Live review: Mighty Mighty Bosstones/Pietasters/H20
Mighty Mighty Bosstones/Pietasters/H20
April 16, 1997
The Zone
Albuquerque, NM
by Bryan Chavez and Matt Worley
It was a rainy night in Buffalo when the Bosstones sold out the Zone two days after No Doubt failed to sell out (at a larger venue, of course). Considering that the last time I saw the Bosstones, there were about hundred people milling around near the stage at Lollapalooza, this was quite a change. We made it in a few songs into H2O's set and bought a couple of overpriced beers. H20 had a nice exuberance to them, but nothing overly memorable. They covered a Metallica song and U2's "With Or Without You" with an appropriate amount of irony. Oh yeah, this band recently signed with Epitaph. The Pietasters were incredibly tight in their ska suits, inciting quite a positive reaction from the crowd (who had, no doubt, never heard of them). After a few seconds of reflection, we chose to leave the balcony for the floor during the down time before the Bosstones took the floor. In a set that showcased a great deal of their new album, the Bosstones put on quite a show. Dicky took the time to point this out, "This is a show, not a gig. This is rock and roll." After a few elbows to the head and one stomach shot, I decided to retreat to the side of the stage among the Gwenabees--not an altogether bad place to be. While much of the set was new material (or hits from the last couple Mercury CDs), the Bosstones also brought out some of the older staples of their live show. "Little Bit Ugly" was a nice way to end the show. Energy, spunk and a few jumps off the stage later (3 encores--not too shabby) and the band was having fun. The audience, well, it was a little nuts. Very cool to see an old favorite wow new fans. When we all walked out into the rainy night, the atmosphere seemed like little more than a misty fog machine's way of saying thanks.
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