Concert Central

Ben Folds from what we saw, was totally awesome. I hate his music, but his stage presence and banter is simply incredible. I was entranced through his entire set (sans when he laid a brick with “Brick”) and he sang to Tori for her birthday. Well, we all did.

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GuitarSoloGod on the stage—very exciting—he gave me perma-grin, two females (bass guitarist and keyboard/harmonica/flutist), drummer and lead, tight and professional pop rock a la Tom Cochran and maybe Blues Travelers, things I won’t tell GuitarSoloGod: the girls’ voices suck, the lyrics are smarmy to the point of being possibly Christian rock, and GuitarSoloGod is not [...]

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many members, Spanish festival music, good I’m sure since they play everywhere all the time, put the dance into people

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08.24.2003 Tori Amos Lottapianos Tour FleetBoston Pavilion, Boston, MA
Opener: Ben Folds
Tori Amos is a singular majesty. We had damn good seats, but getting to the Pavilion is like your worst commute in Boston. It is near the water, but no where near anything else. They offer a shuttle - one. shuttle. which is ridiculously pokey [...]

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Stew was so bad that I blocked it from my memory. After starting with a passable blues number, this four piece band hand-chosen by the Counting Crows, sunk into mediocrity, worsened by the intended provocative subject matter of their songs. One was a spoken-word condemnation of alcoholism (or the recovery of said condition, it was [...]

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Counting Crows choose mostly their best known songs for the set, and they performed with gusto. Having always been kind of a passive fan of theirs, I really wasn’t expecting to be blown away. In the first twenty minutes, they played “Mr. Jones” and Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” - my two Crow favorites, and [...]

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cover band like I haven’t seen since Las Vegas—party band for the older folks, good but can you really respect them or yourself for liking them?

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08.22.2003 John Mayer with Counting Crows Tweeter Center, Mansfield, MA
Opener: Stew
Much of the world of radio friendly music is divided into two philosophies. On the one hand, you have those who question why a band with such a hardcore following like Counting Crows would ever be the opening act for a punk like John Mayer. [...]

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expected them to be more adult contemporary but had a Santana flavor and some wailing guitars—put on a good show, not terribly moved

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kind of cheating because I was only there for a few songs what with my unsound mindstate/fear my car would be towed/being yelled at by waitress for ashing in her water (empty plastic cup), per Chronicle “The Golden Apples’ roster reads like an all-star lineup of Texas power-pop alumni”, was ready to dismiss them (being [...]

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