As I made my way to the power station plant in the block behind the High Noon Saloon where I typically park for a show there, it was jam packed. The entire street was full! I have never seen it so packed. However, as I drove further away I realized the reason.
Yep. Liz Phair, whom I had just seen in Seattle with Alan and Jeannie was playing Madison at the Sylvee, a block away. Since I was in sight of the parking garage I parked there and walked to the High Noon.
Here was the marquee for The English Beat.
Come on man. Not even a poster in the window?! I miss posters so much. Sigh.
At any rate, I struck up a conversation with a couple outside about music and shows and it was a nice short wait to get inside. Once we got let in, the 20 or so people in front of me in line were either at the bar or had high-tailed it to the tables on the upper level. I got a cider and then wandered to the stage and was the only one there for a while.
Several people came up to get pics of the equipment and the set list which was already on the stage.
Then a father and son came to stand next to me (hi Bill and Sam if you are reading this!) and this was their first time seeing The English Beat. It was cool to see the whole father/son at a show thing. We chatted and there were people there that had stood next to them at a Violent Femmes show that said hi. I appreciated the conversation, made the hour go fast. Music is such a common language. Bill was the first one I ever truly used my DOT card with. It didn’t boop, but he was able to scan it and get my info.
There was clearly not going to be an opener since the set lists were down. At 8:15 Dave and his daughter (who is in the band) came in and went to the backstage room. About 8:30 they hit the stage. His daughter is just behind him on percussion and backing vocals.
The energy was high for sure and I realized I was not going to get the best sound there. We were literally right at the stage.
but that is the tradeoff all concert goers must face: good spot with everything behind you but close close close, or somewhere back there with better sound and heads in the way.
I chose to be down front with Dave’s guitar amp pointed directly at my face. Close.
Dave’s banter between songs is full of positive vibes and the band was cooking. The guy on sax was wailing HARD. He was awesome. From info here at the band site http://englishbeat.net/band/ this is Brad Engstrom.
Dave was cooking and I could see his economy of sound up close. It seemed like he used the upper strings for the staccato rhythm and the low string for accent bass lines in a sense.
I tried my hand at a panoramic shot. Results mixed.
I wished they had played “Sole Salvation”, but every song they did play was fantastic and the crowd was into it and singing along every chance they had.
It was a great gig (my 4th seeing the band) and I will probably go again if they stop in Madison.
Come back soon Dave!
The Aural Retentive 