Reflections of a first-time festival visitor Commentary
by Bill Hyden
Well, I had my first time and it’s over. I have finally put my brown clothes in the washer and dried off and warmed up long enough to give my impressions about the Beale Street Music Festival held at Tom Lee Park in downtown Memphis. First, let’s start with the positives from this weekend.
Matt Nathanson opened the festival with a neat and intimate, or at least as intimate as you can expect on the Cellular South Stage, set of his acoustic tunes. I truly only recognized his semi-hit “Come On Get Higher.” The only low point in his set was a cover of “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey.
Anytime you perform a tune that earned a spot on “The Best Damn Sports Show Period” as one the top 50 most outrageous moments in sports, you can’t afford to go there. Just don’t. It’s even worse when Steve Perry, the former lead singer of Journey, is singing out of tune with Chicago White Sox players in the clip which earned a place in Fox Sports Network infamy.
I know few people who even bother to watch FSN in a cable sports environment that is dominated by ESPN, but still. “Don’t Stop Believing” has earned a spot on the musical integrity scale alongside classics such as “Celebration” and “YMCA.”
The most pleasant surprise of the festival was Rise Against, a punk rock band from Chicago. In the weeks leading up to the festival, 93X frequently played their latest single “Audience of One.” I was underwhelmed by the song, as it reminded me of cookie-cutter rock tunes released ad nauseum these days by groups like Nickelback, Seether, and Saliva. Their performance on the Budweiser Stage on Friday evening completely altered my perceptions of this group. I really failed to peg this group altogether and I couldn’t be happier to be wrong.
Rise Against has a true punk intensity and anger that most rock groups fail to convey nowadays. Their stage presence and sound reminds me of Social Distortion, a punk-blues group from Southern California. Hopefully this group will pave the way for a developing trend of punk bands created for a new generation. A shift from apathy to anger would be nice as society continues to silently and subtly crumble.
Of course, many people missed this concert as it opened the schedule on the Budweiser Stage at 6 p.m. on Friday. I talked to at least five people who were bummed they didn’t arrive soon enough to witness the angst that is Rise Against. Whether they truly meant what they said about missing the show is debatable, but there is no argument that they missed out on a great set.
Richard Johnston was brilliant, both musically and personally, in his blues performances at the Southern Comfort Blues Shack. In addition to being a true, soulful performer who engages with his audience, he went out of his way to ensure that I left his interview with what I needed and more.
I am rooting for him to continue to have success as an artist. I hope he also enjoyed spending some time with a friend in a Volvo parked outside his artist trailer. What was going on, I don’t know, but I am reassured that he is happy with having the opportunity to live and relate his vision and dreams to others.
There are always going be some negatives that occur in a situation involving an event of this magnitude. My biggest complaint with the festival was the artist schedule on the Budweiser, Cellular South, and Sam’s Town stages. The artists with the largest fan appeal, like Korn, 311, Al Green and George Clinton were all scheduled toward the end of each night’s festivities.
Personally, I wonder if the organizers chose to do this in order to make the daytime performances more suitable for parents and children. Because arranging the concert schedule in a manner where the most well-known artists are playing at the same time on different stages makes little economic sense.
Seriously, why would you have Al Green and George Clinton playing at the same time? You split your audience in half by choosing this route. Acts like Saving Abel and the All-American Rejects should have held their gigs as a part of the opening of the festival on Saturday. Historically, some of the best up-and-coming bands established their credibility through an excellent supporting performance that fans remembered more than the headlining acts.
For example, Green Day preceded Aerosmith at Woodstock ’94. Although the boys from Boston received most of the mainstream media attention, Green Day propelled themselves and their commercial breakthrough album “Dookie” by engaging in a mud-throwing contest with the Woodstock audience. We need more of that in the music industry.
People need to see who the upstart groups are and why they have a future in a backstabbing recording industry. There is no better method for advertising an album than captivated concertgoers (read: word-of-mouth). Forget radio for a moment, the legacy of live performances will always equate to record and merchandise sales. There is nothing like seeing an artist breakthrough before an unsuspecting crowd.
The other negative I experienced this weekend was partly of my own doing. I quickly learned how large the 33-acre festival concourse is after I was rerouted to the correct gate for receiving my media credentials. I started seeing mirages and other things while completing what felt like a six-mile walk from one side of the festival to another. Most people would laugh at my lack of orientation, however, and point out that the vastness and variety of the musical stages are what makes the festival so charming. I could complain about the rain, but whenever you are doing something for the first time, you’re bound to get wet.
In closing, I want to point out something. Do artists ever get the impression they are assigned to the Sam’s Town stage because the organizers consider their recording careers to be a thing of the past? Is the festival brass trying to sell these performers on a future of booking dates with the casino itself? Ladies and Gentleman, your lineup for the 2010 Sam’s Town Stage: Loverboy, Lita Ford, INXS, Mike and the Mechanics and Howard Jones. |
