Venue: Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island: (4/6) I think I must be getting fussier as I get older I found that while I still love the Charter One Pavilion, the audio set up is very off balance and like so many venues and it makes for some pretty nasty distortion, especially with the vocals. Now this may not be true for every one but personally I find the vocals one of the most important parts of rock music. I’m a huge sucker for lyrics. So when the awful clipping noise your bass makes drowns out my artists I get a little miffed. Even John Rzeznik commented on it. I’ve seen this way too often especially at outdoor venues. I appreciate good bass, but people please, it’s not all of the music. If you overdo the bass you drown out many of the details that make or break a good artist.
I’ve been to the Charter One five times that I remember. As a result, I’m used to ignoring the unhelpful staff and overpriced (even for concerts) drinks. I did notice the security was more vigilant than in the past, which was nice, if annoying because I had to pull out my ticket more often. Granted that’s preferable to lax security.
Small tangent: I have a great respect for the people who do security at concerts. In my option they are one part ninja, one part gladiator with the patience of a saint. These are not petite people- they have to be burly enough to be able to physically escort out drunk, rowdy people. They put up with being shit talked, cussed at and probably hit. They get puke cleaned up. And they do all of that nearly invisibly. I’ve more than once seen security appear when they were otherwise nowhere to be seen, deal with an issue and vanish again.
Crowd: (2/6) I don’t’ know if it was Michele branch’s horrible performance, the heat or what, but the crowd was dead. Even when the Goo Goo Dolls played ”Name“ (their biggest song) the crowd was fairly dreary. They perked up once ”Better days“ played, nearly half way through the show. I noticed an interesting dynamic. At other Goo Goo Dolls shows I’ve been to, the songs they played from Dizzy Up the Girl (1998) and of course ”Name“ (1996). However, this time their stuff from Let Love In (2007) was what sparked the crowd. An interesting phenomenon considering how much bigger Dizzy up The Girl was.
Opener: Michelle Branch (1/6). I vaguely enjoyed hearing "Everywhere" on the radio, and the handful of singles I knew of hers. She was always decent, not good, not bad just decent. Live it was a different matter. She gets a point for effort for certain; she was enthusiastic and interacted with the crowd as much as she could. (See previous comments on the crowd) However, she had only rudimentary talent on the guitar, clumsy even with the simpler cords and her guitar sounded slightly off. Not quite out of tune, just off.
Vocally she has no training and unlike many artists, it shows. While I appreciate a raw, otherwise good voice, this was not one of those. Her voice was tinny and flat most of the time, especially on the ‘showy’ notes. To be quite honest, it was bad enough that I had trouble paying attention and walked off to get a soda about half way into her set.
Her recorded stuff is not much better, to be quite honest. Wrenched vocalist.
Main Act: The Goo Goo Dolls (4/6) this is my third show with the Goo Goo dolls. I adore them. There is something very honest about their lyrics and the fact that the two front men have been a part of the band for 25 years makes for a very strong dynamic between the two of them. Bassist and occasional front man Robby Takac keeps them honest to their punk roots, while John Rzeznik gives them their more famous glossy alternative rock sound. The addition of other members has filled out their overall sound and given them more verity than their past roots.
While I will admit this was not their best performance, Rzeznik’s voice is getting a little tired and the energy wasn’t stellar (though I blame that on the crowd), I thought it was still a through good show. John Rzeznik is always a pleasure to listen to both as a musician and a speaker and his dynamic with Takac is wonderful to watch. Despite Rzeznik being the more popular of the two front men, he often defers to Takac letting him have the spot light as often as Rzeznik himself does. Both men bring their own distinctive sound to the table. Rzeznik has a gravely, melodic voice that embodies their genre so well. Takac has a voice like a goblin and a grin to match, which adds a lovely mischievous tone to some of their work.
The addition of a mandolin on “Iris” and saxophone on ”Broadway” adds welcome spice to an already very good show. Especially given that the saxophone is not on the album, adding just that much more to the live show.
Overall I acknowledge the band is aging, but they are still and I think forever will be one of my favorites.
And, incidentally, I was right about their new album. Wonderful stuff.
Showing posts with label Charter One Pavilion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charter One Pavilion. Show all posts
July 18, 2011
August 12, 2010
Carnival of Maddess: Shinedown at Charter One Pavilion
The Venue (Charter One Pavilion): (3/5) I continue to be unimpressed with the staff at this venue. They are not knowledgeable about the event, or even the facility. The security is relatively lax, which happens at temporary venues. The venue is cobbled together rather chaotically with minimal signs and minimal layout. If one can get lost in a few yard area, there is something wrong. For being temporary bathrooms, the bathrooms were acutely relatively nice.
