Photos and Review by Robert McDonald
Bush show photos HERE
Theory of a Deadman show Photos HERE
While I usually travel alone to my concert assignments, last Monday my wife insisted on joining me. Why you ask, to see one of her favorite bands, Theory of a Deadman. They opened for Bush at the House of Blues in Boston and as she proclaimed on her Facebook page, “Theory of a Deadman was AWESOME!!”.
To be fair, so was Bush. Unfortunately, my wife, who’s usually more at home with “oldies” from the 70s, apparently skipped the 90s and claimed she didn’t recognize one song from their set. Further proof that opposites attract. Love you, honey.
Theory of a Deadman is known for it’s pompadour-wearing front man, Tyler Connolly, and tongue-in-cheek lyrics that have a sharp sarcastic undertone. Tyler was engaged with crowd and even tried to win them over by giving a shout out to the hometown favorite Boston Bruins, even though he admitted that he was partial to their hometown Vancouver Canucks.
They played a great 45 minute set that included a great set of hits spanning a decade of their career. “So Happy” opened the set, followed by their ode to trailer trash life, “Lowlife”. Tyler showed off his vocal range with an acoustic rendition of “Angel” from their latest album Savages. The set ended with two of their best-known hits, “Hate My Life” and “Bad Girlfriend”.
After a short break, Bush took the stage and brought the house down with an extended set full of classics as well as a majority of tunes from their latest album, Man on the Run. Bush’s leader, Gavin Rossdale, commands the stage with his powerful voice and buzzes and bounces around like a frenetic ball off energy. The gold satin jacket he started with lasted only through the first song, “The Sound of Winter”, as he quickly heated up and shed it to perform the rest of the show in a white t-shirt.
Although the set list was heavily weighted towards their new album, they didn’t fail to give fans what they came for with a heavy dose of favorites like “Everything Zen”, “Machinehead”, “Glycerine” and their encore finale “Comedown”. By far, the highlight of the night came when Gavin weaved his way through 3 floors of the venue singing “Little Things” along the way. Amazingly, he didn’t miss a note while he was buried amongst the crowd in the GA pit on the floor or later while dancing with a mesmerized young lady in the balcony.
For me, it’s great to see a band that has over two decades of success perform like it was their first headlining tour and I won’t hesitate to rush out and see them again at the very next opportunity.
Bush and Theory of a Deadman at The House of Blues Boston – MA
