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Mixfest, GovernmentCenter, Boston, MA
and Providence BNL show
Mixfest acts other than BNL: SarahMcLachlan, Paula Cole, Lisa Loeb Hitting the road again for another couple of BNL shows, this time it was the beautifulnortheast to take in some of the fall foliage and great music. Mix 98.5 was holding theirannual Mixfest with many talented acts over a two day span. I only made it out for thesecond day, Sunday, October, 12, but I missed some good acts on Saturday, like one of mynew favorites, Sister Hazel, and the timetranscending, aging Monkees of sixties cheese TV fame. About 100,000 people descended on the Government Center area near Fanueil Hall whichmade viewing a huge problem, even for me, who always seems to work a descent crowdposition. I had a very obstructed view and learned a lesson that if Gold Circle ticketsare available by making a $50 donation to charity, then I damn better shell out the cashnext time. A very good review of the day is available at The Birdhouse by Paul Beasi, complete with somegreat photos. As a matter of fact, the photo above is also one of his (Thanks Paul!). BNL did about an hours worth of crowd pleasers opening with Shoebox, and playing manyof their recent standards like Jane, Straw Hat, Alternative Girlfriend, and Life, In aNutshell. They did a little banter about how much they liked Boston and shopping atFaneuil Hall, as well as some comments to the fans that had climbed trees in the center toget a better view. Ed proclaimed them as backup singers and then proceeded to have theentire audience give the finger to the tree people. Ed then did a little rap about them tothe tune of Under Pressure (David Bowie). The only Ed song that made the set was Great Provider, which is great, but I alwaysmiss when they leave out These Apples. Old Apartment was played with the Casey Kasemopening and the encore was the newest single for Brian Wilson. Friends of mine, who hadnever seen BNL before, and who had a much better view of the stage than I did, reallyloved the show. I watched Sarah's set from side stage and was glad that I had seen a full, unobstructedperformance from her on Tuesday in Houston.Her set was also fairly short, but she delighted the crowd, who had put in many hourswaiting for her performance, to many of her songs from Surfacing and Fumbling TowardsEcstacy. Her banter was less at this show, probably due to the limited time, so I felt sherevealed more about her motivation in the Houston show. The crowd loved her current hit,Building a Mystery, and a great highlight was when Jim Creeggan of Barenaked Ladies joinedher with his standup bass on Angel. I didn't get to see too much of either Paula Cole or Lisa Loeb, but they both soundedgreat from a distance. The crowd loved Paula doing Where Have All the Cowboys Gone, but Iprefer her newest single, I Don't Want to Wait. Lisa Loeb pleased the crowd with her hit,Stay, and had some a nice ease with the crowd as she talked about her experiences in thepast as a street performer in Harvard Square and how odd it was to show up at a huge eventlike Mixfest in a limo. Now on to Providence for a radio show (WDGE) in whichBNL headlined. There were four opening acts, three of which I had to endure, missing thefirst performance by Racquetball. The second band was one Size 14, which was a heavysounding, grunge-influenced group of kids that I probably would fallen asleep during,except they had some very funny songs with cute lyrics. Some that I remember were ClaireDanes Poster, I Grabbed Her Ass, and Give Satan a Hug. After that, Jimmie's Chicken Shackdisgusted me, and Tanya Donnelly, formerly of Throwing Muses, Breeders, and Belly, offeredlittle else than her hit Pretty Deep. I felt Pretty Bad for her during her performance, asshe had to look directly at a gangly dude that was jumping and swaying right in front ofher. That wouldn't be too terribly odd at a concert if everyone else had been doing thesame thing, but he was the only one. With a much improved position, second layer center, I was ready to enjoy a moreup-close-and-personal view of BNL. There were probably only about 400 people at this show,with tickets being available only through the radio station. This show was a little longerthan the Mixfest show, 75 minutes. The set list was similiar, but this time These Appleswas back. Banter consisted of a discussion of Columbus Day actually being Sausage Day inProvidence, a silly song about Kevin Hearn (Burn, Kevin Hearn) to which Kevin becameembarrassed and walked off stage, and multiple references to a "Book of Facts"that Ed had picked up for the soundman, Robin. The curtain closed after $1M and the rap,but the crowd cheered on, so they came out to perform the encore of Brian Wilson. A veryenergetic show, now BNL takes a bit of a break to do some writing and gear up for theChristmas tour season. On That Note, I'm outta here...... C |
