two misfits, one on keyboards and scream-singing and the other varying between guitars and drums, the second had the talent, didn\”t want to like them b/c first was a no-talent and the music was from a drum machine but it was catchy, wish could have understood the lyrics

geeks, three guys and a girl, went from Dead Kennedy to REM to modern indie pop, really enjoyed the variety

how can people see the same group every week, I definitely prefer variety over loyalty-thus I am alone

04.20.2004 Whiskey Friday The Cantab Lounge, Cambridge, MA
Tuesday night at the Cantab is Bluegrass night, and Whiskey Friday was granted a forty-five minute set at 8:30pm in the midst of the Bluegrass Pickin Party. The sound quality was a major improvement over their last gig, and even more impressive given that they had to project over a crowd 150 strong.

With the same line up and a similar setlist, it was a treat to be able to absorb some of the quality of the performance instead of having it impeded by the venue. The instrumental songs sounded crisper and the melody of the tunes came through strongly. It was particularly noticable on tunes like the wistful “Hard Sell.” The band faced the audience (well hell, there was actually a stage), each had their own mics. What a difference a venue makes, eh?

Django Reinhardt style which was good, lead singer actually French-loved the French songs but eh on the English songs

rowdy and sweet Irish music and then blew us away with some kind of prog-rock craziness, astounding violin player hooked up to a whammy pedal, drum and violinist competed for ferocious fastness, a jam band really, many many references to alcohol and rehab

Dave Russo was the comedian/MC of the night, even though his jokes were bad, the visual elements of his act were sort of interesting to watch. Some of the New England Patriots were around too, but mostly the crowd was into Adam Vinatieri who does the whole community hero bit to the hilt.

Averi is also a local band, unsigned. They are also doing the Boston local / New England circuit. We walked in on the last song of their set (my fault, I drove the wrong way down highway 84 to get home from Connecticut and ended up practically back in New York by the way of Waterbury before I realized my mistake) but the one song was enough for me to give them good marks. Their finale began with a full stanza, a credible verison, of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” which that’s it, that’s all I need to hear. And their song was pretty damn good too.

Concerts often make or break an artist for me, and my romance with Guster and drummer Brian Rosenworcel began on this day. My appreciation began with the first song that started with Brian standing behind a drum kit and he started wailing on his various percussive instruments with his hands and arms. He possesses a rhythmic flailing that every fan just has to experience. It was better than a fish tank for captivating and holding my attention. The amount of upper body strength and self-control to play percussion with your body and keep it up for two out of every three songs simply put me into a trance. He also, for the record, plays a standard drum kit, probably as much to give him a break as to change up their sound.

Guster was a tremendous. They harmonize, always a major plus (most notably present in Alice in Chains and Sister Hazel and Art Alexakis mostly with himself.) Their lyric and composition (self-referenced as wuss rock) and fiery showmanship put it all on stage and they weaved it together with precision. Hear to tell they’ve been performing together for about 8 years and I hope they stick it out long enough for me to call myself a longtime fan. Plus I’m fascinated that they went to college the same time I did and like made it (well, what am I doing? Yikes!) It’s more accessible than say, Tom Brady who also is my age and won two Superbowls but there was no chance I was ever going to do that (astigmatism and a distinct lack of athleticism that I can blame on my father.) And they went to Tufts, which means they’re smart. They mostly played locally to New England in previous years but now the word on them is out.

They opened their set with two hit songs (“hit” is a relative word, but work with me – both songs will be on the greatest hits package when they get there) and then did an awesome, unreal awesome cover of Talking Heads’ “(Nothing But) Flowers” that blew me away. All of the songs from their new album – “Careful” and “Ramona” among them – I was familiar with and it was great to be able to sing along even though I only bought the album last week and only because it was 9.99 and only because I had tickets to the show to begin with.

By the time they started into “Homecoming King,” with a “Funkytown” intro and an explanation of using the word “Massachusetts” in a song, I was hooked. The rest of the set was solid, with a few that will induce me to buy their back catalog (such as it is) including the show closer “Fa Fa.” You got it, you got it.

Guster Setlist
What You Wish For
Careful
(Nothing But) Flowers
Ramona
Funkytown Intro/Homecoming King/Chariots of Fire (instrumental)
Happier
Airport Song
Barrel Of A Gun
Keep It Together
Amsterdam
Demons
Fa Fa

04.07.2004 Barenaked Ladies with Guster Mass 9/11 Fund Benefit Concert Tsongas Arena, Lowell, MA
Opener: Averi
The problem with shows sponsored by the radio stations is their incessant need to take the stage between acts. I guess blatant self-promotion is part of the rock circuit.

BNL were tapped to play a show for the Mass 9/11 Fund over a year ago and it came at the tail end of promoting their new album. This show was simply amazing. It was everything their show in March was not. The energy of the night poured out off the stage and washed in waves over the crowd. Their set was entirely concocted of radio favorites and album singles. They snuck in a few extra songs off the new album, but only the upbeat choices like show opener “Maybe Katie.” In fact, the setlist was practically identical, except they skipped all the slower tunes and did not promote their new album at all. The paid a heartfelt tribute to a rather disheartening cause without denigrating the tragedy. But after all, the crowd was there for the music. They ran through their hits in the same order as on their tour. The major difference was that tunes like “Too Little Too Late” and “Another Postcard” resurfaced as celebratory jams. Their arrangements clearly benefitted from 30 plus shows on the road in the last two months. The songs were more playful throughout, exemplified on “Testing 1,2,3″ and more melodic overall even with the songs that leaned into balladry, as with “Upside Down” and “Celebrity.”

The best reversal? A full band version of “One Week.” Hands down my favorite BNL song complete with the broken record version of “Chickity China the Chinese chicken.” The closed the show with the string of classics, “Old Apartment,” “If I Had $1,000,000,” and “Brian Wilson.” The first encore finshed with “Call and Answer” which was my first live performance of the song that is my second favorite BNL tune (also my first time hearing “Falling For the First Time” live.) The ad libs were sprinkled generously throughout the concert (without the dreadful “Beat the Crew” segment) and practically every song was bookended with hysterical BNL chatter. They talked about lunch meats, the Juno awards, and the other bands on the bill.

The second encore was a full bill version of “Rockin’ in the Free World” with BNL sharing the stage with Guster and Averi. The show still belonged to the Ladies, but Guster vocalist Ryan Miller took half a verse while the members of Averi stood around making themselves useful with harmonies on the chorus.