The sound and lighting quality were solid especially for a temporary venue.
Honestly, the biggest perk about this venue is the artists that come to it.
The Crowd (3/5): Typical, lazy festival crowd, even Brent Smith had to work hard to get the crowd moving. And when Shinedown’s front man has to work hard, you know it’s a lazy crowd. Interesting phenomenon, they were significantly quieter for the songs from Leave A Whisper(2003), than from either Us and Them(2005) or Sound Of Madness(2008).
On to the show:
Shinedown (4/5): Shinedown is in my top three bands from a raw energy standpoint. Smith is phenomenal with the audience and very gracious. However, the energy wasn’t as good as other shows of theirs I’ve seen, but it was still amazing. For me there was a little much of the oldest album, as it didn’t seem to work for the crowd that well. While it is important to keep the older albums alive as a hat tip to the fans that have stuck with the band since the beginning, it is also imperative you pay attention to the crowd and their reactions.
I also find Shinedown’s sets have a disproportionate number of their slower songs. While many of their singles are the ballads, Shinedown at its core is right on the edge of metal. Most of their stuff is hard-edged power rock. That being said, those slow songs are some of the most powerful songs I’ve heard, partly because I “get” them on some deep level.
All of the band members are showmen, if nothing else. In addition to their incredible talent, Smith and guitarist Zach Myers have a wonderful dynamic on stage. They are in a constant, very well balanced give and take. Even from the audience, the bond this band shares is palpable, especially between Smith and Myers.
The member I was most struck with last night, however, was the drummer. I noticed that one of the things that distinguish Shinedown from other acts in their genera is the superb quality of the drum work. I don’t usually notice the drummers, save for the occasional solo, but drummer, Barry Kerch, absolutely blew me away with the sheer power of the his drumming.
Overall, it was a hard crowd and a wonderful show.
The sound and lighting quality were solid especially for a temporary venue.
Honestly, the biggest perk about this venue is the artists that come to it.
The Crowd (3/5): Typical, lazy festival crowd, even Brent Smith had to work hard to get the crowd moving. And when Shinedown’s front man has to work hard, you know it’s a lazy crowd. Interesting phenomenon, they were significantly quieter for the songs from Leave A Whisper(2003), than from either Us and Them(2005) or Sound Of Madness(2008).
On to the show:
Shinedown (4/5): Shinedown is in my top three bands from a raw energy standpoint. Smith is phenomenal with the audience and very gracious. However, the energy wasn’t as good as other shows of theirs I’ve seen, but it was still amazing. For me there was a little much of the oldest album, as it didn’t seem to work for the crowd that well. While it is important to keep the older albums alive as a hat tip to the fans that have stuck with the band since the beginning, it is also imperative you pay attention to the crowd and their reactions.
I also find Shinedown’s sets have a disproportionate number of their slower songs. While many of their singles are the ballads, Shinedown at its core is right on the edge of metal. Most of their stuff is hard-edged power rock. That being said, those slow songs are some of the most powerful songs I’ve heard, partly because I “get” them on some deep level.
All of the band members are showmen, if nothing else. In addition to their incredible talent, Smith and guitarist Zach Myers have a wonderful dynamic on stage. They are in a constant, very well balanced give and take. Even from the audience, the bond this band shares is palpable, especially between Smith and Myers.
The member I was most struck with last night, however, was the drummer. I noticed that one of the things that distinguish Shinedown from other acts in their genera is the superb quality of the drum work. I don’t usually notice the drummers, save for the occasional solo, but drummer, Barry Kerch, absolutely blew me away with the sheer power of the his drumming.
Overall, it was a hard crowd and a wonderful show.
July 21, 2010
Goo Goo Dolls with Then Spill Canvas(unreviewed) and Switchfoot(unreviwed) at the Charter One Pavillion
The Charter One Pavilion(3/5): This venue tends to feel a little jury-rigged despite being designed explicitly for music purposes. At this show, in addition to the built in bleacher, there were rows of folding chairs in what is normally part of the pit and then there was a smaller pit gated off in front of it. The barriers and seats were all completely temporary and security was minimal. Which worked to my advantage as I ended up standing in the isle.
