Candlebox - Far Behind. but not sure why

Looking in the paper to see a reasonably large ad for Candlebox at the Hard Rock Casino is enough to get the wheels spinning for at least a second. Then to see they got Blind Melon to warm the show is enough to say, "hey why not".

Like a lot of kids who grew up in the 90's I played the hell out of their self titled debut album, and was slightly dissapointed by the fact that they fell victim of the classic Sophomore slump in the second. After that, Pearl Jam was the only Seattle band selling any more records.  Its probable that their contract kept them shelved after that, inhibiting them from flourishing in the latter part of the decade. I will never forget singer Kevin Martin's words, (went something of the effect of) "You have your whole life to write your first record, and one year to write your second." This was said demonstrating the nearly unrealistic expectation of touring to support one record and at the same time write another one that radio arbitron gives the same ratings too.

Regardless of their fall to obscurity, I will never forget them for one thing, Far Behind. When you write a song like Far Behind, a song that really capsulizes much of the sound that existed in the early 90's, you are never too obscure to draw an audience. When a book is written about the sound of the grunge movement of the early 90's, Candlebox has certainly earned an honorable mention.

To the show. With this sort of mind set, you might expect to come to the show and sit in the back and expect a night more entertaining than watching the humorously dissapointing episodes of the Office. If that is your set up, than you would be very pleasantly wowed.

The band took the stage appearing to have matured out of their early 20's, with the singer Kevin Martin looking so unsuspecting as a frontman, you may have walked by him early that day and thought he worked as a computer programmer and loves to use Apple computers, thirty pounds heavier than I remember, and looking a bit like an older Rob Thomas.

Once the amps cranked up, I immediately forgot all about the distance of time between now and their last hit. Candlebox can still put on a show that forces me to used overly cli-che'ed and childish descriptions like, "Kicked Ass!, Totally Rocked, and Way Awesome." Kevin Martin had a kind of confidence that told me he doesn't know he isn't in the 90's anymore, and you know what, the crowd didn't either. It was like a time warp to arena/ grunge/ metal Rock music at its finest. To make it more interesting, the grunge era wasn't exactly known for its shredders and axe-masters, so naturally you don't think much about Candlebox in that regard, but original guitarist Peter Klett set the stage on fire with his flawless and powerful execution of his heavy hitting hard rock licks. The band is still a power team that could make another headliner nervous to have them as an opening act. And from the size of the audience (4000 plus) they don't need to play anybody's second fiddle.

The night got better as the versatility of the show kept it interesting, but the highlight was when Kevin Martin broke into monologuing of the middle of the hard rocking song Arrow, to make mention of the Seattle greats (Jimi Hendrix, Steve Miller, Queensryche, Nirvana.... etc) and to regard other influences. Martin pointed out their influences by NAILING the first verse/chorus to Zepplin's Immigrant song, to Ozborne's Crazy Train, Ac-Dc's Highway to hell and worthy mention of David Lee Roth Van Halen. Granted that was a shameless crowd pleasing moment, but it was executed so well, you had to give them credit. Besides, its Rock n' Roll, if its not entertaining a hyped up mass of adreneline, what is it good for?

The only question I kept asking myself was when it was over, was, "How come they weren't bigger that that? Why did the blackhole of the Music industry suck in such obscenely talented musicians?" Well, I guess I can figure bad business, the ever so greedy forward moving and fickle music/radio broadcasting just dropped the ball in effort to blow out of proportion the No Doubts and Ska bands. Regardless, I walked away from being a passive fan, to being a real fan who will go see them again.

Blind Melon - Live at the Hard Rock Casino and Hotel

   Live at the Hard Rock Casino and Hotel in Albuquerque, NM was the return of the grunge band Blind Melon. To their long time fans, this band made a real statement on the scene from which they came, but to those who were passive and even less than passive, they are the definition of a one-hit-wonder band. However, never let that distinction be the determinate that tells you they were a sub-par ensemble. Your own mind needs to be made up. If the band had a song good enough to crank up the radio and sing-a-long to 17 years later, they are worth giving a shot if it’s convenient.

   Back to Blind Melon. Your next question should be, “Didn’t their singer die or something back in the 90’s?” 

   Yes, singer Shannon Hoon died of a heroin overdose in ’95. You can read the generic facts on Wikipedia. They continued on with a new singer. The singer is Travis Warren, who played in a band you probably never heard of. Regardless, your next question should be, “So, are they sort of a tribute band to themselves?”  

    Yes, it could be taken that way, but technically, no. Since their relatively recent reunion (’06), the band had released a new album with the new singer on vocals. The album sincerely earns the right to own the name Blind Melon for artistic reasons as well as technical. Your last question should be, “Is the new singer any good? And is he like Shannon Hoon?”

    The long answer is to be made in heads of the audience. But, it is irrefutable that the new singer has the right unique brand of pipes for an endeavor of taking on the shoes of Shannon Hoon. Even his stage performance shows respect to once definitively wigging out rock star. The original members of Blind Melon are a bit aged and fallen into irrelevancy, but not to the point where they can’t get a solid man to lead what is still a marketable moniker.

     All that being established, let’s review the concert. They are playing on a Friday night at a respectable casino in a pretty large venue, warming up the crowd for other grunge rock wonder band, Candlebox. 

     The band arrived on stage to a brewing audience who mostly got involved with the band immediately. They came on looking not too shabby for sixteen years after the end of their reign of rock stardom. They never fell too far from their roots of the alternative scene, but they looked as if they tried to recreate some of that earthy ’90’s image from clothes found at Target. As funny as that may have looked, you can’t hold it against a band whose  genre has been out-cycled at least 5 times. 

    The performance, well, good ‘ole fashion 90’s tweeker music never hurt anybody. The biggest thing missing aside from Hoon was maybe the cloud ganja in the air, but even the fans are waning through there sobriety. Blind Melon were almost too tight for what they were doing. That groovy stoner rock felt very polished as you can imagine most of those songs were regularly played over and over again for around 20 years. You could say that they may be trying to relive their glory days a bit, but only on stage, its hard to imagine they have some granola groupies hanging out by the tour bus hoping to have meaningful discussions with the band at the hotel. The new frontman Travis, although similar stage show and comparable voice talent to Shannon Hoon, did not carry his street cred the same. Unfair to him, maybe, but he unfortunately falls in the same curse of all replacement frontmen who just look like posers. ie, Journey, Judas Priest, Warrant, and dare I say, Lynyrd Skynyrd. But don’t let the obvious negatives fool you, BLIND MELON IS STILL A FUN SHOW! Blind Melon did this night exactly what they are known best for: warming up a bigger band like Candlebox. Candlebox, although a band lost in time as well, still carries more relevancy due to their rotation on rock formatted radio. Maybe I wouldn’t go far out of my way to watch Blind Melon at a local club, but they very well can be the deciding factor to whether or not I choose to go see another band I would be half way interested in. Blind Melon is a good package deal for Candlebox, and for that, they did not disappoint.