Saturday, September 18, 2004
Third Coming At The Fourth Inland Invasion
I missed the first or the Second Coming of the great Stone Roses. Never saw them live. Today, Ian Brown, the singer of the Stone Roses, played at the Inland Invasion 4 Festival at the Glen Helen Pavilion. The opening of his set sent chills down my spine. A rotating stage slowly revealed his backup band and the man himself while the coolest sounds of the intro to "I Wanna Be Adored" were creeping in. Wow! Unreal. I had dreamt of seeing the Stone Roses so many times. Never had a chance. Today I witnessed the closest to it, hearing Ian Brown's totally out of tune voice singing such classics as "Waterfall", "She Bangs the Drums", "Made of Stone" and even "Sally Cinnamon". What a treat! I was expecting him to only play music from his solo albums - ever since the band broke up in 1995, Ian Brown has played Stone Roses songs live only once. So was it as good as I wanted to be? No. Did I love it? Yes. Even thought Ian's voice was so off, I was hearing the songs perfectly in my head. Seeing his stage presence (that Liam Gallager copied and made his own) was very surreal. I gave up on the dream of seeing the Stone Roses some 8 years ago. Today I was ready to take anything. Ian Brown is known for having a hot head, and he showed his attitude this afternoon when he told the 60,000 people crowd that the headliner, Morrissey, will not perform tonight. Apparently that upset the festival organizers - Ian Brown's set was cut short and one of the festival organizers called him an angry brit. Funny.
Ian Brown wasn't the only reason why Marie and I drove up to Devore today. The first band we saw was Muse, who absolutely rocked (at the absolutely wrong 2pm timeslot for their driving space rock music). Brilliant! Not nearly as fantastic as the first time I experienced Muse live, but still - Marie and I loved their set. Check out a video from their performance of "Time Is Running Out" - 100k::300k.
After Muse, we saw A Flock of Seagulls, sans their hairdos. Sound was crappy. Crowd was happy. After their show we "ran, we ran so far away, we couldn't get away"...
Next up we saw The Killers. Good songs. Ok live. Not sure the singer has it in him. Loves the attention while singing, but is lost during the instrumental parts, concerned about how cool or not he looks.
After Ian Brown's set and the official announcement that Morrissey was sick at home and won't be performing, the upset crowd was calmed down with the festival organizers' announcement promising a free special make up show from the Smiths' singer sometime in the near future... Tears For Fears helped heal the pain with their soothing symphonic sound. The band started their show with the speakers completely quiet. They were playing and singing, but the crowd of tens of thousands wasn't hearing anything. Ooops. Once the great voices of the band were finally amplified, the band was well received and their sing-along songs embraced. By now it seemed like everyone wearing a Smiths or Morrissey shirt was relaxed again, and besides, it was time to stop crying for Morrissey and kick the blues...it was time for the whacky surfpunk of Devo. Great fun. Weird. Punky. Cheesy. Stupid. Smart. Yellow suits and bucket hats were worn by these now 50 year old men who put the younger bands to shame with their fresh rock energy. Check out the video for "Whip It" - 110k::300k. Devo looked like a bunch of old guys who put down their muffins and the morning paper at the local donut shop, dressed themselves like clowns and decided to rock out like they are 17. Alright by me!
Billy Idol. Seriously. This guy completely surpassed my expectations. Crooked mouth, great voice, rock attitude. Check out the video clip for yourself - 100k::300k
The last band we saw was Franz Ferdinand. Not great, not bad either. "Take Me Out" (100k::300k)really is a great song. The crowd was bouncing. It was great to see the thousands of bobbing heads and the tiny stage far in the distance as we climbed up the hill way in the back up on the lawn. The fresh air of the evening chilled our sunbeat heads. It was time to drive back home some 10 hours after we saw the first band today. Rock'n'roll is life!
Happy Birthday, Christian!
Krassy Can Listen To It: "I Wanna Be Adored" by Stone Roses
Ian Brown wasn't the only reason why Marie and I drove up to Devore today. The first band we saw was Muse, who absolutely rocked (at the absolutely wrong 2pm timeslot for their driving space rock music). Brilliant! Not nearly as fantastic as the first time I experienced Muse live, but still - Marie and I loved their set. Check out a video from their performance of "Time Is Running Out" - 100k::300k.
After Muse, we saw A Flock of Seagulls, sans their hairdos. Sound was crappy. Crowd was happy. After their show we "ran, we ran so far away, we couldn't get away"...
Next up we saw The Killers. Good songs. Ok live. Not sure the singer has it in him. Loves the attention while singing, but is lost during the instrumental parts, concerned about how cool or not he looks.
After Ian Brown's set and the official announcement that Morrissey was sick at home and won't be performing, the upset crowd was calmed down with the festival organizers' announcement promising a free special make up show from the Smiths' singer sometime in the near future... Tears For Fears helped heal the pain with their soothing symphonic sound. The band started their show with the speakers completely quiet. They were playing and singing, but the crowd of tens of thousands wasn't hearing anything. Ooops. Once the great voices of the band were finally amplified, the band was well received and their sing-along songs embraced. By now it seemed like everyone wearing a Smiths or Morrissey shirt was relaxed again, and besides, it was time to stop crying for Morrissey and kick the blues...it was time for the whacky surfpunk of Devo. Great fun. Weird. Punky. Cheesy. Stupid. Smart. Yellow suits and bucket hats were worn by these now 50 year old men who put the younger bands to shame with their fresh rock energy. Check out the video for "Whip It" - 110k::300k. Devo looked like a bunch of old guys who put down their muffins and the morning paper at the local donut shop, dressed themselves like clowns and decided to rock out like they are 17. Alright by me!
Billy Idol. Seriously. This guy completely surpassed my expectations. Crooked mouth, great voice, rock attitude. Check out the video clip for yourself - 100k::300k
The last band we saw was Franz Ferdinand. Not great, not bad either. "Take Me Out" (100k::300k)really is a great song. The crowd was bouncing. It was great to see the thousands of bobbing heads and the tiny stage far in the distance as we climbed up the hill way in the back up on the lawn. The fresh air of the evening chilled our sunbeat heads. It was time to drive back home some 10 hours after we saw the first band today. Rock'n'roll is life!
Happy Birthday, Christian!
Krassy Can Listen To It: "I Wanna Be Adored" by Stone Roses
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