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Pink Et Al, Mixfest 2002, Fleetcenter, Boston MASep 22 '02 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line I've come to the conclusion this feature really IS annoying.
I wasn't expecting to write a Pink concert review. Hell, if anything, it was going to be a Def Leppard concert review with a couple paragraphs on Pink and a paragraph on just about everyone else. It's funny how things work out sometimes... I won tickets to Mixfest 2002 this past Wednesday night. It's a festival put on by local AAA radio station Mix 98.5. They play a generous helping of stuff like the radio friendly Creed, Pink, and Sheryl Crow. They also are a huge supporter of John Mayer, and they were the first American radio station to give Barenaked Ladies bigtime airplay (long before One Week). The lineup was halfway decent. There was really something for everyone. The college kids had local heroes Guster (who knew that 10,000 people would show up for them and sing along to their two biggest hits?) and Mayer, the gay community had Pink, the adults had David Gray (and to a bit of a lesser extent, Mayer as well), and the 80s crowd had Def Leppard. Yes, the 80s crowd. My it was a scary sight. I saw more fake boobs and big hair in one place last night than I have in my previous 22 years combined. Oh yeah, and while I'm on a fashion kick, can someone please tell the 12 year olds of this country to put some frickin clothes on? I digress... Irish "rockers" Rubyhorse opened the show, and aside from their first song, which was a direct ripoff of 3 or 4 U2 songs at once, they were terrible. They even filmed the last song to be used in their upcoming DVD and even though 99% of the audience could care less about them, as soon as the singer whipped out a camcorder and ran around filming people, you better believe they got excited. It was pathetic, a bunch of people cheering, thinking "ooo, ooo, I want to be on a DVD, even if I'll never buy it because this band sucks!" Luckily, Guster was up next. I love these guys and they are extremely talented. The drummer plays everything with his hands (read: no sticks) and their melodies are gorgeous, the type of songs that just take you away for 3 minutes at a time. They played a solid half hour of tunes, mostly from their last album, the title of which is escaping me at the moment. The young girls started screaming everytime Avril Lavigne's name came up, and when she ran out on stage, the place just about nearly blew up. Her sound mix was actually the best of the night, and I was surprised she played her two best songs, the harder rocking Losing Grip and the closer Unwanted. But her best responses came for the opening Sk8er Boi and her big hit Complicated. Blech to those two. I actually left and walked around the venue during David Gray's set. I could still hear him though. He opened with Babylon and kept up his lounge music act for another half hour after that. I find him ultimately boring and dull. John Mayer was one of the 3 headliners this year and he was up next. The best thing about his set was that it was only a half hour long, which really did shock me. I don't understand the hype about this guy. He played his two big hits (No Such Thing and the pretty good Your Body is a Wonderland), and he danced around like a big chicken penis (as in he looked like a chicken and a penis at the same time). But this was Pink's night, no doubt about it. The house was full for her (18,000 strong), and I don't know if there's many artists who could have such a drastic stylistic change from one album to the next and become even more popular the way she has. For those who think she's not being "real" on Missundastood, well, you'll hate her live show. Why? Because it's a big rock show, full of loud guitars, pounding drums, and plenty of covers. She played only one song from her first album (the title of which I don't even know, nor do I care to), and she opened with Get the Party Started. Blech. But she hit an early high with 18 Wheeler and then a cover of 4 Non Blondes big hit What's Up?. It's quite a sight to behold to see 18,000 people screaming every lyric of that song out 10 years after it was big. She then did a medley of Janis Joplin covers (including a rousing version of the chorus to Piece of My Heart), but it was the album material that sounded especially strong. My Vietnam seemed to be the most emotional song of the night, although I should say that she was in a GREAT mood all night. I've heard stories about her being in one of her "moods" and the show going downhill because of it, but she wore a smile on her face all night. Her voice sounded good too, which was a pleasant surprise, seeing as how the last two concert reviews I've read about her said she sounded very road weary. She closed with her last two hits, the single of the year (in my book at least) Just Like a Pill, and then Don't Let Me Get Me. Both of those songs sounded like arena ready rockers, rather than the polished pop songs they are on record. Then it was time for Def Leppard. I unfortunately left halfway through their set because my girlfriend wasn't feeling very well. I did see them do Let's Get Rocked and an AWESOME singalong version of Animal (among a couple of others) before I left. I missed out on Photograph and Pour Some Sugar On Me though dammit. All in all it was a good night of music. But there was no mistaking it. Pink made it her night to shine. Here's hoping she takes up the rock tip in the studio that works so well for her live.  |
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