Say what you will about bands like Live, Collective Soul and Blues Traveler, but they all know how to put on a very good show. Yep, for a variety of reasons, I went to the trio of early '90s acts' show at the Chevrolet Theatre last night.
After seeing some very good artists perform in a very craptastic way at the Newport Folk Festival last weekend, it's nice to see a few bands that understand how to engage the audience while performing live.
Back in 1994, when "Throwing Copper" was burning up the charts, Live got tons of shout-outs as the next U2. It was a band of guys who met in middle school and were experiencing a ton of popularity while they were still very good. It's good to see that the same four still make up the band, and the group's live set last night was heavy on the greatest hits. Over the course of the last 15 years or so, I bet I've seen Live six or seven times, and this was the best show.
I once caught them on the "Throwing Copper" tour, before even "I Alone" came out, and that was a great show. But the guys were a bit sloppy that night, and this show was not that way at all. Highlights included "Waitress," "Selling the Drama," "Operation Spirit" and "The Dolphin's Cry."
I've never been a big fan of Collective Soul, but the band put on a workmanlike set that was full of more hits than I knew existed. The evening began with Blues Traveler, which played its jam-happy tunes for about 45 minutes.
And that's about it about this show. I enjoyed it, which is not something I expected. But, yeah, the key to this gig is that it featured three bands who knew how to put on a show, who knew how to engage the crowd. Acts like Cat Power should really go to one of this concerts and take note.
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