The Last Summer on Earth Tour – Barenaked Ladies
Blues Traveler
Big Head Todd and the Monsters
Cracker
August 19, 2012 – Bangor, Maine’s Waterfront Pavilion
Review by EastChapman
Photography by Chris Joles
For more photos of this show, visit the NECR Gallery here.
Special Thanks to Heidi LeBlanc for all her help in a time of need. It was a tough job, but she took the challenge.
2012. Mayan prank or the other Big Bang? I don’t care, but I do think it makes sense to cover your bases and have a Plan B. “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” has been a staple in much of my decision making strategy over the years. Look where that has taken me – straight to the final show on the Last Summer on Earth tour headlining the Barenaked Ladies at Bangor, Maine’s Waterfront Pavilion. If it truly does look like the end, I’m heading to a live show!
August 19, 2012
Cracker started their six song set a little ahead of schedule. Their brand of rolling melody led by acoustic guitar and spiked with alternative rock attitude got the crowd going. The set included favorites “Euro-trash Girl,” “Teen Angst,” and “Low.” Wrapping up their set with “Been Around the World,” Cracker was joined by Blues Traveler’s John Popper for a strong version of this tune heavy on the harmonica.
August 19, 2012
“Circle” started the Big Head Todd and the Monsters portion of the show. Apologizing for the shortness of the set, Todd Mohr and the band wasted no time jumping into “Bittersweet,” “Rocksteady,” and “Broken Hearted Savior.” The crowd was thrilled but the fun was just getting started. Sharing a cover of LMFAO’s “I’m Sexy and I Know It,” the band was joined by Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies’ in a red satin thong shaking what God gave him from atop the drum platform. You don’t see that every day, folks. Next up was a brand new song written in protest of the incarceration of Russian punk band, Pussy Riot. “Free Riot,” clearly borrowing from a long history of American protest music shared the band’s distaste for Pussy Riot being imprisonment for “screaming in a punk band and whispering a prayer.” This was a highlight of the show for me. Ending with Springsteen’s “Rosalita (Come out Tonight),” again with Popper on harmonica, BHTM’s set was fantastic – strong, varied, memorable, and heavy on the rock.
“Free Pussy Riot Riot Now”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXMiIq7Qe4o
Up next, Blues Traveler, and the show turned to, you guessed it, more blues, more funk, and of course that harmonica. They came out strong with a cover of Sublime’s “What I Got” before sharing with the audience two new songs from their recently released album “Suzie Cracks the Whip.” “Things are Looking Up,” is a great, heavy pounding tune. Introducing “You Don’t Have to Love Me,” John Popper, always an entertaining and talented front man, stated this is “what America and Canada have to say to the rest of the world.” If only. Next was “Run-Around” and “Carolina Blues,” accompanied by Todd Mohr, Johnny Hickman, and Ed Robertson. Things slowed down with “Cara Let the Moon” before wrapping up the set with “But Anyway” and “Hook.”
August 19, 2012
And at last, the Barenaked Ladies took over the stage, and the crowd went wild. I largely owe this section of the article to longtime BNL fan and my dear friend, Heidi. She was kind enough to enjoy the show from her fourth row seat even when I had to pack it in early in the set, as the effects of a weekend’s project and a touch of the ick sent me home. When I asked Heidi to describe BNL, she simply stated, “They make me happy. It could be a sad song but their lyrics let you know you’ll work yourself through it. It’s a downer-time set to puffed-up happy music that makes you wiggle.” There you have it, BNL in a nutshell.
August 19, 2012
Starting their set with “Four Seconds,” “The Old Apartment,” and “It’s All Been Done,” BNL took off in relentless pursuit of a fun evening. Blending together signature quirky lyrics with their urgent and spunky musical arrangements, they kept the audience delighted and involved. Making light of the “thong incident” and rapping out a little ditty about Bangor, a name that is both difficult to pronounce as well as the target for many a bad joke, the band kept the energy going. “Boomerang,” a new tune, was “more like a regular song” Heidi told me, and she’s eager to get her copy for the daily drive to work.
August 19, 2012
BNL shared fan favorites, “Blame it on Me,” “Brian Wilson,” the entirety of the “Big Bang Theory,” and “If I had a $1,000,000” in their lineup before finishing for the night with a “Barenaked Rap” and “Alcohol.” (I’ve always told Heidi that martinis were the perfect accessory.) Complete with assistance from members of the other bands during their set, as well as a little kid scrambling onto the stage to snag some underwear from the clothesline hanging across the back of the set, Heidi deemed the show an all-out success. Even though she is recovering from surgery, she told me she’d head back the next day if they were playing again. That’s dedication.
August 19, 2012
One final note – if you are thinking the bands from the Last Summer on Earth tour are a bit past their prime, you are sadly mistaken. Full of new work twists and texture, this show was a full onslaught of talent and entertainment and gracious showmanship. As Todd Mohr stated during his set, “Ain’t nothing old or used up about us…or you.”
This was one for the fans to remember …at least for as long as they have left.