Athenaeum in Downtown Greensboro
Admittedly, finding a way to process the last Athenaeum show has been a challenge. 23,000 people showed up to see American Idol runner-up Chris Daughtry perform a free outdoor show. And, Athenaeum was the opener. The date was March 23, 2007.
Any time a band, broken-up or not, has an opportunity to perform to that many people, it's generally a good idea. What made this situation different from any of the other festivals that we had performed in the past is that this show was all about Daughtry. I guess the situation was a bit humbling.
Feelings aside, I thought our set was solid:
Flat Tire
On My Mind
Damage
No One
Unnoticed
Frozen in Time
All My Life
October
What I Didn't Know
Revolution
The fact that the show was in town didn't make it any easier. The folks who put this show on grossly underestimated attendance. The space for a decent view of the stage was limited to about 9,000. The other 14,000 were stacked on top of each other down Elm St, the main drag through downtown. Streets were blocked off for miles. Being so, negotiating a way to the stage entrance was a bit difficult.
Why this event wasn't held at the Coliseum, I'll never know. It would have made so much more sense on a number of different levels. The first of which, in simple terms, we would have had a green room of some kind. It was difficult to change clothes in a day old porta-John. You just hope that you don't accidentally drop your shoes in the crapper. I'm no prima donna, but I had a hard time finding even a place to sit down backstage. There were no accommodations for us or our guests.
Before we took the stage, a little drummer got up on stage and did a drum solo. This was pretty good, except he went on just a bit too long. He cut into our set...we had to cut "Sweeter Love" as a consequence. But still, it was amazing to see a 6 or 7 year old play almost as well as some of the drummers that I've played with.
When we took the stage, our reception was positive. Although, it was pretty clear after the first song just how much this whole shindig had to do with Daughtry. Not everyone there was as into our set as we would have liked, but we gave it our best. The set was over fairly quickly. Although, "On My Mind" and "Frozen in Time" were performed as well as perhaps they ever have been. Maybe the show in Ferndale on the Athenaeum tour in 2001 had better renditions, but it would be hard to say. We closed the set with a cover of the Beatles' "Revolution."
As we finished and began walking off the stage, the crowd began to chant something. At first, I thought it sounded like "encore," but that would have been a bit weird. It wasn't. They were chanting "Daughtry." The optimist in me hopes that this was a sign that we did our job. The crowd seemed warmed up. The pessimist in me takes that kind of statement as an insult...kind of a verbal middle finger...I still don't know what to think of it.
We had just finished packing up our gear when Daughtry took the stage. There was much ado and the crowd was very excited. I guess if you are a kid who watches American Idol every week, this kind of show would have been one of the most exciting experiences of your life. For me, a guy who's seen over 1,000 rock shows (including Radiohead, The Foo Fighters, and Cheap Trick at a 600 person club) this didn't really do much for me. But then again, what do I know? He did a great job at pleasing his fans. That's all that really needs to be said.
When people started downloading songs and not paying for music back in the late 90's everyone knew that the music industry had changed forever. Labels purged their rosters. A musical vacuum had begun. Something had to fill it. It looks like American Idol has done it. With a weekly viewership of 60 million, it's no wonder that 23,000 folks showed up to see this American Idol alumnus rock out.
I'll end this post by saying that this show has been very difficult to process. Although, keep your fingers crossed everybody. Some exciting things are on the horizon.
Any time a band, broken-up or not, has an opportunity to perform to that many people, it's generally a good idea. What made this situation different from any of the other festivals that we had performed in the past is that this show was all about Daughtry. I guess the situation was a bit humbling.
Feelings aside, I thought our set was solid:
Flat Tire
On My Mind
Damage
No One
Unnoticed
Frozen in Time
All My Life
October
What I Didn't Know
Revolution
The fact that the show was in town didn't make it any easier. The folks who put this show on grossly underestimated attendance. The space for a decent view of the stage was limited to about 9,000. The other 14,000 were stacked on top of each other down Elm St, the main drag through downtown. Streets were blocked off for miles. Being so, negotiating a way to the stage entrance was a bit difficult.
