25 March 1999
Bluebird Theater
Denver, CO
OK. After a few days of unrest and
unrelaxation, but some quality time alone
with Kula Shaker, I’m ready to share my
Marvelous 3 gig review. It should be called
my Butch Walker review, but I don’t want to
make Slug and Jayce feel bad. They’re very nice
I’m sure.
The Bluebird Theater has never, ever been my favourite
place to attend a concert. In fact,
it’s prolly my least favourite in the entire
city of Denver and the surrounding area. But
the tickets were $7 and despite a wide amount
of gig-hopping done, I’d never before seen a
band where at least one member wore makeup. So
I rounded up some cash, a friend with a car,
and headed out. It’s customary for my gig
reviews to be impossibly long, encompassing
more than "we got to the venue and they played
[insert set list here] and then we left and it
was cool, man." First of all, I can’t recall the
set list except for 2 ½ songs, and second, it’s
Sunday and I’m bored to death. So get comfy and
pack a lunch.
I can never ever eat on gig days, I’m too excited
and jumpy, plus it was my first since a free
radio Christmas show in early December. Oh,
the inhumanity of it all. I managed to shove a
bottle of Pepsi and slice of cheese pizza down
my throat during lunch, mainly because it was
free. My friends and I left to drive the 45 miles
to Denver right after school, and passed by the
Bluebird at about 5:00. (Damn afternoon traffic.)
Wax Trax, one of the greatest indie record shops
to grace the face of this planet, was only about
9 or 10 blocks away, so I convinced the
appointed driver to take us there since
I managed to squeeze extra cash from my parents.
Lo and behold, Kula Shaker’s new CD was there on
UK import for one bastard of a price ($25.98
plus tax) but I bought it anyway. You should
too.
Right now. It’s bloodyfookinbrilliant!
The friendly downtown neighborhood freaks were
beginning to frighten my friends, so after I
bought the CD and picked up a copy of the Onion,
we headed back down to the Bluebird to wait for
the doors to open at 8. (I’ve managed to
convince everyone that the sooner you get to the theater,
the better the chances of meeting the band. And
I’m always right.) We were driving around the
blocks enclosing the Bluebird in a never-ending
quest for a safe place to park not involving a
No Parking or Permit Required sign, and as we
were driving around the block for the umpteenth
time, who should be approaching the corner but
Butch Walker!! I did a double-take when I saw
him, then rolled down the window & said "Butch?"
He turned to me, and I happily introduced meself
as Lindsay the Britpop-loving email girl. He was
very gracious and shook my hand and we chatted
when I noticed we were wearing almost the exact
same colour of nail polish. The irony is
staggering.
Parking place eventually obtained, my friends and
I walked over to the venue on the next block. A
girl I met at a Semisonic concert in November
was there, so I spent a majority of time hanging
out with her and eating Crispy M&M’s. First Slug
and Jayce passed by going in for sound check, and
I was too enveloped in conversation to notice
until they were already gone. Damn it all.
Butch walked by a few moments after, and
made everyone introduce themselves and shake
his hand, except
for me… instead, he said "And this is Lindsay
of course" and squeezed my arm. It was so sweet.
Then he asked if all of us were going inside to
see the show, and being the goofball/ smartass
that I am, I said "Nah, I think we'll just sit
outside with our heads pressed against the glass hearing the
bass vibrations. It's much more fun,
and we get complimentary hypothermia."
Butch (the lovely soul) laughed pretty wellat that
one & touched my shoulder. Finally, someone who appreciated good,
inoffensive sarcasm.
Fast-forward to about 7:30 p.m. I think venues want to make sure
everyone outside is about to die from hypothermia
before they open the doors. Slug, was walking
past so I went over and shook his hand and
introduced myself. He was a neat guy, I asked him
if he could save his drumsticks for me and he said sure. A couple of
girls behind me asked who
that was, I told them, and they looked at me
like I was crazy for not dying. Silly females.
I took the opportunity to entertain them with
what happened earlier. Well, wouldn’t you???
The first band was Dovetail Joint…
I think they’re from Georgia
as well. They were extremely good, very loud &
with a varied set between slow ballads and
rocked, and… rock that rocked. In the Bluebird,
all the minors are confined to the balcony so
we couldn’t see very well, and the entire
feel of seeing a band live depleted but we
made the best of it by standing and pissing
off all the people behind us. After all, who
wants to sit down at a concert? Not I.
During Dovetail, I also kept tabs on the
Marvie guys floating around downstairs and
hanging out by the stage, rockin’ out.
Then the Moment came. After watching the Marvies perform
for the first time, I think I want to
keep them. They were amazing, everything that
is expected in a good live performance with a
hefty amount of showmanship thrown in. Butch
would put guitar picks in his mouth and spit
them into the audience, or kick one with his
foot and Jayce would catch it. I watched them most
of the time, but Slug looked like he was having a
good ol time as well and damn, that guy has some
arms! Drumming will do that to ya. Butch also did
this nifty trick of limboing backwards at an impossible lowness
with the mic stand going down
with him. He looked ready to fall over
and I still don’t know how he didn’t.
Perhaps it had something to do with stature
– the guy was taller than I had figured from
photos. I can’t recall a set
listat all, plus I don’t know all of
their songs by any means. Somewhere near the
middle of the set, Butch started telling a
"bedtime story"
that slowly morphed into the beginning of
Queen’s "Bohemian Rhapsody." Butch’s voice
never sounded so beautiful as it did then.
They also did a cover of "There’s Always
Something There To Remind Me" and Butch had
everyone sing the choruses. Despite a turnout
of only about 60% capacity, we got pretty damn
loud. At the beginning of the encore they did
"Freak Of The Week" and everyone sang during
those choruses as well, and that’s the extent
of my memory. There was also a pretty good light
show in the back and running along the walls, something
I’ve noticed about the Bluebird.
I spent a mere paragraph talking about the performance. Hmm.
I went downstairs and snagged
some free stuff (stickers, post card, etc) and
went outside to wait for the guys to come out.
It seemed to take forever, as a matter of fact
I think it did. Half an hour, forever, same difference. The only
people left were me and
my friends. We met a guy who played bass for the
band performing at the Bluebird the next night
(Sexy Tin Lunchbox or something like that) and
he gave my friend one of Jayce’s picks. After
waiting forever (30 minutes) Butch came out.
Jayce and Slug never showed, so we hung out with
Butch for as long as the cold would allow. The
first thing I did was give him a hug and tell
him how great the show was as far as stage
presence and energy. He smiled at me and said
"Thanks, that really means a lot to us as a
band." Then I gave him a red number 3 Uno card
for him to sign, but he ended up stealing it,
and I couldn’t bring myself to make him give it
back, so I had him sign my green 3 instead.
I also made him pose for a couple of photos
which he did gladly.
That was my night stripped of any
scatterbrained, Butch-centric babbling that
may have occurred. Be thankful you’re not one
of my friends that I see every day. They’re
ready to kill me by now. Butch is now officially
my #3 popstah, behind Feeder’s Jon Lee and
Semisonic’s Jake Slichter. I will definitely have
to see them again, and if you don’t go and see
this band, then you need psychiatric assistance.
