One last concert note

(A lot of people have criticized my, well, criticism of this part of the country as being a result of a slightly negative personality. Which may very well be true. But then I spend part of today wandering through a corn maze and I begin to wonder just how I ended up out here in the first place. I like to imagine that I have that jet set, big city lifestyle. It’s not true of course, but it’s fun to pretend. The thing is, you can’t even pretend to be living the high life in a corn field. Just a thought.)

Got one more concert review from this week. Caught Cracker in concert on Halloween night in an acoustic set. Or at least they called it an acoustic set, one guy played an electric guitar and they also had a laptop on stage with them. That would place it solidly in the MTV Unplugged category in which all the instruments are plugged in and the vocals are sweetened. Anyway, Cracker is a band you know and love or at least know if you went to college in the 90’s. You know the band with the song “What the world needs now is another folk singer like I need a hole in my head.” Those guys.

Cracker should be better known than that. They have some really solid songs, especially when you dip back into the Camper Van Beethoven catalog. This was a pretty interesting show. Got there and it was like there was no one at the show. It was a Monday night, but once again I found myself alone by the stage. That’s not entirely true. There was also the girl with the bunny ears. I have to say, that was a surprisingly good look. (On the other hand, is it a surprise that I saw someone dressed as Dorothy? Does that even count as trying in the state of Kansas?) But, in the end they did garner a pretty nice crowd.

I should define “they” since it was just David Lowery and another guy. I was impressed by how they reinterpreted some of the catalog. Teen Angst was turned into a slow blues number and I completely understand why they changed the style of the song. They’ve probably played that song every night for over a decade and at that point you need to change things up. Low stayed that driving crowd interaction song with one of the best choruses ever. And in something that I didn’t think possible, they pulled off a two man version of Camper Van Beethoven’s classic “Matchstick Man”, a song that would typically need an eight piece band to work.

In all, this was just one of those fun shows I hit during the week. It didn’t change my life but it sure beat watching television. On some nights, that is all that you can ask for.

(Big announcement. Next week we will be celebrating the one year anniversary of Battling the Current with some major events. Look for the return of some of your favorite topics and definitely check the site this time next week. Trust me, you’ll want to be a part of this. Enjoy the weekend.)