Every time I’ve been to this venue, the merch booth and concessions booths have been very hodgepodge and the crowd management was poor. With the names that come through there, I’m frankly surprised it hasn’t been addressed.
To be honest, this venue always has festival feeling too it, except it’s not as well organized and set up as most festivals.
The sound quality is decent, however and oftentimes the names they bring in make up for the mediocrity outside the amphitheater itself, as does the ability to see surprisingly well from most locations. Another nice thing is that the merch booth does take credit cards.
And every show I’ve been to at this venue there have been signings.
On to the show:
The crowd: (3/5) It felt like a festival crowd, very laid back and mildly indifferent about the openers. They did pick up significantly during the show but even then it wasn’t the fury I’ve seen in other crowds.
The Goo Goo Dolls were sadly the only band I got to really pay attention to due to some logistic issues. However I did snag a signed ticket from the Spill Canvas.
The Goo Goo Dolls(4/5) I admit I had to focus hard to get past the huge amount of nostalgia and review. I have been following The Goo Goo Dolls since 1996 and have been to shows of there several times, everytime was wonderful.
The Goo Goo Dolls have an interesting dynamic because they have two front men with two relatively different styles. Johnny Rzeznik is the more predominant front man and favors pop-rock vocals and Robby Takac on the secondary lead has more of a punk-rock flavor to his songs and distinctive voice.
Rzeznik writes the majority of the lyrics, which is what drew me to the band when I was fifteen. Their music spans from irreverent punk to loves songs by way of hope and despair.
It is a deep pleasure to see a band whose core members have been together for so long. Rezeznik and Takac founde the band in 1986 and the newest member , drummer Mike Malinin joined in 1995, just after Boy Named Goo debuted. The dynamic is wonderful between the two front men especially, and between both artists and the audience. Rzeznik has a stronger presence, however and is more popular amongst the fans. Personally though, Robby has grown on me significantly over the years and I find his gremlin like appearance and voice utterly charming.
And there was a saxophone dueling with two guitars. In a rock song.
They haven’t released a lot of new material since 2006, so that could have been disappointing for some fans. I should take off points for this but the fact is they put on the same wonderful quality show they always have, so who am I to complain if they take five years to write an album? And according to wikipedia they went back to the studio out of professionalism, to make the album even better.
And based on the few songs they did play off that album--we haven’t seen anything yet.
I went into this review trying to be honest and analytical, but the truth is Johnny Rzeznik has been an inspiration to me since I was young and I owe a large part of my emotional survival to The Goo Goo dolls. It was an emotionaly charged, energetic show and I loved every minute. Well, done, guys, well fucking done.
Every time I’ve been to this venue, the merch booth and concessions booths have been very hodgepodge and the crowd management was poor. With the names that come through there, I’m frankly surprised it hasn’t been addressed.
To be honest, this venue always has festival feeling too it, except it’s not as well organized and set up as most festivals.
The sound quality is decent, however and oftentimes the names they bring in make up for the mediocrity outside the amphitheater itself, as does the ability to see surprisingly well from most locations. Another nice thing is that the merch booth does take credit cards.
And every show I’ve been to at this venue there have been signings.
On to the show:
The crowd: (3/5) It felt like a festival crowd, very laid back and mildly indifferent about the openers. They did pick up significantly during the show but even then it wasn’t the fury I’ve seen in other crowds.
The Goo Goo Dolls were sadly the only band I got to really pay attention to due to some logistic issues. However I did snag a signed ticket from the Spill Canvas.
The Goo Goo Dolls(4/5) I admit I had to focus hard to get past the huge amount of nostalgia and review. I have been following The Goo Goo Dolls since 1996 and have been to shows of there several times, everytime was wonderful.
The Goo Goo Dolls have an interesting dynamic because they have two front men with two relatively different styles. Johnny Rzeznik is the more predominant front man and favors pop-rock vocals and Robby Takac on the secondary lead has more of a punk-rock flavor to his songs and distinctive voice.
Rzeznik writes the majority of the lyrics, which is what drew me to the band when I was fifteen. Their music spans from irreverent punk to loves songs by way of hope and despair.
It is a deep pleasure to see a band whose core members have been together for so long. Rezeznik and Takac founde the band in 1986 and the newest member , drummer Mike Malinin joined in 1995, just after Boy Named Goo debuted. The dynamic is wonderful between the two front men especially, and between both artists and the audience. Rzeznik has a stronger presence, however and is more popular amongst the fans. Personally though, Robby has grown on me significantly over the years and I find his gremlin like appearance and voice utterly charming.
