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| From | "Mike Hodges" <mikenrox@hughes.net> |
| Subject | Another IPO night for the record books |
| Date | Mon, 30 Apr 2007 00:53:59 -0400 |
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I lucked out again this weekend as my annual trip to chIPO landed me in The
Abbey for Saturday Night's show. Here's a quick recap:
The Lackloves - A great band who played way before the big crowd showed.
Mike Jarvis was in excellent voice and the new material (due out in August)
sounded great. They pulled out the first of many great Beatles covers the
night would produce with a rocking (!) version of "Across The Universe".
The Greenwoods - Led by a pair of brothers, this band sounded very good.
The guitar solos were tasty and I went over to the merchandise table after
the set to find that there was no CD out yet. My buddy got word from the
bassist that 4 songs can be downloaded from their Myspace site. I'll have
to do that after submitting this post.
The Handcuffs - Slick, professional and easy on the eyes. I saw this band
last year and enjoy their CD "Model for a Revolution". I made a point to
get to the show early enough to grab a seat that offered a view of Brad
Elvis, one of the world's most entertaining drummers. The highlight of the
set was a spot-on Blondie rendition of "Hanging on the Telephone". I think
the band played 2 originals that weren't on "Model", but neither seemed very
memorable.
Pezband - I saw these guys last year sharing the Handcuffs' bill. The sheer
joy of playing together in last year's reunion show was not present here.
They were competent, as good bar bands are, but not special. Perhaps my
view is tainted by the fact that they chose, for the second year in a row,
not to play their biggest (only) hit, "Baby It's Cold Outside". What's up
with that?
Off Broadway - I have "On" in my LP collection somewhere. I remember
comparisons between Off Broadway and Cheap Trick years ago. Beyond that I
had no idea what to expect beyond the strongest intro I've ever heard David
Bash give - along the lines of Off Broadway playing the best set "ever heard
on an IPO stage" previously. OK, a little exaggeration for the final night
of the fest, right David? Then out comes a big, curly-blond-locked singer
with Ron Jaworski glasses and the set was on. After some adjustments by the
sound guy, the band kicked into their Beatles covers - all fabulous. "Hey
Bulldog", in particular, rocked like a mother. After joking that this
should make their "own shit" easier to take, the band kicked into
"Automatic", which I remembered from the radio. Later in the set came "Stay
in Time", another song that was logged in my memory but I never knew was Off
Broadway. By the end of the set, I knew what Mr. Bash was talking about -
I'd pay full price to see these guys any night of the week. After 2
separate 2-song encores, the band left the stage...and once again I had a
great memory to leave with. The best set ever? Not quite (I saw Second
Saturday followed by Splitsville a couple of years ago - it would be hard to
overtake either in my book). But a great show? - You bet!
Thanks again, David Bash!
Mike Hodges
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