Monday, June 25, 2007
A Tale of Two Bands
Regarding my convert review below found a couple of interesting pictures...
From Cool, Young, and New Wave
Rare Non Food Post-The Police in Concert Review
Evening started off on an odd note when Dodger Stadium Security informed us that standing in front of your car drinking beer isn’t allowed in the stadium and we were supposed to head right in. I don’t know what this country is coming to when the pre-concert tailgate is taboo. What is next-banning dodger dogs due to their high transfat content? Anyhow, once our parking section filled up Johnny security left and never came back which was great since beer in the stadium was $10 bucks a pop. Parking itself was $20 bucks. I should have just mailed Sting my credit card directly.
I missed the first act who was Stings Sons band but was there for the Foo Fighters Set. My first time seeing them so was very much looking forward to it and they didn’t disappoint. Dave Grohl is arguably the coolest guy on the planet and this set did nothing to dispel the myth. Would love to see them is a smaller setting. My personal highlight and memory I will always carry with me was the big boned twenty something lesbian who held up her Pizza Crust and moved it in fist pounding time in obvious approval as the Foo Fighters played the anthemic “Best of You.” She and her girlfriend were very nice though and recomended someone named Lily Allen to me along with Amy Winehouse as we later debated the merits of the song "Rehab." Lots of energy and good old fashioned loud Rock from the Foos though and if memory serves they belted out a lot of their hits sans the Mentos tune. Great Set though and if they play the Pond or Verizon I would certainly try and see that.
Then the Police came on, I had no expectations per se so was looking forward to their act. They opened with Message in a Bottle. The one thing that really stood out amongst their set was how good of drummer Stew Copeland is. He really earned his keep and must have been exhausted after the show as he really was the one doing most of the work. Nothing really bad to say about Sting except for the fact that he turned almost every song into an audience participation with some form of getting the crowd to copy his vocals with some type of “Ooooooo Eeeeeeee Ooooooooo Whoa Whoa Whoa.” By the end of the night I felt like I sang about 50% of their songs. One or two songs is always cool but almost every song turned into some attempt at audience participation.
Some of the crowd was certainly apathetic-I would have thought “Da Doo Doo Doo Da Da Da” would have gotten a bit more enthusiasm but that’s LA for ya. They really did a good job of playing most of their hits only point of contention seemingly being their ability to stroke out an additional 5 needless minutes or so on almost every song. "Roxanne" is always a crowd pleaser and they cleverly rearranged the tune as so the chorus came late late into the song as opposed to the traditional arrangement.
And Andy Summers certainly did not have a good night. A couple of botched notes here and a botched solo there-off the top of my head I would say at least 5 or so gaffes for him on the night where there was either some combo of botched chord or a segment where his guitar seemed out of tune. I was unaware of the fact that hes well into his mid 60s though so maybe Ill give him a pass. He was born in 1942-that would make him the 2nd oldest Stone if Im not mistaken.
It was great to see a legendary band plow through all their hits though and its easy to see why Sting is beloved-he really is one of the great all time front men. Also interesting to see the band pull of such a great sound as a 3 piece with no backup performers or musicians and little or no sound effects/backing tracks/ Synthesizer accompaniment. I wouldn’t say they were as good as the Stones when I saw them at the Stadium last year but for those people who were big fans back in the 80s I am sure they didn’t go away disappointed.
And the 40 plus minute wait to exit the stadium along with the 45 minutes or so drive back to OC left me with the realization that sans another Stones tour I will most likely never go to another concert at Dodger Stadium again. Fun Night-not perfect but fun.
I missed the first act who was Stings Sons band but was there for the Foo Fighters Set. My first time seeing them so was very much looking forward to it and they didn’t disappoint. Dave Grohl is arguably the coolest guy on the planet and this set did nothing to dispel the myth. Would love to see them is a smaller setting. My personal highlight and memory I will always carry with me was the big boned twenty something lesbian who held up her Pizza Crust and moved it in fist pounding time in obvious approval as the Foo Fighters played the anthemic “Best of You.” She and her girlfriend were very nice though and recomended someone named Lily Allen to me along with Amy Winehouse as we later debated the merits of the song "Rehab." Lots of energy and good old fashioned loud Rock from the Foos though and if memory serves they belted out a lot of their hits sans the Mentos tune. Great Set though and if they play the Pond or Verizon I would certainly try and see that.
Then the Police came on, I had no expectations per se so was looking forward to their act. They opened with Message in a Bottle. The one thing that really stood out amongst their set was how good of drummer Stew Copeland is. He really earned his keep and must have been exhausted after the show as he really was the one doing most of the work. Nothing really bad to say about Sting except for the fact that he turned almost every song into an audience participation with some form of getting the crowd to copy his vocals with some type of “Ooooooo Eeeeeeee Ooooooooo Whoa Whoa Whoa.” By the end of the night I felt like I sang about 50% of their songs. One or two songs is always cool but almost every song turned into some attempt at audience participation.
Some of the crowd was certainly apathetic-I would have thought “Da Doo Doo Doo Da Da Da” would have gotten a bit more enthusiasm but that’s LA for ya. They really did a good job of playing most of their hits only point of contention seemingly being their ability to stroke out an additional 5 needless minutes or so on almost every song. "Roxanne" is always a crowd pleaser and they cleverly rearranged the tune as so the chorus came late late into the song as opposed to the traditional arrangement.
And Andy Summers certainly did not have a good night. A couple of botched notes here and a botched solo there-off the top of my head I would say at least 5 or so gaffes for him on the night where there was either some combo of botched chord or a segment where his guitar seemed out of tune. I was unaware of the fact that hes well into his mid 60s though so maybe Ill give him a pass. He was born in 1942-that would make him the 2nd oldest Stone if Im not mistaken.
It was great to see a legendary band plow through all their hits though and its easy to see why Sting is beloved-he really is one of the great all time front men. Also interesting to see the band pull of such a great sound as a 3 piece with no backup performers or musicians and little or no sound effects/backing tracks/ Synthesizer accompaniment. I wouldn’t say they were as good as the Stones when I saw them at the Stadium last year but for those people who were big fans back in the 80s I am sure they didn’t go away disappointed.
And the 40 plus minute wait to exit the stadium along with the 45 minutes or so drive back to OC left me with the realization that sans another Stones tour I will most likely never go to another concert at Dodger Stadium again. Fun Night-not perfect but fun.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
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