Live - Tower City Ampetheatre, Cleveland OH 8.31.02
Posted by Jeff Modzelewski on 09.03.2002
"Dueling Live reviews. What is this, Scott Keith and PK?"
Hey folks. Before I get started, I just want to introduce myself very quickly. I've been hanging out on 411 for a couple of years, reading the wrestling and video game news. When I saw the opening of a music portion of the site, I jumped on the chance to do a column. Widro basically said I could do whatever the hell I want, which is pretty damn cool if you ask me. Anyways, I'm gonna be doing a variety of things around here, but what I'm really looking forward to is a weekly column I want to do that is tentatively titled "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." Cliche, yes, but titles aren't my strong point. Anyways, it's going to focus on music from my point of view. I like all sorts of music, but it isn't always obvious why I like one band over another or why I don't like certain songs, and I'm gonna try and explain where I'm coming from in music. Anyways, more on the column when I actually WRITE the column, so here's the review.
First off, I wasn't even planning on going to this show until about 3 hours before it started. I didn't even know they were playing, since I live in Columbus now, and I was just visiting Cleveland for the weekend. Anyways, for $5, I'll see just about anyone, especially a band that I've always thought was pretty good. They were playing the Taste of Cleveland festival, so most of the crowd was there more for the festival then for the band. I saw them back in 95 on the Throwing Copper tour, and I've stayed pretty informed about their music, so I wanted to see how a live Live show has changed over the years. It has, and not entirely for the better.
They opened up with Simple Creed, which was a fairly obvious choice. After that was Like a Soldier. They finally got the crowd going with All Over You, which, while it sounded good enough, lacked the energy that I had hoped to see from the band. That was a trend that would play out throughout the night. The Distance was next, again with the band seemingly just going through the motions. They got the crowd involved at the end of the song with a sing along to the line "Hold out for something sweeter." The political statement of the night came with Ed saying "Hold out for a world without terrorism, that'd be pretty fuckin' sweet." Thank you Ed for working a crowd by not only talking about terrorism, but also using the word "fuck." That's a good way to get a festival crowd, most of which only know your singles, going. They followed up with Selling the Drama, again, without the energy that the song once had. Voodoo Lady and Call me a Fool showed some signs of life, and Pillar of Davidson was enough of a suprise to get me excited. They followed up with Lakinis Juice. It was the first time that the entire band seemed to really get into the set. The energy was everywhere, even if Ed wasn't hitting the notes while singing "Let me ride." Deep Enough followed, and pretty much killed the momentum of Lakini's Juice. Lightening Crashes was recognizable enough to keep the crowd going and singing along, though, and Dolphins Cry was great. They closed out the set with White, Discussion, which is, in my opinion one of their best songs. Why it never really had success as a single, I don't understand
The encore started out with Shit Town, which saw Ed having guitar troubles. It's always fun to see the band stop totally after the first chorus in order to make a guitar change. Run to the Water followed, and then I Alone. While they could've done without Run to the Water between two pretty heavy songs, it worked out pretty well. They closed the set with Overcome, deciding to go out on a quiet, emotional note rather than with a heavier, more energetic song
For $5, I'm not going to complain about any band. However, it was unfortunate that, 7 years after first seeing them, it seems like Live has become more and more Adult Contemporary. The show didn't have nearly the energy that I had hoped for, and by ignoring the Mental Jewelry album completely, they left off many of their best songs. They're definetly a band that is still making good music, and still putting on good shows. They sounded on key for the majority of the concert, but they were unable to really build and keep momentumand crowd energy. I'd have no problem checking them out again, but I wouldn't spend any more than $15 to do so.
The 411:
The 411: Live would be smart to go back to their older stuff a little more, and re-learn how to keep the energy of a crowd up.