And there was a saxophone dueling with two guitars. In a rock song.
They haven’t released a lot of new material since 2006, so that could have been disappointing for some fans. I should take off points for this but the fact is they put on the same wonderful quality show they always have, so who am I to complain if they take five years to write an album? And according to wikipedia they went back to the studio out of professionalism, to make the album even better.
And based on the few songs they did play off that album--we haven’t seen anything yet.
I went into this review trying to be honest and analytical, but the truth is Johnny Rzeznik has been an inspiration to me since I was young and I owe a large part of my emotional survival to The Goo Goo dolls. It was an emotionaly charged, energetic show and I loved every minute. Well, done, guys, well fucking done.
May 16, 2010
Bamboozel 2010: Kill Hannah, 3OH!3 at the Charter One Pavillion
Bamboozle (8/10): Music festivals are an entirely different animal than most other shows. They tend to be outside and people don’t usually come explicitly for one artist. Some people come just for the atmosphere. Overpriced beer and junk-food may not be as appealing in other arenas but when you’re hanging out with friends and hearing live music, to some that is excellent.
And of course, there’s the music, for the price of one show (or less for some festivals) you can see multiple artists. The sets and the fame usually get bigger as the night progresses.
In Bamboozle’s case it was $35 for up to twelve acts (some were DJ). I was a little more selective than that and went to just three acts(I skipped reviewing Treaty of Paris as I was exhausted) and overheard the rest. One of the things that made Bamboozle unique from what I’ve seen is that you could actually see all of the acts present. There was no overlap between sets. While this meant shorter sets, it also meant you didn’t have to pick and choose. The side stage was also close to the main stage so you didn’t have to bolt between sets.
This was like the speed dating of festivals. other festivals i’ve seen are 3 days or more with 1-2 hour sets (my old home town, Milwaukee festival Summerfest (warning flash site), is a full 11 days long) Bamboozle managed to cram what could have been two days worth of music into one. The result could have been catastrophic, but it was amazing. The sets i saw were only 30 minutes a piece, and were very close together.
The Venue--( Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island)(7/10) I feel like im comparing apples to oranges when rating an outdoor venue against indoor venues. They are really differnt animals. The Charter One Pavilion has an enormous 7,500 person capcity, yet I’ve been in several plces at the venue and you can generally see fairly well (exception is the par for the corse 6 foot tall guy in front of my 5’1“ self, which thankfully didn’t happen this go). Another nice thing about sprawling outdoor venues is you get all the volume without as much pain on the ears. This venue has been suprisingly cheep too. I think the most I’ve paid for a show there was $75.
I feel most of the downsides are part of the nature of outside venues (weather, not as clean). However, the food and beverage prices are a bit ridiculous even for a concert ($4-5 for a 20oz bottle of water, $8 for nachos)
There was one odd nice touch, the merch booth took credit cards wich I’ve never seen before at an outdoor festival, heck some indoor shows don’t take credit, wich was a huge load off my mind.
The crowd--(6/10) The usual festival crowd which was a mix of very lively fans and laid back folks who were just there for the festival. A very comfortable, but hard to rate and even harder to anylize crowd.
On to the shows:
First Act-- (Kill Hannah)(7/10) An old favorite of mine that I’ve gushed over repeatedly, so I’ll keep it short. This was the welcome home show after an intense three week tour of Europe. They were wonderful as usual, with front man Mat Divine’s powerhouse energy and unique voice carried over a set that comprised of as many songs as the band could play in thirty minutes. It was a pleasure to see the guys back on their home stomping grounds.
And even more of a pleasure to see the guys Just hanging out and signing and chatting with fans. It was not the traditional Meet them from behind a table, be forced to buy a CD and wait in a huge line set up. They were just there among the people. While not part of the set, i found it really cool how amicable they are with their fans.
Second Act (3OH!3) (8/10): A total surprise considering It took a very long time for me to warm up to their recorded work and even now I only really like a few songs. They really brought the metaphoric house down.
3OH!3 is an odd band that is hard to figure out what to make of (according to wikipeda they are ”crunkcore“ I’d put them closer to hip-hop). On first listen their lyrics are rude, and seem sexist but there is something inexplicably catchy about it. However, the more i listen to them, the more i think they are parodying the hip hop culture, a bold move for young men who very clearly don’t look like they are a part of that culture. Its tongue in cheek that often comes very close to the style it is parodying.
