Hey everyone! I went to the mb20/Everclear/Lifehouse concert in Cleveland two
nights ago (March 5). My friend Jill and Rosie went with me. We wanted to
get to the concert early so there would be no chance we would miss Lifehouse.
We really wanted to see them. We actually ended up being one of the first 100
people in the crowd. After some confusion where are seats were, we settle in
our seat at about 5:45 about an hour and a 15 minutes before the show.
We saw Lifehouse practicing on his drums at about 6:30. So, we screamed
at him as he played. Then he left for about ten minutes. He came back to the
back end of the stage with the rest of his bandmates. Jason, the lead singer
looked SO nervous. He was pacing and rubbing his hands together over his
face. We could take away his stage fright! He screamed "Lifehouse" like
twice. Then after a few beats, I screamed "Lifehouse rocks" on my own and
threw my hands in the air as I said it. That got the attention of the
drummer. the drummer from Lifehouse waved back to me with the same hand
motions in which I used. That symbolized who he was waving to -- me. All
three of us went nuts. Then he nudged the lead singer, Jason and showed him
us flipping out. when Jason saw us going crazy for them even before they had
perform a single song, he laughed and that seemed to calm him. He stopped
rubbing his hands together over his face and then I saw a smile on his face
as the lights went down.
They were the opening act so not many people were there yet and not many
people knew of them. 90% of the crowd just sat their in their seats during
Lifehouse's set while the 3 of us were still basically the only ones
screaming every word and dancing the whole time. The band must have taken
notice to us. After about half through their set, Jason was like "hey this
next song goes to the girls up there." He pointed straight at us! We began
streaming even louder and he went on to say "This song's for you" and then
Lifehouse played "Sick Cycle Carousal." He dedicated a song to us!
We were still going crazy from that terrific moment when we heard Jason
confront these two suits in front row center, which we had been rolling are
eyes at through the night as well. Jason stated to say looking right at them
"Come on you guys! You have the best seats in the house! Can you even show a
lick of enjoyment? Even if you do not want to get your butts off the seats,
we will try to do our best to get you out of your seats. With this song I
know we will get some people on their feet" He then addressed the whole crowd
"This is "Hanging On A Moment."
Lifehouse finished off their breathtaking performance by winning over much of
the crowd. Many people in the sections near us confronted us afterward. One
person was astonished when I told her the album was already out and came out
back in 2000.
The next act was Everclear. Art is a true frontman. He completely controlled
the crowd. They did all their hits except "Heroin Girl" which is not on this
tour's set list at all for the first time since the song's creation. During
"Rock Star" Art wheeled 6 or so pre-picked girls on stage to be back-up
singers. However, he was unimpressed with their dancing skills. In the middle
of the second verse, he stopped the song and stated "These chicks can't
dance! Is there anyone in the crowd that can teach these girls how to dance?"
4 more girls and one male was pulled onstage. Then Everclear continued the
song where they left off. The guy reminded me of "Soy Bomb" in the way he
so-called danced. Does anyone know who I am referring to when I say "Soy
Bomb?" I sure hope so. I was quite impressed by Everclear 45 minute show. I
heard Craig was having throat problems but I could hear him fine. I hope he
get well. He has "Scott Stapp Syndrome" if I maybe so blunt. His doctors say
he should stay away from the tobacco or else. Craig says he will take the
doc's orders seriously.
Matchbox Twenty's performance was filled with great guitars, lights, and
other effects. However, I think that just masked the lack of motion by Rob
Tomas. He moved to the left side of the stage to center then to the right
side. But he would just stand there. Highlights of MB20 included when Rob
Tomas was at the piano. In the introduction of "Rest Stop," Rob made the
whole crowd laugh and awe about his tale. He began like "this song is based
on a true story actually. It was like written like 10 year ago! I was on this
4 day fling thing with this girl" The crowd started to "ohhh" and Rob Tomas
was quick with the rebound "I was like 17, 18. What can you except? I was a
young guy with ranging hormones and all that." The crowd roared. "We had you
know had been on this road trip for like 4 days when she just stopped the
car. She was like 'why we doing this? it's foolish! You should just get out
of the car. go!' I was like 'bitch!'" The crowd thundered again. Rob laughed
as said "No, No! 'Bitch' bad. Shh!" He continued on with his story explaining
he was completely pissed with this girl who he doesn't even remember her name
now. When he got home, he wrote "Rest Stop" based on the event.
It was a night of me saying "OMG!" way too much. But then after the show we
hear Lifehouse was signing stuff downstairs on the main floor right after
their set. We did not know though so we missed out. Then driving home I hear
on the radio that Lifehouse is at the Hard Rock Cafe doing Rockline, a
national radio interview. I tried to call in and it rang a lot but they never
picked me up. But the whole experience was still cool.
Was that long enough? Sorry, I have always been the one for details and
rambles.
Rock On,
**KERRY'S REVIEW**
Cleveland, Ohio
March 5th, 2001
Kerri
