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.

Sean's 2022 Concerts

When I go to concerts, I try to record part of a song or two. Holding a phone up to record the entire concert or even an entire song just doesn't seem like fun. You're there to see artists perform and be part of the atmosphere, not watch the concert through your phone. While I wrote about seeing Coldplay in June and included a few videos of their songs, I wanted share my videos of seeing H.E.R. open for Coldplay as well as Garbage and Toad the Wet Sprocket.

It was a really good concert year for me. Oh, I visited Niagara Falls too!