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The Barenaked Report.
Nov. 21st, 2003 01:08 amWow. What a Band, and What a show. Three solid hours of Barenaked Ladies, and what an amazing time.
No opening band, just them, walking out on stage on time, and just jumping in with "Testing, 1,2,3". Ed Robertson (the guy who does the rap on "One Week") came out with a completely different look: Muscle tee, faded jeans, TATTOOS on his shoulders--big tats--and a half shaved fauxhawk! We all looked up and were like "When did BNL get a Joe Strummer Look Alike?"
They banged out a hard neat set, combining both new songs from the current album, and stuff that they *never* play at shows. They stopped up for a while to do a very cool and funny Q&A with the audience. Good guys, and fun fun fun.
They played out a song or two, broke for a few, and then came back out to do a short accoustic set of traditionally electric songs, including a very cool version of "One Week" accoustic style and the Road Runner Looney Tunes theme, complete with Tyler doing the sarcastic "Beep Beep!" They then ran back ito an almost hour long pop, and then broke again.
When they came back, they just went all out and blew everyone away, leaving everyone banging on the walls and stomping on floors chanting BNL. I can't even tell you all the songs they did, because, they did soooooo many of them. But they ended on "Pinch Me" which is weird, since they didn't do "If I had a Million Dollars."
Highlights of the night included a show stopping, heartfelt rendition of the new song "The War On Drugs" which they dedicated to the memory of Elliot Smith; the B side that should have been on Maroon, the amazing "Powder Blue"; the many random improvs that they do, including the off the cuff, non-blasphemous "The Lord"--in which they explained why their percussion was so good--because their percussionist was "The Lord"; Ed talking about running around in nothing but a non-covering thong on the Sharon Osbourne Show; and Steven doing literal laps around the stage during "Shopping."
For those of you who are uninitiated, or who think that BNL are a throwaway band, you are missing out on an extremely tight, talented, and severely underated musical force:
Tyler is an AMAZING drummer, who can sing, play, and do stand up all while doing the greatest impersonation of Phil Collins ever. He's better at it than either Collins or Hendley.
Jim is an over the top Bassist, who moves from electric to upright accoustic with flair and ease. Furthermore, he plays his accoustic like a soloist/classical musician. He will one day conduct a symphony, I'm sure of it. And he makes cool voices when he's not doing perfect pitch harmonies.
Kevin is the most versatile of the group, doing back up vocals, keyboards, Accordian, Bass, Guitar, Mandolin, and bouncing around. We're sure that he gets paid by the instrument. And he's a cancer survivor, who TOURED with the band while he was recovering from treatments. How's that for hardcore.
And then there's Ed. He can improvise lyrics like NO BODY, changing up adding, and extrapolating on the fly. He actually freestyle raps, and accompanies himself. sure his stuff is silly, but he pulls some stuff outta nowhere, that still manages to pull a laugh or an "Oooooo." And he can rock out on the g'itar--wailing like a rock star--all while noodling around.
And let's not forget master vocalist/frontman/guitarist Steven. Steven has the strongest, most amazing voice of any musician that I've heard in a while. I swear he is theatrically trained. He pushes some notes, and slides up to sharp, clear points in ways that you've heard from Nathan Layne and Michael Crawford. No kidding. His voice is often pure emotion which hits you in the chest like a bolt of lightening from a trumpet. And--AND he does it all while running and jumping and dancing around like a maniac. Britanny Spears with her wussy ass lipsyncing and dancing act PALE. Steven holds killer notes while scampering around like a monkey man. Amazing!
And the best thing about the show is that afterwards you feel light, elated, and satisfied. It's like you've gone on an emotional vacation. You don't just watch the show--you are immersed in it, and given the musical equivilant of a box of chocolates and a big warm hug after a long hard day of work.
I ain't been this happy with a show since George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars.
No opening band, just them, walking out on stage on time, and just jumping in with "Testing, 1,2,3". Ed Robertson (the guy who does the rap on "One Week") came out with a completely different look: Muscle tee, faded jeans, TATTOOS on his shoulders--big tats--and a half shaved fauxhawk! We all looked up and were like "When did BNL get a Joe Strummer Look Alike?"
They banged out a hard neat set, combining both new songs from the current album, and stuff that they *never* play at shows. They stopped up for a while to do a very cool and funny Q&A with the audience. Good guys, and fun fun fun.
They played out a song or two, broke for a few, and then came back out to do a short accoustic set of traditionally electric songs, including a very cool version of "One Week" accoustic style and the Road Runner Looney Tunes theme, complete with Tyler doing the sarcastic "Beep Beep!" They then ran back ito an almost hour long pop, and then broke again.
When they came back, they just went all out and blew everyone away, leaving everyone banging on the walls and stomping on floors chanting BNL. I can't even tell you all the songs they did, because, they did soooooo many of them. But they ended on "Pinch Me" which is weird, since they didn't do "If I had a Million Dollars."
Highlights of the night included a show stopping, heartfelt rendition of the new song "The War On Drugs" which they dedicated to the memory of Elliot Smith; the B side that should have been on Maroon, the amazing "Powder Blue"; the many random improvs that they do, including the off the cuff, non-blasphemous "The Lord"--in which they explained why their percussion was so good--because their percussionist was "The Lord"; Ed talking about running around in nothing but a non-covering thong on the Sharon Osbourne Show; and Steven doing literal laps around the stage during "Shopping."
For those of you who are uninitiated, or who think that BNL are a throwaway band, you are missing out on an extremely tight, talented, and severely underated musical force:
Tyler is an AMAZING drummer, who can sing, play, and do stand up all while doing the greatest impersonation of Phil Collins ever. He's better at it than either Collins or Hendley.
Jim is an over the top Bassist, who moves from electric to upright accoustic with flair and ease. Furthermore, he plays his accoustic like a soloist/classical musician. He will one day conduct a symphony, I'm sure of it. And he makes cool voices when he's not doing perfect pitch harmonies.
Kevin is the most versatile of the group, doing back up vocals, keyboards, Accordian, Bass, Guitar, Mandolin, and bouncing around. We're sure that he gets paid by the instrument. And he's a cancer survivor, who TOURED with the band while he was recovering from treatments. How's that for hardcore.
And then there's Ed. He can improvise lyrics like NO BODY, changing up adding, and extrapolating on the fly. He actually freestyle raps, and accompanies himself. sure his stuff is silly, but he pulls some stuff outta nowhere, that still manages to pull a laugh or an "Oooooo." And he can rock out on the g'itar--wailing like a rock star--all while noodling around.
And let's not forget master vocalist/frontman/guitarist Steven. Steven has the strongest, most amazing voice of any musician that I've heard in a while. I swear he is theatrically trained. He pushes some notes, and slides up to sharp, clear points in ways that you've heard from Nathan Layne and Michael Crawford. No kidding. His voice is often pure emotion which hits you in the chest like a bolt of lightening from a trumpet. And--AND he does it all while running and jumping and dancing around like a maniac. Britanny Spears with her wussy ass lipsyncing and dancing act PALE. Steven holds killer notes while scampering around like a monkey man. Amazing!
And the best thing about the show is that afterwards you feel light, elated, and satisfied. It's like you've gone on an emotional vacation. You don't just watch the show--you are immersed in it, and given the musical equivilant of a box of chocolates and a big warm hug after a long hard day of work.
I ain't been this happy with a show since George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars.
