Q101 Jamboree, May 23, 1998
New World Music Theater
Tinley Park, IL
Continuing with my rock and roll travels, I spent my Memorial Day weekend up in Chicago
for the Q101 Jamboree. I had special reason to be excited about this one, since it
would feature Barenaked Ladies, who I had not seen since my
Christmas Tour in December. The Jamboree took place at the New World Music Theater
in Tinley Park, IL, about 30 minutes outside of Chicago. With a main stage and side
second stage, we were in for a day of great music from some of my favorite bands.
The first band that opened the day on the 2nd stage was Austin's own Fastball. I had just seen
them a few weeks ago in Atlanta, and they were on here again. Their big hit
"The Way" was the one everyone was waiting for, but I also enjoyed "Out of
My Head" and "Sooner or Later". Their sound is high energy
pop/rock, with what sounds like British influences. These guys have been very busy,
explaining that they had been in Phoenix (touring with Everclear and Marcy Playground) and
were heading out right after their 1pm Chicago gig to go to Las Vegas for a show that
night. That's rock and roll.
After Fastball, we went into the Pavilion for a bit of Space Hog, but other than the hit "In The
Meantime", I was not too impressed. Back out to the 2nd stage, and we listened
to Eve 6, another band I had seen in Atlanta and got to hear
"Showerhead" and "Inside Out" again. I really like this band
with their power pop sound and cool cover of "Leavin' on a Jetplane."
Next up was Ben Folds Five on the main stage.
BFF is one of my favorite bands, and I have had the opportunity to see them
on many occasions recently. They played all their hits from their two CDs, including
"Brick", "Battle of Who Could Care Less", and the most recent
"Song For the Dumped" as the closer. BFF usually has a bit more fun with
the crowd than they did at this show, but the limited time during the festival format
kept them from goofing off too much. Also, since it was so early in the day,
it was really hard for anyone to get completely into their show, with the Pavilion only
about 1/2 full at this point.
After BFF, I headed back out to the 2nd stage to catch Harvey Danger and then They Might Be Giants. HD has this great catchy tune
Flagpole Sitta that is currently getting much radio and MTV play. The rest of their
set was similar, but nothing stands out. They Might Be Giants, who are always great,
played to a very active crowd, and included all their great songs including Particle Man,
Birdhouse in Your Soul, James K. Polk (complete with cannon confetti blast), and the conga
routine, which converted the moss pit into a snaking conga line.
I passed through the main stage throughout the evening enjoying acts like Scott Weiland (of
Stone Temple Pilots), Soul
Asylum, and Foo Fighters, but did not soak up
enough to truly comment. Scott Weiland looked in good shape and had an energetic
show. Both Soul Asylum and Foo Fighters spent the evening cranking out hits.
On a side note, Minnie Driver was spotted at the show. She later got on stage during
the Foo Fighters set to take pictures of the drummer, Taylor Hawkins, who she is now
dating.
Now on to the highlight of the evening, Barenaked Ladies. I
was experiencing major withdrawals, having not seen them since December. Basically,
they could have stood onstage in their underwear singing "My Country Tis of
Thee" and I would have been happy. However, they gave a
great show, if I must say so myself. Opening with last year's hit "The Old
Apartment", they had the crowd on both lawn and pavilion on their feet (even though
it was only 6pm and still daylight). The setlist also included "Straw
Hat", "Alternative Girlfriend", "Brian Wilson" , and
"If I had $1M".
For the first time, I heard the brand new single from their upcoming new CD,
"Stunt" (in stores July 7). The tune is called "One Week" and it
features Steve singing the verses and Ed rapping in between. It's about having a
fight with someone and planning to make up in a week, but there's two days left 'til
someone says they're sorry. It's full of some very clever, yet obscure lyrics.
This holds a lot of promise to be a big hit for BNL, already receiving heavy
airplay in Chicago and Detroit. As always, Ed and Steve provided funny banter, even
with the limited timeframe of the festival. Ed commented to the people on the hill
that they should be careful when sitting to pull their underwear out of their cracks
occasionally, saying that "if you think the mosh pit is dangerous, the lawn can be a
blood bath." Then Steve chimed in that at a Soundgarden concert he had found
someone else's underwear in his crack. During $1M. while Steve was signing the Kraft
Dinner part, he started commenting that Scott Weiland (who had been on the main stage just
before BNL) would never sing a song about Macaroni and Cheese. Then Steve proceeded
to wriggle around in Scott Weiland fashion, singing the rest of the verse. Then Ed
chimed in, continuing with the KD theme, but this time to the tune of
"Plush" (STP song), something about the "cheese brown and bubbling to the
top." The crowd loved it. After $1M, the rap had been revised a bit with
the most memorable being the addition of a "near/far" theme in Sesame Street
fashion in which Tyler yells "near" and the whole band runs to the front of the
stage, "far" and the whole band runs to the back. Then Steve lights into
the "Near... Far ....wherever you are" portion of the Celine Dion Titantic
song. And as quickly as you can say DiCaprio, they are changing the stream of
consciousness to a funny little song about the Titantic sinking. They end with the
everyone dancing and Kevin jumping into Jim's arms. The crowd was at their feet
yelling for more. They have such a big following in the north and it is just a
matter of time before they achieve "world pop domination". They are
continuing on the HORDE festival starting in
July with plans for a solo tour in the fall. They will be at a venue near you, so
make sure you check them out on my advice. You won't be disappointed.
On That Note, I'm outta here......
C
|
