Concerts!

My bro, nephew, and I drove to Laramie to see Third Eye Blind on Friday night.

They were friggin' great!

The band did lots of creative arranging of the big hits like Jumper, Losing a Whole Year, SemiCharmed Life, and premiered some brand new stuff coming out this Tuesday.

If only every opening band on the planet didn't suck.

Seriously, every concert I've been to this year has had an abysmal warm-up.

We'll start with the Killers. (Okay, they were last year, but still...)
Opening acts...well...they were so horrid I forgot who they were. Just imagine jangly folk rock with dirty lyrics. And then there was Louis XIV. Like Jet, without the catchy hooks and songs about doing it.

Drive By Truckers' openers The Felice Brothers were a hodgepodge of drunken cajun-country punk songs about being drunk. Add to the mix a drummer who was a ringer for K-Fed.

Collective Soul had a generic Lillith Fair flunky named Hanna Pestle open for them in Boulder. Let's call her a boring solo act with vague similarities to Jewel and Lisa Loeb who murdered a Radiohead song for her finale.

Next up, Black Francis warming up the crowd at Red Rocks for Stone Temple Pilots. I'll describe them as a more "arty" version of the Ramones. Oh, wait, they actually had some talent, whereas BF just sounded like a speed freak muttering nonsense against a background of meandering punk noise.

Thank you Bruce Hornsby for not having an opening act!

And finally, Mark Rose, getting us ready for 3EB. Mark, Mark, Mark. There is already a John Mayer, Jason Mraz, and Jack Johnson. Watering down their styles and forgetting how to write a chorus wouldn't make them any better so why would it work for you?

Anyways, the headliners all rocked and made my ticket fees worth it. Lord help me if I announce an opening gig for a major band. There'd better be a snob in the crowd when that day comes.