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HORDE Festival,
Texas Shows The HORDE Festival hit Texas for two shows, Austin and Dallas. With my favorite BNL boys in the lineup, when they come to TX, its like Christmas for me. Hitting the road armed with their new CD Stunt in my cassette player, I was ready for fun. What I wasn't ready for was a torrential monsoon that hit TX that weekend after about a 6 month drought. This outdoor festival at Southpark Meadows in Austin became a mud bowl, but didn't seem to dimish the spirits of hard core concert goers. I got to the main stage in time to see a new favorite of mine, Fastball. They have that catchy song "The Way" that everyone's been singing and lots of other great songs like Sweetwater TX and Fire Escape. They mix pop hooks, melodic lyrics, and heavy guitars for a sound that is really in demand today. Their CD All the Pain Money Can Buy is full of great stuff, definitely worth checking out. On the second stage at this HORDE, we were treated with Cherry Poppin' Daddies and Cowboy Mouth. While I didn't get to see them, I heard the CPD had some problems with mud being hurled at them and I caught the interminable 20 minute version of CM's Jenny Said over the PA at the main stage. What an annoying bass line. So, BNL hits the stage and I am soggy and crammed up front, but there's no where else that I'd rather be. They hit the stage with Old Apartment and then Straw Hat, and then continued with such great tunes as Jane and Hello City. The crowd loved the new stuff, particularly the new hit "One Week" featuring the white boy rap stylin's of Ed Robertson. Other favs were It's All Been Done and Never is Enough. Banter at this show included acknowledging a woman in the crowd that had flashed the band, but left her shirt up a bit too long. Steve proclaimed that he was "sick of boobies", to which Tyler launched into a "sick of boobies" drum beat, which he ended with "show us your nuts". Not being one to question authority, Ed proceeds to drop his drawers and wiggle around in his long, tighty Calvins. When Tyler once again screams "show us your nuts", Ed turns to face him, away from the audience, lets it all hang out, I am only to assume, because the several people at side stage were suddenly very red and embarrassed. These boys take their nudity seriously. Later on Steve sang a ditty about having seen Morgan Fairchild in the airport that morning as they were flying in from LA in which they had done a great job the night before on Leno. Leno had even called them over to the couch for a fairly lengthy interview where Steve and Ed talked about getting piles of sweat socks thrown at them and a funny incident involving getting stuck in an elevator in Amsterdam and more nakedness. The highlight of the show for me was at the end of $1M. Steve was doing his standard Memories from Cats rendition, he moved to the end of the stage, and with the rain and the wind and the big white light shining on him, made for one hell of a dramatic finish. A picture of that would have been cool!!! They rapped and they left the crowd begging for more than the one hour HORDE set allowed. Afterwards, I headed to downtown Austin (after the tractor pull that was the parking lot), and got to enjoy a gig featuring Chris Brown, BNL's sub keyboardist (see Friends of Kevin Hearn page), and his normal partner, Kate Fenner, at Ruta Maya. They have an awesome thing going on. Chris plays keyboards and guitar and Kate has a sultry deep voice. My favorite songs of the evening included "whoever built this would never live here" and "pigeons" (a song about the beauty of the birds being lost on their sheer quantity). Ed and Jim of BNL joined them for a couple of tunes at the end, making for a 3/5 of BNL jam. A new song that came out of a result of a late night bus ride had the chorus "and I will drive while you sleep" which was also a highlight of the set. So, then it was off to Dallas to Starplex, much better weather and being held in a real ampitheater versus a muddy bog. We were treated to basically the same Fastball set, but then as we wandered about the festival, we stopped at the workshop stage where Chris and Kate were once again getting ready to perform. This time, Steve Page joined in for some backing vocals, so with the only Tyler missing, the crowd got to see most of BNL doing some really jammin' stuff. On one tune, Ed took control of a drum kit and showed some major rhythm. If you are at a BNL show, try to pick up the Chris Brown CD. It's a unique gem. The BNL set had most of the same songs as the previous day with the inclusion of Alcohol, a rocking ditty that discusses the irony of joy and insecurity associated with addiction. Banter included Ed commenting about the inflated condoms in the pavilion and how a little boy thought it was a balloon. When the security guard kindly handed it over to him, his parents were somewhat disgusted. Now Ed was singing about it, much to their continued embarrassment. Throughout the set, Steve was screaming out the names of different rock bands, saying they were all from TX (even though they all weren't). Afterwards, the boys signed autographs for the 500 people that waited in line for an hour. BNL's popularity, while deserved, is still a bit amazing for me. I'm so glad to see that everyone, and I mean everyone, is finding out what I have known for so long. BNL is the best! Once again, I must apologize for not paying closer attention to the other HORDE headliners. I listened to a bit of Ben Harper and found his funky style to be talented, but not my thing. I did get to listen to a bit of Blues Traveler and really liked their Imagine by John Lennon cover, but couldn't handle the interminably long (pop songs times 2) versions of their hits and John Popper going through an artillery of harmonicas. Unfortunately, the pavilion cleared out to half full for BT, thus confirming that the crowds had lined up for BNL. So, with HORDE rapping up in a week, BNL is poised for some special events in Sept. (MTV Video Awards) and a fall solo tour starting in Oct. I'm there!!!
On That Note, I'm outta here...... C |
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