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First of
all, allow me to bring up a pet peeve that doesn't often
come up during your "normal" concert, which usually
entails lots of amps and loud(er) music. But this was an
acoustic show, and my blood was boiling Friday night!!
DO NOT carry on conversations out loud
while there is a performer on stage!!! I have seen and
heard live performances of various artists - from unknown
open mic night performers, to, in this case, Glen Phillips -
and it stuns me that while someone is on stage
performing, people feel free to talk at normal volume and
talk as if it were a jukebox playing. Leave. Go whisper in a
corner. But SHUT UP!!!
An acoustic
show like this is hard to write about. Not because it wasn't
great - quite the contrary, it was musically wonderful,
sweet, funny, and personal - but because it was simply a man
and his guitar. Peter Stuart for starters, then Glen
Phillips, former lead singer/songwriter for Toad the Wet
Sprocket. We were right there in front, sitting on the cold
tile floor, but it was worth it. What a great place to catch
a performer!! Up close and personal. (Check out the
Rave
Bar
comments). By the way, there was NO security for this
show. I even complained to the
bouncer!! :-)
Peter
Stuart opened for Glen. Donned with a cowboy hat and a big
grin, his wild ride of a show opened with a lovely acoustic
version of AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long." Yes,
that's right. In fact, interspersed in that was a little bit
of "What a Girl Wants" by Christina Aguilera. I suspect
this guy is much like the 40-hour ecstasy binge he once went
on (he was very open with the audience between songs).
(Yikes!!) Energetic and trippy, talented and fun, Peter
Stuart was just a great performer, singer/songwriter, with
a mischievous smile and an infectious personality. Sadly,
they were out of his CDs after the show ended... He had
a song I wanted to own that truly stuck out in my mind.
Being the lyric person I am, it caught my ear. It was called
"Vertigo" and the lyrics were. "I could get used
to this vertigo... Tell me what goes up doesn't have to come
down." Ah yes... It would be nice to do that for you Peter,
but this is a lyric from a man who shared he'd just moved to
Vegas (for a woman, nonetheless). :-) He obviously
loved the impromptu stuff, picking on audience members and
the like, as well as making numerous negative references
about Limp Bizkit. One audience member jokingly told Peter
he was "bitter," which was fuel for another song telling
that man his girlfriend was going to dump him. Peter didn't
give his musical resume, so we were unsure where he came
from but we knew his record company, well, to be a bit more
delicate than he was - "let them go." I've since found out
he was front man for a band called Dog's Eye View - a band
I only know of because my friend sent me some of their
stuff at one time and now I have the box but there is
no tape in it!! Grrrr! But she loved
them!!!
Glen
Phillips is just downright adorable. Definitely not a "rock
star," he could easily walk through the crowd without
drawing any kind of attention to himself. Jeans, button down
shirt, baby face... He's got a kind of shy demeanor on the
surface, but it's deceiving. "Hi, my name is Glen, and I'm a
professional entertainer," he says. But when he sings,
this powerful and quite stunning, magically sweet voice
comes out, singing everything from love songs to social
commentaries to songs of pure inspiration, at times signing
with such passion that it hurt me to watch him! While he
asked for requests from the audience (me yelling
"DESIRE!!"), his set list was a mix of old, new, and
non-Glen tunes. Toad favorites "Crowing," "All I Want,"
"Nancy," etc... I'll admit, the harmonies the audience
attempted didn't quite cut it on "Walk on the Ocean," but
for a short while it was kind of cool to be harmonizing
in person with Glen!! He also did a lot
of his new solo stuff - "Careless," "Everything
Matters," "Fred Meyers" (where Glen talked a bit
about starting a type of commune inside an abandoned mall),
and the first man-bashing-men song written in some time "Men
Just Leave," which I think must be something very
personal as it takes a very cynical view of how single men
deal with unexpected fatherhood. A couple a new songs
touched on a bit of a religious note (must be Nickel Creek
rubbing off on Glen!!) "Darkest Hour" (which he recorded
with Nickel Creek) a rather somber but hopeful ballad
(can that be?), and a sweet and humorous song called "Drive
By" about a young boy and his plea to God to save the life
of a dog "And I prayed 'Dear God, if You save this dog I
will never get high, I will never jack off, I will do all
the things that I should but have not, I'll be a good boy
from now on.' " Of course, he gets his "help," but breaks
his rather innocent promises. He had a little comic relief
with Randy Newman's "Political Science," as well as the song
where Glen shows his most fancy guitar work -- Stevie
Wonder's "Sir Duke." Ya' gotta wonder what inspired
covering THAT song. :-)
Both
performers talked and shared a lot on stage - the beauty of
the acoustic show in the smaller club. Both praised the
venue, raving about the Rave. Apparently Peter
& Glen walked around drinking whiskey, exploring
it's little hideaways, the lava lamps and big couches,
hidden areas, etc... Glen talked about wishing he was a tour
whore, because the Rave was such an awesome place to be one,
but then he endeared himself to every woman in the audience
when he told the story of meeting his wife at age 18,
falling madly in love and not looking back (except for
kissing a girl in Virginia once, which he said made him sick
for a week - he confessed to his now-wife and she laughed at
him!!). A big **swoon** fell upon us, even if we tried to
remain cool. Also, we found out that Glen is now wearing
underwear again after 8 years of freedom! (more than we
needed to know, perhaps, but interesting
trivia!!)
At the end
of the show, during the encore, Peter got up on stage and he
and Glen hammed it up on stage for a couple of songs, doing
an impromptu tune about Milwaukee. Of course, Laverne and
Shirley, beer and cheese were mentioned, and when Peter
mentioned Jeffrey Dahmer, Glen sang "But at least they
have Willy Porter..."
The saddest
part of all of this. The very next night, Glen and Nickel
Creek performed together in Madison. I wasn't there.
Sometimes, life is
CRUEL!! DAMN CRUEL!!
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