LC Pavilion - Columbus, Ohio - 8.22.10

Ahhh yes...the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion of Columbus, Ohio.  When most Crowes fans think of the LC they think of this. And that's a good thing.  Others think of this, and that ain't bad either.  


It's weird seeing the band playing in the sunlight. Something isn't quite right and it always affects what is served up and how people behave.  Everyone seems to be looking at each other and has a harder time getting into the music.  Once the sun goes down though things start to roll and that was the case outside in Columbus tonight.  With a Goodtimes and Jealous opening combo and a lot of ground covered during the Ballad > Wiser ride, the mellow vibes of Garden Gate, Polly and Cold Boy Smile helped move everyone closer to darkness as Money Waster, Wyoming and Me and Morning Song began to put the sun to bed.  No real surprises, although Garden Gate hasn't seen the light of day since the Fillmore run of December '09.  Coincidentally, if you're into spotting trends, Garden Gate was coupled with Polly that night as well.

The electric set was another story.  When's the last time you saw Blackberry live?  Was it this show at the Fillmore last year?  And did you see it coming any more then than you saw it coming here?  Unless you walked by the soundboard and peeked at the setlist, you didn't have a clue it would show up.  If we were on the Three Snakes tour, sure, we'd expect to see Blackberry two or three times a week.  Not anymore.  A song that was so popular after this show was played and the recording spread quickly, there were people begging Chris and Rich to put it on Three Snakes.  The album version differed from the first live version and some people were a little disappointed.  Blackberry is kind of like the Roe v. Wade of Crowes tunes, it's polarizing and everyone is quick to let you know what they think about it.  Us personally, we just like surprises, and the electric set tonight was unconventional enough to serve up a sequence of unpredictability.

Think about it...Blackberry, I Ain't Hiding and Ozone Mama...a 1-2-3 of get up and move your ass, followed by Oh Sweet Nuthin and a left turn How Much For Your Wings > Bring On, Bring On escape pod that went down to the deep, got a little off track and then came floating back up to the surface.  Those first six songs as a sequence cover a lot of ground from a perspective of musical styles, sounds and song vibe.  Whether you liked it or not, you have to at least acknowledge a band being capable of going that many places on a musical landscape and still not even coming close to touching on everything they can do.  Follow it up with a Progress > Thorn workout and close it down with a fourth tune from Three Snakes and you've got another unpredictable electric set in the books.  A quick H2H encore was remedied with a last minute addition of Remedy to give the people one more song as requested.  Speaking of the people, let's see what they had to say, because I don't know what this dude is talking about...

This was one hell of a show. The weather was perfect, the sound was very clean, and as Chris said "it smells better here than in Chicago." When the band is playing this well the setlist can become almost irrelevant. Best show I've seen them play anywhere.

And... 

Polly had a gorgeous, extended outro solo from Luther that I had not heard before. Incredibly melodic. 

And...

Chris was like a jumping bean....oh, and this was not your father's Blackberry...they ripped it.

And...

this show was absolutely fantastic! way better than the detroit show and i thought the detroit show kicked ass! but this show was something else! a few people already said it...the weather was perfect, the vibe was awesome... the setlist was cool......chris and rich were in great moods....the band was tight....i never stopped dancing!

And finally...

They rocked the shit out of Blackberry and Ozone Mama!

So as the BC Tour Blog continues to play catch up and document all the shows so far, and yes as the font color in this paragraph is a little brighter than all the others in this entry for some reason, onward the bus rolls toward the magical, beautiful and sports-lucky town of Cleveland.  Wait, most or all of that may be a misrepresentation.  Nevermind.  We didn't forget to mention the beer selection at the LC Pavilion, we just didn't have anything there so we can't really speak to what libations were flowing.  Too much drink is bad for your liver.  You have to give it a rest from time to time.  We did hear the beers were pricey though, as in Major League ballpark pricey.  This was a good night to take it easy.  In any case, look out Cleveland...