Last night Tracie and I saw Barenaked Ladies (or Barenaked La- as we called them) up in Salt Lake.I wasn't too excited as some of you may know (those who read Tracie's blog and have a spectacular memory) their lead singer Steven Page left the band early this year.
It was surprising to hear their guitarist and "other" lead singer Ed Robertson helm a lot of the songs that are so signature Steve.
Here's the story of our concert going adventure. I'm not sure anyone cares, but this is as much for me as it is for you, plus I haven't blogged in AGES, so don't complain! Aw, fine. Complain.
The concert date almost didn't happen, as I had a final that I thought I'd be able to leave early (especially since my teacher said I could leave early) but, I didn't. The concert said it started at 7:30 and I wasn't able to leave class til 7:00. With all the snow and bad weather, I really didn't want to go, but I knew Tracie needed to get out of the house and her parents were watching the baby, so go we did. My fears of getting into an auto accident or missing the concert never happened, and we actually got there just in time to find a place to stand while about 3 minutes later BNL came on.
It was a good concert, but it felt forced, like they were trying too hard (by they, I mean lead guitarist and now-lead vocals, Ed, and drummer Tyler Stewart. The bass player Jim Creegan and keyboardist Kevin Hearn seemed going through the motions, the only thingsweaker than their attitudes was their singing). They sang a lot of the classics, such as:
get in line, maybe katie, one week, it's all been done, pinch me, if I had $1000000, god rest ye merry gentlemen, blame it on me
which are great songs but I realized how essential Steve's voice is to those songs, Tracie and I had many comments to make during the concert, such as
Tracie: it feels like your visiting a divorced parent and you can't have as much fun with just one of them.
Me: It's like chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips.
They're all very talented musicians, and I'm glad we went, it was less than half the price the last time we went to one of their concerts (and there were a fraction of people too, but to be fair, it was a smaller venue and they did sell out) but truth be told, their new songs I enjoyed the best, because they weren't written with another voice and/or instrument, they were written for these 4 talented musicians.
3 out of 5 stars, just because they can't compare with the band they once were, but I'm glad they're being the band they are.
