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Mixfest, Government
Center, Boston, MA
and Providence BNL show
Mixfest acts other than BNL: Sarah
McLachlan, Paula Cole, Lisa Loeb
Hitting the road again for another couple of BNL shows, this time it was the beautiful
northeast to take in some of the fall foliage and great music. Mix 98.5 was holding their
annual Mixfest with many talented acts over a two day span. I only made it out for the
second day, Sunday, October, 12, but I missed some good acts on Saturday, like one of my
new favorites, Sister Hazel, and the time
transcending, aging Monkees of sixties cheese TV fame.
About 100,000 people descended on the Government Center area near Fanueil Hall which
made viewing a huge problem, even for me, who always seems to work a descent crowd
position. I had a very obstructed view and learned a lesson that if Gold Circle tickets
are available by making a $50 donation to charity, then I damn better shell out the cash
next time. A very good review of the day is available at The Birdhouse by Paul Beasi, complete with some
great 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 many
of their recent standards like Jane, Straw Hat, Alternative Girlfriend, and Life, In a
Nutshell. They did a little banter about how much they liked Boston and shopping at
Faneuil Hall, as well as some comments to the fans that had climbed trees in the center to
get a better view. Ed proclaimed them as backup singers and then proceeded to have the
entire audience give the finger to the tree people. Ed then did a little rap about them to
the tune of Under Pressure (David Bowie).
The only Ed song that made the set was Great Provider, which is great, but I always
miss when they leave out These Apples. Old Apartment was played with the Casey Kasem
opening and the encore was the newest single for Brian Wilson. Friends of mine, who had
never seen BNL before, and who had a much better view of the stage than I did, really
loved the show.
I watched Sarah's set from side stage and was glad that I had seen a full, unobstructed
performance from her on Tuesday in Houston.
Her set was also fairly short, but she delighted the crowd, who had put in many hours
waiting for her performance, to many of her songs from Surfacing and Fumbling Towards
Ecstacy. Her banter was less at this show, probably due to the limited time, so I felt she
revealed 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 joined
her with his standup bass on Angel.
I didn't get to see too much of either Paula Cole or Lisa Loeb, but they both sounded
great from a distance. The crowd loved Paula doing Where Have All the Cowboys Gone, but I
prefer 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 the
past as a street performer in Harvard Square and how odd it was to show up at a huge event
like Mixfest in a limo.
Now on to Providence for a radio show (WDGE) in which
BNL headlined. There were four opening acts, three of which I had to endure, missing the
first performance by Racquetball. The second band was one Size 14, which was a heavy
sounding, 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 Claire
Danes Poster, I Grabbed Her Ass, and Give Satan a Hug. After that, Jimmie's Chicken Shack
disgusted me, and Tanya Donnelly, formerly of Throwing Muses, Breeders, and Belly, offered
little else than her hit Pretty Deep. I felt Pretty Bad for her during her performance, as
she had to look directly at a gangly dude that was jumping and swaying right in front of
her. That wouldn't be too terribly odd at a concert if everyone else had been doing the
same thing, but he was the only one.
With a much improved position, second layer center, I was ready to enjoy a more
up-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 longer
than the Mixfest show, 75 minutes. The set list was similiar, but this time These Apples
was back. Banter consisted of a discussion of Columbus Day actually being Sausage Day in
Providence, a silly song about Kevin Hearn (Burn, Kevin Hearn) to which Kevin became
embarrassed 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 very
energetic show, now BNL takes a bit of a break to do some writing and gear up for the
Christmas tour season.
On That Note, I'm outta here......
C
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