Monday might not be the best night of the week to hold a concert for a band like
Down With Webster. Monday is after all a school night and the biggest fans of this band are typically of the age when a concert ends way after their bedtime. That probably explains why there were only a few dozen people at Mr. Smalls on Monday. Yes, it’s definite a big reason why the show was so sparsely attended, but not the only reason. The music itself played a big part as well. It’s not that it was terrible music, although there were some seriously close calls to crossing that line, it just wasn’t remarkable enough to drag people to Millvale on a cold Monday night.
The first two acts seemed to be randomly selected. They represented musical styles far different from each other and can only be compared based on their low budget performances.
Ben Alper, alaong with his acoustic guitar and another guy named Ben with some bongos or congas or something, was the first to go. He was somewhat reminiscent of
Keller Williams only sweatier and as any local artist would, played a set filled with songs meant to please those from Pittsburgh. One such song was called
“Second Favorite Ben” an obvious reference to a certain local athlete, and other than that the only noteworthy song was
“Clothes Off,” a
Gym Class Heroes cover that seemed kinda creepy considering the predominantly teenage and female audience.
greatest in number (three) as well as talent, despite the fact that their appearance and Canadian heritage led certain concert reviewers to laughingly thing of South Park’s farting duo Terrence and Phillip. This three-piece band had a more traditional rock sound in the spirit of bands like the Ramones, The Clash or The Sex Pistols and like these bands they held nothing back in their performance. Song after song, including “Hypocrite Hop” and “Second Class Citizen” featured the sort of anti-establishment themes that rock and roll was built on. Based on appearance these guys were young although they said they’ve been a band for eleven years, but their age did not prevent them from trying to perform like so many more experienced bands had before them. This was most evident through the John Bonham-like actions of their drummer whose stick flipping and twirling and overall excellent playing stole the show, especially on “You Know I Know," a song he wrote himself. At that point it was becoming obvious who the best act of the night would be. Here’s a hint: it wasn’t the headliners.
they put into their efforts and no matter how much guitarist and vocalist Pat looks like John Mayer their music lacked the substance needed for a great performance. The whole DJ thing has been done, maybe even overdone by bands like Hollywood Undead – who ruined a lot of things for a lot of people – and the use of a “hype man” is kind of like blatantly coming out and saying “sorry our music can’t do it for you, but watch this little guy jump around. Isn’t that exciting?”
Sorry, your account does not have access to post comments.