Rogue Wave/The Stills

Last night a bunch of us including Rick, Jon, Natasha, Kelli and I went to see Rogue Wave and The Stills perform at The Orpheum. First of all, let me say that The Orpheum is tiny which is GREAT to see a show but on the other hand, it was about 600 degrees inside. I was swiping sweat off my face all night long, it was disgusting. The venues in NYC were small but I NEVER lost 30 pounds sweating. Unless it was someone awesome like Rogue Wave again I wouldn’t see a show there again. I would REALLY have to want to see someone to sweat that out again.

Rogue Wave – Awesome! I thought their set was great and their sound was incredible as well. I liked their first album Out of the Shadow but I loved last years release Descended Like Vultures. They played a mix off of both. “Publish My Love”, “California”, “Every Moment”, and “Love’s Lost Guarantee” were the highlights for me. I enjoyed Rogue Wave much more than The Stills last night which I will tell you about now. They were the redeeming factor of the evening.

The Stills – I saw them in New York at Bowery Ballroom after Logic Will Break Your Heart came out. Great album, decent performance although a little boring but I enjoyed it for the music and wouldn’t have changed a thing, definitely not the front man. But things have changed dramatically in the last few years as they have been recording Without Feathers including their musical style. I was caught a little off guard at this since I hadn’t really heard much of Without Feathers yet. But suddenly the post-punk Stills turned into Fountains of Wayne with their poppy O.C. sound and new electronic styling. When they played the old stuff I was happy, when they performed their new stuff I was annoyed and disappointed with the direction they are taking.

The major change that took place was Dave Hamelin being pulled out from behind the drums and made the front man! At first he was okay, but as the night wore on he got a little more annoying until finally at the end of the night I just didn’t like the guy and I don’t like his voice. What happened to the droning Tim Fletcher? When Tim Fletcher was singing it was awesome. He is clearly the quiet, mysterious rocker that put The Stills on the map. Tim Fletcher IS The Stills! But now they pulled this tool out from behind the kit and expect people to like him??? That’s not what brought people last night which was clear by the way the room cleared out half way through the show. Rick said it well last night when he said, “this band will be broken up by the end of the year.” Unfortunately The Stills that I loved have already broken up. The Stills were right when they sang “Changes Are No Good.” There’s only one solution to this problem if I am ever going to really like The Still again and it is this:

Doesn't this guy just look like a tool?














The Almost Bar Fight – After the show some of us went over to New World Brewery and were sitting down talking when out of nowhere someone throws a pint glass in my direction and a part of it hit me and Kelli’s foot as it shattered around us. I was in shock for a few seconds wondering what happened. I looked around trying to see who threw it and it didn’t take too long to figure out who threw it at me. It was the guy who could barely sit down without falling off of his chair. I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone so drunk. One of the staff at New World and Jon’s friend Jeff came over to make sure nothing was going to happen and to clean up the mess. I was staring this guy down and asked, “Did you just throw that glass at me?” in the most threatening way I could. (Normally I’m not one to raise trouble but he did throw something in our direction plus I knew Jon had my back). Jeff tried to calm me down a little bit and this guy got up and staggered around apologizing in his drunk way about 20 times. It really only made me more angry, him doing this because it was kind of in a mocking way. If the bottle would have hit Kelli I would have pulverized this guy without thinking about it, but seeing that we had just gotten out of a Bible study before the concert about grace, I didn’t think it would be the best thing to do considering it only hit my foot.

“I think it’s time to leave” says Kelli. Jon instantly replied, “I think it’s time to start something.” Jon has been wanting to get in a bar fight his entire life so I think he looks for these opportunities. Heck, what I am talking about-I look for these opportunities. I think I’ve seen too many Chuck Norris movies. But this kind of fight wouldn’t really be satisfying anyway. As Jon said, he was so drunk you would almost feel bad after you beat him up. Maybe next time Jon, maybe next time. That is if Kelli lets me hang out with you anymore. It was definitely a blessing Kelli was there holding my arm or who knows what would have happened with Jon's encouragement!