking to David, he told me he saw us performing at the Glastonbury Festival. We had about 60,000 people, and we rocked them. I guess when he got together with Eddie and Alex, he said, "I want Kool and the Gang to be our support." They said, "Why Kool and the Gang?" He said, "Hey, man, I saw these guys get down in London." He said, "We were the rock party band of the '80s and you were the pop-funk band of the '80s. Hey, Kool, let's go out and have a party."

So there you go. As you probably expected, the Van Halen crowd was slow to warm to Kool and the Gang during the first few songs. To their credit, KATG (it’s easier to type this instead of Kool and the Gang over and over) knew the audience...and soon enough won us over. I guess that happens when you’ve been around for 40 years and have numerous hits. Seriously, it seemed like I said to the guys next to me during every song either “I know that song” or “I didn’t know that was Kool and the Gang.” It also helps that Jungle Boogie is an awesome song (the horns were amazing).



So a few random thoughts about KATG and their performance:

Who knew that Kool is the bass player?

What is the “It” in KATG’s song Get Down On It? Is it safe to get down on it?

Naturally, everyone was on their feet for Celebration, the finale of KATG’s performance. By the way, for my entire life, I thought that the sing-along part of the song was Woo-hoo or perhaps Yoo-hoo. Apparently, it’s Yahoo. I disagree with KATG here.

I hope I have as much energy as some of the members of KATG when I'm that age!

In case you wanted to read more about the VH concert, check out The Washington Post and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Notes From The Def Leppard-Poison-Cheap Trick Concert

I saw the Def Leppard/Poison/Cheap Trick show out at Nissan Pavilion over two weeks ago, but I’m only getting around to writing about it now. Sorry. Since I’m already late and the tour may be over, I’ll go with a notes format. Enjoy.

- After attending the Neil Diamond concert last August and the Fleetwood Mac show in March, it’s nice to see "younger" performers live. At this pace, I’ll see a Jonas Brothers performance in 2013. (That’s a joke; you don’t have to leave just because I typed Jonas Brothers).

- Throughout the concert, all three bands yelled "Hello Bristow," "How You Feeling, Bristow" or some other variation of this. Nissan Pavillion is in fact located in Bristow, Virginia so they were accurate in their location. However, Bristow is an unincorporated town with a population under 16,000 according to Wikipedia. Wouldn't it have better to say "Hello Virginia" or "What's up DC?" I'd be surprised if there were 500 Bristow residents in attendance (and not working) at the concert.

- Before their performance, an audio montage of Cheap Trick pop culture references played. No video, just audio. Odd start, but I always like a good Simpsons quote or two.

- The crowd was louder when Welcome to the Jungle played over the sound system prior to Poison arriving on stage than at any point during or after Cheap Trick’s set. Maybe people were still outside tailgating during Cheap Trick.

- Through the back of the T-shirt of someone sitting near us, I learned that Iowa State University Intramurals include an NCAA Bowl Pick’em; NCAA Basketball Pick’em; 8-ball and 9-ball pool; and Curling. How exactly is NCAA bowl and basketball pick'em an intramural sport? It seems more like gambling.

- Unfortunately, there was no sign of Taya, Amber, Jess or any other Rock of Love girl in Bristow. Big John did come out on stage though for a brief cameo.

- Bret Michaels must have said C.C. in reference to guitarist C.C. DeVille at least twice per song. We get that there will be a guitar solo in every song, and we know C.C. will be the guy performing said solo. You don't need to tell us. Do you need to tell C.C.?

- The most random part of the show was a woman in front of us wearing feathers in her hair. It was random that Sacagawea attended the concert, but that wasn't the weird part. For Posion's Every Rose Has Its Thorn, she took a plastic parrot on a string from her purse and tried to attach the parrot to her shoulder. Apparently, the fake parrot wanted no part of this and continuously fell to the side no matter how hard the woman tried to attach him/her.

- In a shocking development, Def Leppard performed Pour Some Sugar On Me; Poison played Nothin But A Good Time; and Cheap Trick performed I Want You To Want Me.

- What I found interesting is that Cheap Trick referenced Poision and Def Leppard and Poison mentioned Cheap Trick and Def Leppard. Def Leppard never said anything about Poison and Cheap Trick.


My conclusion: Everyone Rocked! Good show, good time and each band played all of their big hits.