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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Dave Seaman <seamand@upmc.edu> |
| Subject | One two punches |
| Date | Thu, 04 Aug 2005 13:41:19 -0400 |
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In catching up on old posts, someone mentioned the inclusion of "Good Girls
Don't" on a recent power pop comp. Which reminded me of the show I saw last
month in Cleveland - the Knack with the Raspberries. Great show!
The Knack were very tight and entertaining, and played songs from all over
their catalog. They also covered "No Matter What" (now, why would they play
a Def Leppard song?) and segued "Tequila" (with a long and outstanding
guitar solo from Burton) into a version of "Break On Through" that IMO was
much better than the Doors original ('course I'm not much of a Doors fan).
My only disappointment with their show was that they didn't play "Let Me
Out" or "Your Number or Your Name", which together are one of my favorite
one-two punches in musical history -- right up there with "Your Sister Can't
Twist" rocking right into "Saturday Night's Alright" on Elton John's Goodbye
Yellowbrick Road" LP.
And speaking of one-two punches... I had expected the Knack and the
Raspberries to be one. Well, the Knack punched me harder than I expected,
but the 'berries show was too soft a blow. I saw the first of the
Raspberries reunion shows at the Cleveland House of Blues last fall - and
that show was transcendent. It went down in my book as an all-time favorite
- one long continuous goose bumping, chill inducing, smile of a night!
Maybe I had my hopes up too high for lighting to strike twice - cause, well,
it didn't.
I think most of the trouble had to do with a very poor PA system - the
'berries had 8 people on stage, the four of them, plus 4 sidekicks - which
resulted in a lush, full sound - multiple guitars, keyboards, percussion,
and a choir of voices. And despite the fact that (as another list member
mentioned earlier) they looked like the 'berries' grandfathers, they still
got the sound - they rocked, they nailed the instrumentation, they
harmonized, with power and energy and all that good stuff. But the PA
turned it all into a ball of mush. It was a huge let down to me. The band
played well, but I couldn't appreciate it.
Another more minor issue was that they had a case of "taking too long
between songs" and "let me say hi to all my friends"-itis -- primarily,
Wally B was the culprit and maybe it was my imagination, but I got the sense
that Eric C was getting a bit pissed at him.
By the way, I should note that this show took place in an outdoor
amphitheater. I wished it was in a club like the HOB where I saw the first
reunion - much more appropriate!
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