Adam Turtle, Freelance Web Design in Belfast, Northern Ireland
Since1986
Lifehouse at the Warfield
- 6th March, 2008
- filed under: Music, San Francisco
- 1 comment
I went out to see Lifehouse last night playing a sold out show at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco. I was very excited about it since Lifehouse are one of those bands that rarely leaves the US, making this a golden opportunity to see them since I may never be able to do so again. And how did it go? Well, to be honest, it wasn’t great.
I arrived after work and met Valerie (the stereotypical Lifehouse fan) at the Warfield, which is a nice venue similar in size and style to the Grand Opera House in Belfast with a capacity of about 3,000. I’d say about 75% of the attendee’s were female, and of those at least another 75% were teenagers. In fact, most of the guys that were there had the sort of facial expression that had ‘my girlfriend made me come here’ written all over it.
We missed the first support act in favour of getting some hot wings from the food bar. Took 20 minutes to get them, and they were very spicy, but stupid venue policy dictates no drinks in the main theater so I had to sit there and suffer for a quarter of an hour. Our seats were right along the back row of the upper balcony, typical of Ticketmaster who always seem to give you the crappiest seats they can offer despite choosing ‘best available’ option from their seating selection on their website (cf. Foo Fighters where I actually bought tickets in the pre-sale and still ended up upper balcony with a fantastic view of the air conditioning system). Luckily the Warfield is small enough to be able to see from every seat, but it hardly seems fair that front row of the balcony is the same price as back row and it’s just dumb luck where you get placed.
Matt Nathanson
The main support came from a chap named Matt Nathanson with his band. The sound was a little muffed and I could barely hear both his guitar or his voice but he was very good, even if I could only understand what he said when the drummer wasn’t playing. His music isn’t anything original but he’s a funny guy and sings very well, so give him a listen. He was nice enough to do a meet n greet afterwards, which dozens of starstruck girls flocked to afterwards (including my girl…he smiled, made up some lame story about living in France many years ago, and signed her ticket ‘To Vanerie’..hah!). He seemed to do a good job of getting the crowd warmed up and buzzing for the main act to follow.
Lifehouse
So Lifehouse came out about 20 minutes later and opened with a completely unknown song, that was a little lack-luster and down tempo. The Foo’s did the same thing, but then ripped into The Pretender straight after. I guess I was expecting something similar, but the second song was more familiar but not one of their best. There wasn’t even as much as a ‘How you doing San Francisco?’ until about 4 songs in, and even then it was merely that – one sentence. I’m not blasting Jason Wade – I realise he’s a shy guy and it’s not his style, but even the music was obscure. I’ve listened to Lifehouse for years, as far back as 2001 or 2002 I’m sure at the beginning of their fame and own all four of their albums, but their choice of songs was definitely poor as I had wasn’t really getting into anything they were playing. And it wasn’t just me – all the little teeny boppers pogoing in the front row were even looking a little frustrated at the lack of the big hits.
About 4 or 5 songs in came Hanging By a Moment which proved a favourite with the audience and a glimmer that maybe better was to come. It was a good performance and things picked up momentarily, even a bit of talking from Jason but nothing spectacular that you would almost expect from a band that writes such great songs. The acoustic guitar came out and they played You and Me which got almost everybody to set their cameras and cellphones to record. Other songs included First Time, Spin and Simon, but that’s about it for the hits. Everything else was the more obscure songs that typically make the end of an album, when only the hardcore are still listening. I waited in anticipation of Out of Breath, Come Back Down, Breathing and of course Everything. Without doubt, Everything is one of their best known songs and their best in my opinion. But even the encore didn’t feature Everything, or even Storm which is another awesome song (that they re-recorded for their last album!). They played another song that I’d never heard and that was it, they were gone and everyone piled out. It was a strict hour and a half performance and despite a huge cheering crowd at the end, I couldn’t help but feel more than a little disappointed. And I think most people were the same. The two girls sitting beside us were totally excited at the start and were heckling throughout the first few numbers, but midway through the set I spotted one of them dozing off. The couple to my other side barely cracked a smile all night.
Verdict
It’s sad when a band you really admire let you down. I remember seeing REM in Belfast and being really disappointed, too. Perhaps the recent experience of seeing a full show like the Foo Fighters was an unfair benchmark to compare this gig too, but usually I prefer the smaller gigs. I still think that best shows I’ve ever attended have been the ones that fly under the radar – like The Answer at the Empire in 2005, Foy Vance at the Old Museum Arts Center in 2004, and Biffy Clyro in the Nerve Centre way back in 2004 too. Luckily Lifehouse tickets weren’t terribly expensive (with fees, think it was around $35) but they are one band I won’t hurry back to see, which is a shame. Do yourself a favour and go see Matt Nathanson instead.
good call with mr nathanson, ive been a fan for a while now – glad to see someone else is appreciating his musical ability too!!