7.20.2004

Stavesacre show

Alright, so after all my whining last night, here we go:

Yes, I was the geeky guy at the show with a scrap of paper and a pen, writing down every song so that I could later post their complete set right here. Yes, I'm also the geeky guy who right now can't find that scrap of paper even though it's been floating around the house for the last few weeks.

The show was in a gym down in Eugene. Opening for Stavesacre were Ripe and Edict . . . if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all . . .

Then Stavesacre took the stage.

The gym was really a bummer of a venue . . . massive gym, 150 people. When we were all in close to the stage we all fit within the 3 point line . . . and behind us was a whole heck of a lot of empty space. Adding to the poor ambiance was the fact that the lights couldn't be turned all the way off -- so there was definitely no way to forget where you were. Plus with the amount of hard surfaces in there, the acoustics were awful.

But enough complaining -- Stavesacre rocked anyway. This is going to be fairly random, so it's bullet-time:

- Last time I saw Stavesacre they were touring in support of the self-titled album . . . and their show consisted of two songs from that album and everything else was off of Speakeasy. This time they dove right in with Shiv for their opening number and the show was a pretty good mix of their albums . . . except that they played nothing from Stav.zak.er -- long set, too. They did play two new songs (no word on a new album, however).

- These guys are focused on their music . . . very little talking, just playing the songs and connecting with the audience. Lots of eye contact, especially with so few people there and it being so light.

- Neil (guitar) is no longer with the band -- but Ryan Dennee (guitar) and Dirk Lemmenes (bass) are doing a great job of making the songs sound complete. Ryan's not a flashy guitar player, but I really like his style. I had never really realized how much of Gold and Silver is harmonics . . .

- I bought Mark Salomon's book, Simplicity . . . that's a whole 'nother post waiting to happen. Those sure weren't the spins I had put on those songs . . .

- Listening to great music is a really awesome experience . . . I wish I had the chance to do it more often. Going to a concert by yourself is a really weird experience . . . not sure if I want to do it more or not, but it does have its advantages.

- I guess it's kinda been a while since the show, so that's all that comes to my mind to say -- and after all that buildup, too . . .



No comments: