Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2001 09:39:14 PDT
From: "LR"

it was completely odd to see them playing this type of set. imagine a ja show
with no ted, 3 days or then she did. it had none of the vibe of what makes a ja
set such a trip, in terms of pacing, long jams, etc. but that didn't make it bad,
just different. and the fact is that the set was absolutely amazing. the guy who
posted the review on 1% suggested that the short set was due to the lukewarm crowd
reaction. this isn't true. i saw the running order for the show and every band
played exactly the amount of time allotted, including jane's. stp and janes each
got a half hour. that was it. blink was really the headliner, in that they got
an hour set as last band of the list of young modern rock bands. (and they were
pretty decent....we showed up at the venue at 2:00, sold off two extra tickets we
had, went to the stage door to look at the running order, then went to the beach
for the day and to a decent clam bar for dinner and then got back to go in halfway
during blink's set. they don't suck....at least they're musical and nobody
screams like that dickhead fred durst and those animals slipknot.) anyway, after
the day/night of young bands, blink got the longest set and then stp and janes
were the bonus acts, each basically using their half hour set as a billboard to
the young k-rock crowd so that their new album and/or tour will sell to those
kids. a lot of people left after blink and i'm sure that in the huge stadium, it
was a very complacent half empty crowd watching stp and jane's. it had been a 9
hour concert by then, after all, many in a hot sunny beachside stadium. but down
front, the crowd stayed into it and pretty packed.
so, back to the review. we were 6th row center in front of perry a tad off to
dave's side but basically dead center. couldn't have been more perfect. down
there it was still crowded and many of the fans definitely knew all the songs and
sang along, but just as many didn't and i was about the most into it with
screaming/jumping/arm pumping, etc. as i said, the set was strange in its
shortness. stp had played all familiar songs in their six (or so) song set and ja
pretty much did the same. with the exception of stop, which i was surprised they
didn't play, they played mostly stuff that radio stations like krock have played
over the years. up the beach was fantastic. stephen came on first with
flourescent body paint on his face and a mohawk. he looked like famadou don moye,
a drummer who i'd love to ask stephen his opinion on....i've always thought that
he must be an admirer of that amazing drummer (so if you have an email addy for
stephen, please forward the question and either give him my email to respond or
forward his response after you receive it.) martyn and dave came out, also with
flourescent body paint and up the beach was on. just as it's always been.
fabulous. perry entered in a wildly colorful yellow suit and matching huge cowboy
hat. (never took any of it off, except the hat at the end.) pretty funny. drank
A LOT of his wine during up the beach. mt. song right out of utb was a total
surprise and a perfect second song number. martyn started it right out of the end
of utb, just like the way whores starts. perry did his spinning around dance
thing during the instrumental parts. dave was smiling and singing along. i
really got the impression watching dave that he was thrilled, just as he's
described in interviews, to be the guy who plays these songs in this band. played
wildly. used at least three prs guitars, switching pretty much every song.
started with the white one and used a blue one and one other too. perry went to
his p.a. rig during the guitar solo and added in all sorts of wild processed vocal
sounds. stephen was wild, smiling and simply right on, just as you'd expect. and
martyn was just perfect. reminds me a lot of paul simenon. model looks and up
there on stage, he strikes a great bass stud pose and his style is amazingly
perfect for ja. plays the songs like he's known them his whole life, fits in on
stage real well. just the perfect guy for the band. after mt. song, perry wished
the crowd a good shabbos and said a few words before breaking into a mad ain't no
right. similar to mt. song, perry was dancing, dave looked happy and was singing
along, and stephen was right on. perry then did a drunken ramble about this being
the best summer ever. summertime rolls was the strongest song of the set, i
think. quite a singalong and featuring many quiet parts on which perry used his
mike effects similarly to the way he did on relapse...moving the mike near and far
to his mouth and singing softly and beatifully while dave looked on with obvious
love for the whole thing and sang along and played beautifully. been caught
stealing rocked hard and they were gone except that steve's steel drums were
brought on stage for the encore before the band even left. they came back for a
fun singalong jane says on which the three of them played right next to each other
huddled around steve's steel drums and perry was right next to them facing them,
all huddled together as if on a small club stage. then perry told everyone to
have a great summer and that was that.
all in all, a great performance which, given the circumstances and set length,
couldn't have been better. they're so into it, and i'm sure that the tour will be
terrific. but, if had any of their ears, i'd strongly recommend that they
rehearse more songs than one set worth and mix up the set. i think that the
freshness of playing these tunes was a big part of what made them look so happy
last night and i think that during the relapse, the repetiveness of the set added
to what made them sort of break down by the end. they could avoid that maybe by
making the show emerge and grow by staying fresh. i remember during the relapse i
got in for the soundcheck in miami and heard the band, sans perry, playing a
smoking 'had a dad'. when you get down to it, they have a pretty small amount of
songs and while i can't for a minute profess to know how hard it is for them to
learn and rehearse songs to play on stage, i hope it's possible and that they
rehearse a large enough number of songs so that the set changes from night to
night, as it did pre relapse. it's time to hear standing in the shower and no
one's leaving and obvious and idiot's rule, etc.

[anonymous]