Why this event wasn't held at the Coliseum, I'll never know. It would have made so much more sense on a number of different levels. The first of which, in simple terms, we would have had a green room of some kind. It was difficult to change clothes in a day old porta-John. You just hope that you don't accidentally drop your shoes in the crapper. I'm no prima donna, but I had a hard time finding even a place to sit down backstage. There were no accommodations for us or our guests.
Before we took the stage, a little drummer got up on stage and did a drum solo. This was pretty good, except he went on just a bit too long. He cut into our set...we had to cut "Sweeter Love" as a consequence. But still, it was amazing to see a 6 or 7 year old play almost as well as some of the drummers that I've played with.
When we took the stage, our reception was positive. Although, it was pretty clear after the first song just how much this whole shindig had to do with Daughtry. Not everyone there was as into our set as we would have liked, but we gave it our best. The set was over fairly quickly. Although, "On My Mind" and "Frozen in Time" were performed as well as perhaps they ever have been. Maybe the show in Ferndale on the Athenaeum tour in 2001 had better renditions, but it would be hard to say. We closed the set with a cover of the Beatles' "Revolution."
As we finished and began walking off the stage, the crowd began to chant something. At first, I thought it sounded like "encore," but that would have been a bit weird. It wasn't. They were chanting "Daughtry." The optimist in me hopes that this was a sign that we did our job. The crowd seemed warmed up. The pessimist in me takes that kind of statement as an insult...kind of a verbal middle finger...I still don't know what to think of it.
We had just finished packing up our gear when Daughtry took the stage. There was much ado and the crowd was very excited. I guess if you are a kid who watches American Idol every week, this kind of show would have been one of the most exciting experiences of your life. For me, a guy who's seen over 1,000 rock shows (including Radiohead, The Foo Fighters, and Cheap Trick at a 600 person club) this didn't really do much for me. But then again, what do I know? He did a great job at pleasing his fans. That's all that really needs to be said.
When people started downloading songs and not paying for music back in the late 90's everyone knew that the music industry had changed forever. Labels purged their rosters. A musical vacuum had begun. Something had to fill it. It looks like American Idol has done it. With a weekly viewership of 60 million, it's no wonder that 23,000 folks showed up to see this American Idol alumnus rock out.
I'll end this post by saying that this show has been very difficult to process. Although, keep your fingers crossed everybody. Some exciting things are on the horizon.
2 Comments:
As an Athenaeum fan, it was a weird show to be at. All the Athenaeum shows I've been to where where Athenaeum was nominally the headline act (The exception being when we saw Athenaeum and Far Too Jones swap top billing in a pair of shows New Years 2001.
The two New Years shows and the Ferndale show were in cool venues with good sound. They weren't over-crowded and there was ready access to facilities and refreshment. We could be seated comfortably 20 feet from the stage or (with a little gentle shouldering) stand right at the stage.
For Greensboro, we arrived 5 hours before the gates and still were relegated to Natty Greene's Patio which was just close enough to the stage to make out who was who with the unaided eye. We later decided that we were in a virtual VIP area. There were only 30 minute waits for the restrooms and fairly easy access to Natty's excellent local beer.
The dis-hearting part was to be in Greensboro, the nominal home of Athenaeum, and to be surrounded by so many people that had not hear of Atheneaum. There we were, a couple of Northerners, 700 miles from home, providing pronunciation guidance and singing along to every song while everyone around us gamely tried to tap out the beat to songs they've never heard.
The positive was that people were asking us how to pronounce the band's name and they asked to see the CDs that we brought with us for autographing. Even if they didn't know who they were hearing, they liked what they heard.
Maybe Western Civilization isn't declining as fast as I thought....
I was at that Ferndale show (this is MooTheKow in the forums btw). That really was a fantastic night... Only Athenaeum show I was ever able to make - and you guys make it very worthwhile. I hope once you get things figured out you come to the realization that overall the show was a positive experience. I have to imagine that if nothing else playing in front of that many people you at least made a few good new fans :-).
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