Index of Shows | Homepage | Write to me
More International Pop Overthrow. I arrive in time for a few songs from Señor Happy. It's more rockin' than some of the purer pop we got last night. (The Charms excepted.) This proves to be something of a theme tonight. There's even some screaming, which has been rare and is tastefully used here.
The Brett Rosenberg Problem are one of those bands that aren't really pushing any boundaries; they just rock. They do it up right, though, and for such a tiny little guy, Brett's got a huge voice, and great stage presence. The guitars are great, too. It's always nice when a band has two hugely talented guitarists who share the lead smoothly and evenly. (No one in this band is exactly hard to look at, either, if you know what I mean.)
Next are crowd favorites The Rudds, or Boston's very own Van Halen. I have to give The Rudds their props: they are very, very good at what they do. All of them, with John Powhida especially notable for the sheer vocal firepower that he brings to bear and the wild musicality with which he deploys it. I don't happen to think that the world needs another Van Halen, and I find this music very cheesy and silly, but the crowd is eating it up.
Around this time, the inevitable exhortation after every single band's set to "give it up one more time for [insert band name here]!" is really starting to get on my nerves. I understand that, if he's going to do it for one band, he has to do it for all of them, but he could at least think of a couple of other phrases to rotate between. I know, it's incredibly petty of me to be bothered by this, but I've heard it eleven times in two days now, with more to look forward to on Sunday. Sorry; I'll shut up about it now. Anyway, it's time for Ad Frank and the Fast Easy Women. The Women set up and start playing, and Ad bounds on stage just in time for his entrance. Ad's voice sounds great tonight, big and strong and rich. As this tends to be my only complaint about his music, this really is a perfect set. It's my favorite lineup of the Women, with the excellent Mike Quinn on keyboards, and the songs are precisely what a pop festival should sound like: perfectly crafted bittersweet gems that the band rocks out on. I can hear Eric's backing vocals unusually well tonight, and Paula Kelly steps up onstage (looking fabulous) for "The Ticket Was Nonrefundable," which is always a good time.
Francine are last, which is kind of a shame in a way. My problem with Francine is The Mid-Tempo Rocker Problem--the songs are individually good but get boring in the aggregate--and in any other position in the lineup they'd be playing a short set and leaving just when I was getting tired of them. They are good, with interesting, subtle keyboard parts, and I particularly love the combination of the two voices, which sound so, so good together, but there's no dynamics. I find myself watching one of their fans, who's singing along and dancing really well in the front row, and thinking that maybe what they need is go-go dancers. Seriously, just something to give it some oomph, and some detectable motion on the stage.
