311 & The Roots last night (7/20) at the oakdale

311 & The Roots last night (7/20) at the oakdale
Posted by Gfunk on 21 Jul, 2004 19:31
i was wondering if anyone on this board went to this show last night since a lot of you are from CT. i got a free ticket, so i made the trek down from NH. it was a decent show. i\'m not a huge fan of either of these bandsbut i definately dig a lot of 311 songs, and the roots studio **** is great, live though, they didn\'t cut it. the sound might have contributed some or actually a lot, it was way way to bass-ie. i couldn\'t understand one word black thought spit. each of the band members got time to solo and that was pretty bad ass, especially the drum solo. by the end of their short set they probably only played 5 or 6 of their songs plus all the soloing and a couple random teasers (whole lotta love, dont\' fear the reaper) which was my highlight of their set. next came 311. they ripped but the sound was still pretty shitty. their guitarist is the **** he tore it up. i think this part of the show would have been way more fun if it had been general admission. there would definately have been some moshing. i dont like the dude who just raps and doesn\'t play an instrument, he was pissing me off throughout their whole set. i\'m not sure what all the songs were, but amber was sick and of course they played down for their encore. so all in all, it was a goodtime. i can definately see the breakfast packing that place someday.

#1 Reply
Posted by FrankZappa on 22 Jul, 2004 04:52
they yelled at peck there during a santana show because he was standing during the show. I dont think a mosh pits gonna break out...

I wanted to check that show out, but after your review it looks like I didnt miss anything, so i guess its good i couldn\'t make it.

#2 Reply
Posted by Wolfman on 25 Jul, 2004 00:00
I saw it tonight in Holmdel. MMW only got 45 minutes and they are one of my 3 most favorite bands to see of all time, so that hurt a little. (Going back to last week\'s 45 minute Breakfast show, that\'s two 45-minute shows in a row by my favorite bands. What is wrong with this world?) The Roots ripped it up with almost exclusively new stuff. I\'m really digging The Tipping Point, so this was all good. There were the usual Roots antics of teasing a bunch of rock songs, as well as a long bass solo and drum solo. They rocked, and above all the volume was FREAKIN LOUD. I haven\'t been to a show this loud since PB at Tobacco Road. I was a little less than halfway up in the pavilion, with a whole column of speakers coming right at me, the bass shook you right to the bone. Another very cool aspect of the show is that neither MMW nor The Roots ever stopped during their shows, not for 1 second.

311 was good, they\'ve got good points and bad points. They have good songs and vocals and they have moments where they really rock. The singer\'s melodic monotone a la Sublime fits the style very nicely. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts, becasue they\'re all below-average musicians. The set contained the most meaningless guitar solos I\'ve ever heard. Also, they have a boy-bandish onstage demeanor that does not seem to fit the music. The lead singer has this John Mayerish quality, making corny gestures and comments just to get screams out of the girls. I was kinda hoping Blackthought or Anthony Keidis would walk out on stage and kick his ass. They\'re a good band though, and though I think MMW and The Roots make better music, I\'m happy for them that they\'ve made it. If it wasn\'t a sellout, it was damn close.

One final word, MAD PROPS to http://www.stubhub.com for the sweet ticket deal. 2 VIP tickets (VIP parking, free food tent, dank seats) for $28 each after fees! Whoa! Face value for the lawn was $38! There were lots of VIP tix on Ebay for the last month, all going for $100-$125. EBay lawns were $70. Stubhub offered lawns for $40-$50 and VIPs for $75-$90. Good discounts from EBay already, then came the one fluke sale, 2 VIPs for $25 each. Wow. Definitely check out this site.