Frontmen Nat Motte and Sean Forman were smashing on stage. I’ve never seen a hip hop show live before, and this was really something. The two of them were not only very articulate but incredibly fast spoken. I found myself genuinely liking them which frankly surprised me. They also took a moment to introduce the rest of the band, a nice touch and balanced the set nicely only intruding one completely new song, which the crowd liked as much as the previous set.
Electronic is hard to balance, and I think they did a very nice job incorporating electronic elements without it being a distraction.
Overall a good show.
And of course, there’s the music, for the price of one show (or less for some festivals) you can see multiple artists. The sets and the fame usually get bigger as the night progresses.
In Bamboozle’s case it was $35 for up to twelve acts (some were DJ). I was a little more selective than that and went to just three acts(I skipped reviewing Treaty of Paris as I was exhausted) and overheard the rest. One of the things that made Bamboozle unique from what I’ve seen is that you could actually see all of the acts present. There was no overlap between sets. While this meant shorter sets, it also meant you didn’t have to pick and choose. The side stage was also close to the main stage so you didn’t have to bolt between sets.
This was like the speed dating of festivals. other festivals i’ve seen are 3 days or more with 1-2 hour sets (my old home town, Milwaukee festival Summerfest (warning flash site), is a full 11 days long) Bamboozle managed to cram what could have been two days worth of music into one. The result could have been catastrophic, but it was amazing. The sets i saw were only 30 minutes a piece, and were very close together.
The Venue--( Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island)(7/10) I feel like im comparing apples to oranges when rating an outdoor venue against indoor venues. They are really differnt animals. The Charter One Pavilion has an enormous 7,500 person capcity, yet I’ve been in several plces at the venue and you can generally see fairly well (exception is the par for the corse 6 foot tall guy in front of my 5’1“ self, which thankfully didn’t happen this go). Another nice thing about sprawling outdoor venues is you get all the volume without as much pain on the ears. This venue has been suprisingly cheep too. I think the most I’ve paid for a show there was $75.
I feel most of the downsides are part of the nature of outside venues (weather, not as clean). However, the food and beverage prices are a bit ridiculous even for a concert ($4-5 for a 20oz bottle of water, $8 for nachos)
There was one odd nice touch, the merch booth took credit cards wich I’ve never seen before at an outdoor festival, heck some indoor shows don’t take credit, wich was a huge load off my mind.
The crowd--(6/10) The usual festival crowd which was a mix of very lively fans and laid back folks who were just there for the festival. A very comfortable, but hard to rate and even harder to anylize crowd.
On to the shows:
First Act-- (Kill Hannah)(7/10) An old favorite of mine that I’ve gushed over repeatedly, so I’ll keep it short. This was the welcome home show after an intense three week tour of Europe. They were wonderful as usual, with front man Mat Divine’s powerhouse energy and unique voice carried over a set that comprised of as many songs as the band could play in thirty minutes. It was a pleasure to see the guys back on their home stomping grounds.
And even more of a pleasure to see the guys Just hanging out and signing and chatting with fans. It was not the traditional Meet them from behind a table, be forced to buy a CD and wait in a huge line set up. They were just there among the people. While not part of the set, i found it really cool how amicable they are with their fans.
Second Act (3OH!3) (8/10): A total surprise considering It took a very long time for me to warm up to their recorded work and even now I only really like a few songs. They really brought the metaphoric house down.
3OH!3 is an odd band that is hard to figure out what to make of (according to wikipeda they are ”crunkcore“ I’d put them closer to hip-hop). On first listen their lyrics are rude, and seem sexist but there is something inexplicably catchy about it. However, the more i listen to them, the more i think they are parodying the hip hop culture, a bold move for young men who very clearly don’t look like they are a part of that culture. Its tongue in cheek that often comes very close to the style it is parodying.
Frontmen Nat Motte and Sean Forman were smashing on stage. I’ve never seen a hip hop show live before, and this was really something. The two of them were not only very articulate but incredibly fast spoken. I found myself genuinely liking them which frankly surprised me. They also took a moment to introduce the rest of the band, a nice touch and balanced the set nicely only intruding one completely new song, which the crowd liked as much as the previous set.
Electronic is hard to balance, and I think they did a very nice job incorporating electronic elements without it being a distraction.
Overall a good show.
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