"I don’t have a formula for reviewing concerts, but if a performer spends less time on the stage than I spent in the car getting to the venue ... "
Rascal Flatts
The list of the best concerts of the year will show up in a few days in the Sunday Republican outlining the best of what was a fairly good year for fans of live music.
Some of the heavyweights were touring, like Bruce Springsteen, Phish, The Who, and Neil Young. The theaters and small-scale venues were filled with the sounds of Lyle Lovett, Bob Dylan, and Jackson Browne.
Not all of them made the list, but all of these acts distinguished themselves with great performances.
But this is not about Sunday’s list. This list is for those concert acts that distinguished themselves in an entirely different manner by falling short of – or in some cases living up to – expectation. While this season didn’t have as many bombs as last year, a stretch that saw Britney Spears, Buckcherry, and Eddie Vedder’s ukulele tour all fester in the stench of mediocrity (at best), it still had its flops.
Rascal Flatts has never been a great live band but they’ve never been as bad as their stint at the Comcast Theatre in June.
For many, especially the tens of thousands of young country music fans who filled the expansive lawn at the venue, this was the concert of the summer. It kicked off the outdoor concert season and was timed perfectly to coincide with graduations and summer vacations.
After great opening sets by Little Big Town, the Eli Young Band, and Eden’s Edge, the headliner finally took the stage at 10 p.m. Less than a half hour later, the audience had apparently seen enough, opting to beat the traffic and head to the parking lots.
What was the problem?
Hard to say, but it might have to do with there being very little about this band that is genuine. They are the country equivalent of a B-level 80s hair band, or an also-ran 90s boy band.
Lead singer Gary LeVox (so enamored with his thin, reedy voice he took “LeVox” as a stage name) is woefully inadequate with the microphone alternately holding it too far away or nearly swallowing it whole while his volume goes from inaudible to shockingly loud.
The band embarrassingly pretended to take requests from the audience when they were actually playing out a scripted melody of their hits. This is a band that is best known for their cover of a Tom Cochrane song (“Life is a Highway”) that showed up in the Disney animated feature “Cars.”
By the time they got to that song, the audience had thinned out even more than LeVox’s vocals.
As a reviewer, you always wonder if your assessment of a performance is on the mark, or if perhaps personal preference has clouded your judgment. There can be no greater affirmation of a poor performance than 50 percent (or more) of the audience thinking that a quick getaway is a better option than sitting through another song.
Robin Williams’ stint at Mohegan Sun in November was another huge disappointment. Williams, who revolutionized standup comedy with his frenetic improv, was rehashing jokes from the Clinton administration, and dropping “F-bombs” in an attempt to seem edgy.
Maroon 5’s appearance at the MGM at Foxwoods was also a let-down, given that the length of the show qualified more as an “appearance” than a concert. Most shows are contracted for 90-minutes. Occasionally a performer will sign on for a 75-minute stint. Maroon 5 spent less than 60 minutes on the MGM stage.
I don’t have a formula for reviewing concerts, but if a performer spends less time on the stage than I spent in the car getting to the venue ...