"If You Can't Stand the Heat at the Throwdown, Get Out It Will Increase!" Dec 18 '02 (Updated May 29 '03)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music Revelation [Digipak] by Journey From $12 Machine Gun Etiquette by The Damned From $40 The Bottom Line This year's installment of the Hometown Throwdown restored my faith in the Bosstones as a live act. It was about two weeks ago that I uttered words I never ever thought I would utter: "The Bosstones have really become a disappointing live act." You must understand that the Mighty Mighty Bosstones have long been one of my 2 favorite bands. Having seen them live over and over again, things never ever got stale...until this fall. I saw them in September, and while the show was good, I was really just fed up with the "Impression" fans who came to hear that one song. In general though, I was also fed up with the watered down "greatest hits" set the band seemed to be feeding me everytime I saw them. When I saw them on Halloween night, it's the first time I can truly say they absolutely sucked. Not because of the setlist, which actually had a couple of surprises, but because I couldn't hear a word Dicky said all night. So when the dates for the annual Hometown Throwdown were announced, it was a no brainer I would go. After all, I count the Throwdown as the best time of the year. But I just wasn't as excited about it as I was in year's past. That all changed when I read the band had brought their cover of the Slapshot hardcore classic What's At Stake out of the closet and back into setlists in early December. I quickly entered a contest at the band's website for tickets to the last of the 5 shows (I already had tickets for the 4th show), and unbeliveably, I won. The first show, the Saturday night show, was a very good show. It didn't start out that way though. Last year, the band had an awful punk band from Rhode Island called The Worried open up the show. When I say awful, I mean awful. So I didn't think twice about them when I saw the opening acts for Sat night. But lo and behold, the second opening act comes on (I missed the first), and I couldn't believe my eyes. The two guitarists were the same guitarists for the Worried. They had reconstituted themselves. But they still sucked. Saturday was the first sign that the weekend would be good. Impression was played second, not in the encore. I've come to the conclusion that Impression is extremely effective in the early stages of a show, if it must be played to my annoyance. Add in the fact that I did in fact get What's At Stake, Stand Off, Dickie grabbed my Miami Dolphins hat during Hell of a Hat, and that my friend Alex won a signed guitar by the band in the charity raffle, it was a damn good night. And then there was Sunday... Sunday, December 15, 2002, has gone down as the best show I have ever witnessed the Mighty Mighty Bosstones perform. The band laid to waste the theory that they could only generate a watered down greatest hits set by not even playing 2 of their best known songs, Impression and Someday I Suppose. The band kicked things off with 1-2-8, and then immediately kicked into Sugar Free from their July release, A Jacknife to a Swan. But the show was only getting started with those two songs. Surprises were aplenty. Gems from thought to be long forgotten albums were whipped out for the first time in years. When the opening notes to Illegal Left hit, I just about crapped myself. By far my favorite Bosstones song, I hadn't heard it since the last show I called the Bosstones best: New Year's Eve 1997. Then Johnny Vegas stepped up and sang Chocolate Pudding. Then an encore that included What's at Stake. I could go on and on and on, but I'd be rambling incoherently. I was so happy, so ecstatic at what I was witnessing. It felt like the band was truly kissing the past success of Let's Face It goodbye and playing a show for the people who mattered the most: the fans who are still here through thick and thin. It was the first time in over 5 years that I felt the band catered to me, and NOT the pretty girl who liked "that knock on wood song." In addition, the crowds on both nights were nothing short of spectacular. Every single song had loud, boistrous sing alongs. No one looked bored up front, which had become too much the norm lately at Bosstones shows. And dare I say it: if Everybody's Better got any kind of radio play, it would be the new radio reggae hit, as it's twice the song that Underneath it All is (and I love that damn song too). The opening acts on Sunday were hit and miss. Damone played a solid set of their punky poppy rock and roll. They could get absolutely huge, their album comes out in February on RCA, and I can't say enough about them. Bosstones bassist Joe Gittleman's side project Avoid One Thing came across much better live than they did on disc, but then again, they stuck to the best stuff from their hit or miss CD. And then there was The Unseen, a hardcore punk band who were terrible. The best thing about them was that the a*sholes in the crowd who were starting sh*t all came to see them and left as soon as their set was done. "I don't want to see the Bosstones, they suck." Mmmm. You know, if you think they suck, that's fine with me, but don't tell me that a band who hits a snare drum as hard and fast as they can, scream as loud as they can, and play the same 2 chords (they didn't seem to know 3 even) in every song is good. Lastly, what follows is a list of songs the band played over the two nights. An * means it was played both nights. 1-2-8* All Things Considered Allow Them Chocolate Pudding Devil's Night Out* Dr. D Everybody's Better* He's Back* Hell of a Hat* Holy Smoke*-this song is quite possibly the most fun live song ever Hope I Never Lose My Wallet Howhywuz Howhyam Illegal Left Impression That I Get I'll Drink to That It Can't Hurt-another song that only recently got played for the first time in years Kinder Words Last Dead Mouse Let Me Be Lights Out* Lil Bit Ugly* Mr Moran Old School Off the Bright* Rascal King* Someday I Suppose Stand Off Sugar Free They Came to Boston Toxic Toast What's At Stake* You Can't Win You Gotta Go

Read all comments (2)|Write your own comment

Write an essay on this topic.