Liz and Karen and I usually went out weekly to see one band or another - usually either Y-NOT?! (cus they rocked!!) or The Fringe (cus they were just fun - okay, and cus I had a crush on the guitar player). But we saw lots of other bands too - everything and Serious Pilgrim are two others that come to mind. But that was a long time ago
Anyway.....I still love live music in and of itself. There's an energy and passion there that's hard to capture on disc. But oh Lord, spare me from everything else that goes along with it.
1)groupies
2)drunken idiots
3)reckless dancers
4)cigarette burns inflicted by #s 1,2 and 3
5)sticky beer covered floors
6)have I mentioned the groupies?
Anyway Liz and I, and her sister Allison, went to a Y-Not?! reunion show last night at the old 8x10 (which has been supposedly renovated into a "premier concert venue" and renamed The Funk Box....but I liked the older incarnation better). The band broke up sometime in the mid 90's although they did reunite for one show at Daytonas in 1998 - that show was pure magic.
Anyway, they've been doing a series of reunion shows to raise money for the family of Steve Miller, the drummer, who died last year and last night's show was the first one locally (within an hour's drive from here) and the last show they're ever going to do under the Y-Not?! name (although Paul did take pains to tell the crowd that he has been and will continue performing with several of the same musicians, only with a different name....Paul Lewis and Random Axx)
So I was expecting something really great. Here they were, back at the 8x10 (a classic venue) for one last time....but....well, it wasn't BAD....it just seemed a bit....I dunno, I can't call it flat either....the lead singer, Paul, had the same energy and vitality as ever - he's a captivating showman....it just lacked the sparkle of the old shows.
I hate to admit this, but I think part of the problem was my expectation. I came expecting to see "Y-Not?!'s Greatest Hits" and yes, they did play a lot of their classics....but they played a lot of stuff from Paul's solo career (which wasn't bad, just not what I came there for) and several of their best songs were "reworked" and sounded totally differently.
Also, one of my very favorite songs - Let It Go - was not included at all (nor was it played at the show at Daytona's) although I have suspicions that Paul is choosing not to play that song any longer....it's about heroin addiction. He's been clean and sober for six years now, he said last night.
He also kept the political stuff low key....yes, one of the bassist (and in all, they had a total of five guitar players at one point or another....for the encore they had all five on stage at once....no mean feat for such a tiny stage) was wearing a shirt that had George W Bush with the univeral "No" symbol stamped across it, but Paul didn't try to preach his own political agenda....he exhorted us several times to vote...but thankfully, he didn't try to tell us who for.
All in all, not a bad show, and I would go again....I would just lower my expectations a bit
(embarassing side note, which really betrays my age and how long it's been since I attended a live show - when Paul went for the stage-dive, I screamed "EEK!" and stepped aside)
