UPCOMING EVENT:
Ben Harper
and the Innocent Criminals
He's a God-fearing musician who jumps easily from blues soaked with
pedal steel guitar to the hazy smoke of reggae. Ben Harper and his
band, the Innocent Criminals, manage to blend different styles of
music into something that's truly unique. Harper's distinctive voice
jumps from tortured introspection to seductive crooning, and The
Innocent Criminals play to their frontman's strengths; this leads to a
strong final product of genuinely good music.
To see this happen live is nothing short of amazing, and the only
thing that comes close to it is listening to his two-disc live album,
Live From Mars. Jacksonvillians will have the chance to experience Ben
Harper's live show on May 7, when Harper and the Innocent Criminals
play The Florida Theatre on their tour, which follows the release of
their new studio album, Diamonds on the Inside.
-Whitney Weiss
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 Queens of the
Stone Age
St. Patricks Day @ The Marquee
What better place to spend St. Patrick's Day then in the Marquee,
surrounded by drunken locals, watching Queens of the Stone Age? Having
completely forgotten what March 17th was, I was a bit confused to be
surrounded by people in green swilling beer, but then it all made
sense.
What didn't make sense, however, was the system by which the opening
band, whose name I have forgotten, was chosen. The lead singer looked
like an unattractive Har Mar Superstar. To put this into perspective:
Har Mar Superstar looks like an unattractive Ron Jeremy. This didn't
stop him from doing a half-naked shuffle that looked like it was meant
to be seductive, and gesturing "come hither" at the attractive girls
in the audience with his pinkie. The rest of the band, clad in random
sailor hats and other accessories, looked like a hillbilly version of
The Village People. Their set was mostly forgettable, save for the
lead singer's attempts at being a seductive Ozzy Osbourne, and an
unforgivably bad cover of the Guns N Roses song "Sweet Child O Mine."
They posed no competition for "best band of the night."
When Queens of the Stone Age came on, after breathing a sigh of
relief, I had to stop myself from hoping maybe, just maybe, Dave Grohl
would be behind the drum kit. Grohl, who played on the album and used
to be in the band, is responsible for the hard-hitting rhythms that
drive the stoner rock that is Queens of the Stone Age. QOTSA's new
drummer is talented and enabled the band to deliver a hard-hitting set
that left the entire room soaked with sweat and beer and enthusiasm,
but his drumming was not quite as grand as Grohl's. Former band
members aside, the set delivered. The band's energy was high, and this
flowed over to the audience, who responded by releasing their own
energy, throwing up many a crowd surfer, and temporarily trampling
some of the more fragile members of the audience.
All in all, Queens of the Stone Age put on a great show. Their music
sounded solid live, and their stage presence, considering the fact it
was St. Patrick's Day and they were probably very, very drunk, was
grand. The band isn't blazing any new trails composition or
performance wise, but they managed to satisfy an audience composed of
rednecks, college students, metalheads, indie snobs, and miscallaneous
drunk people. I consider that quite the accomplishment.
-Whitney Weiss
_________________________________________________________________
Further Seems Forever
The Beautiful Mistake / Elliot / Twothirtyeight
at Thee Imperial
This show would have been better billed as Emopalooza. Twothirtyeight,
the anti-number band number band, stole the show along with Elliot.
However, much of Twothirtyeight's set was drowned out by impatient 14
year olds wondering if Further Seems Forever was going on before or
after their curfew. The Beautiful Mistake's blend of utterly mediocre
hardcore was a downer on the evening, but it was sure fun to gauge the
crowd's reaction. Elliot was excellent, and if you have a chance to
catch this band as they come through Jacksonville again, be sure to do
so.
The real highlight of the night was supposed to be Further Seems
Forever, and they managed to deliver and seemed the most comfortable
onstage with that whole up-and-coming rock star thing (their merch guy
was giving away stickers and encouraging people to vote for the band's
video on MTV2.) Many remember the time when Mr. Dashboard Confessional
himself, Chris Carraba, fronted Further Seems Forever. Be happy he no
longer does and that his singing is contained to songs about girl's
hair being everywhere. Further Seems Forever sounded stronger than
ever, and they showed no fear with venturing out into the audience
while playing.
To sum up Emopalooza: don't waste time or money watching The Beautiful
Mistake, be sure to see Elliot live, listen to Twothirtyeight, and
what you expect you'll get from Further Seems Forever, so long as you
do not expect them to be "emo" demigods. Also, if the elitist inside
of you is sick of seeing pre-teens at shows, rest assured that most of
them have to be home by the time the band you want to see goes on, so
don't stay away from shows for fear of the audience.
-Whitney Weiss
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