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| From | Rick Bilous <rickbilous@yahoo.ca> |
| Subject | American Hi-Fi VS Fountains of Wayne |
| Date | Wed, 10 Sep 2003 02:55:48 -0400 (EDT) |
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I don't go to many concerts, not as many as I would like to anyways. However, I made a point of seeing Fountains of Wayne this July in Seattle. I was so pumped to see them, but after the show I was left a bit disappointed - musically, the band was solid, very professional BUT, they weren't very friendly. In fact, they made a point of stating how they hated being on the road and couldn't wait to get home. There was no witty repartee, nothing. It seemed like they couldn't wait to leave. In fact, once the show was over, they were gone. They didn't work their merchandise booth at all, (they left the opener, Ben Lee, to work the whole booth by himself), no autographs, nothing. Now I ask myself, was it really worth a 10 hour drive to see them? Don't get me wrong, musically, they really impressed me - Jody Porter is one helluva guitar player, but I honestly don't like them as much because of that live show. I talked about this with a few other people, and they say that the guys from FOW are
shy, but I think it's more than that. Shyness is usually charming, these guys couldn't really be bothered.
Now, tonight I saw American Hi-Fi, a band that auditeers seem to look down on (now if American Hi-Fi aren't "power pop" then I simply don't know what is). They of course, had their peak a couple of years ago with "Flavor of the Weak", and now aren't quite as popular, so they have went through the whole media attention thing. But, I swear, the band were the coolest, nicest guys I think I have ever met. They played at a small college in Calgary (small audience), and there were some technical difficulties (lead singer Stacy Jones' guitar didn't work). They made the most of it, they had a lot of fun, tried to educate the college kids (playing covers of Redd Kross and Lemonheads songs), and were very self-effacing. They had a few beers with the fans after the show. It was a very nice experience compared to the Fountains of Wayne show. I have to say, that I now like American Hi-Fi MORE, and Fountains of Wayne LESS after all this.
My question is, should it be necessary for Fountains of Wayne to be nice, charming? Should they be working the merchandise booth after the show? Should they be signing autographs for the fans that came to see them? Or, are they "too big" for this sort of thing now? Is their job just to play a show?
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