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This evening, T. and I had dinner at Julie's Place while A. and R. went to AMD to trick or treat. We walked, and from there we walked to the commuter rail station. We rode the train to North Station, where we arrived after doors opened so we walked right into our seats, then collected snacks, drinks, went to the loo, bought a t-shirt and poster. I tried the "on tap" Margarita. It's a winner. I mean, it is ludicrously expensive, but I will do that again (soon, in fact). It says terrible things about my tastes that I (a) have a preferred beverage at (b) the garden. It means I'm drinking a fair amount and going to see a lot of concerts. But hey. I won't have an arena rock concert buddy forever, so I might as well enjoy it while I can.
First opener was Jaden Smith / "Syre". You can wikipedia him; he's super famous and has been from birth. The risk with this kind of performer is that they are a vanity act and just awful, and that is definitely not the case. He's young, and his repertoire of songs therefore quite limited, but he did a creditable job and I enjoyed his performance. He benefited from the very long T on the Fallout Boy stage (runs almost the full length of the garden) and got to run up and down and make the light guys work for it.
Second opener was Blackbear. Fun to hear that on their previous visits to Boston they had played the Middle East (both rooms) and House of Blues on Lansdowne. Moving up in the world! Nice band, mildly enjoyable front man. Music was inoffensive on every level.
Main show as F.O.B. Super fun! They do a couple bits, one with very, very bad jokes ("I'd call it a medium show: it wasn't rare, and it wasn't well done.) and then the costumed characters doing the terrible jokes come out and t-shirt cannon stuff into the crowd. Fun! FOB is tight, and they have a solid batch of songs to play. Confetti deployment included parachutes with something attached (don't know what -- fun to watch, tho). Guitarist used the long T extensively, and the whole band went to the far end where they mounted two suspended stages that rose up pretty high (drummer and one guitar on one; front man and other guitar on the other), thus making the worst seats in the house pretty awesome seats in the house for a few songs. Very fan-friendly approach to staging. The other "bit" was a video of the charity / non-profit they picked for this city / show, someone who does mental health advocacy. Video background had a variety of clips, including many of Kaepernick and others taking a knee -- nicely contextualized, did not feel exploitative and felt good.
We stayed for the whole show, and didn't have any trouble making it to the 10:40 train. Thank you, FOB for ending it at exactly the right time!!! I'd happily go see them again.
Crowd was _full_ of adults around my age and kids around my son's age. Everyone seemed to enjoy the show, but that combo makes for the _longest_ t-shirt lines I have ever seen. A lot of people were there for blackbear, too.
First opener was Jaden Smith / "Syre". You can wikipedia him; he's super famous and has been from birth. The risk with this kind of performer is that they are a vanity act and just awful, and that is definitely not the case. He's young, and his repertoire of songs therefore quite limited, but he did a creditable job and I enjoyed his performance. He benefited from the very long T on the Fallout Boy stage (runs almost the full length of the garden) and got to run up and down and make the light guys work for it.
Second opener was Blackbear. Fun to hear that on their previous visits to Boston they had played the Middle East (both rooms) and House of Blues on Lansdowne. Moving up in the world! Nice band, mildly enjoyable front man. Music was inoffensive on every level.
Main show as F.O.B. Super fun! They do a couple bits, one with very, very bad jokes ("I'd call it a medium show: it wasn't rare, and it wasn't well done.) and then the costumed characters doing the terrible jokes come out and t-shirt cannon stuff into the crowd. Fun! FOB is tight, and they have a solid batch of songs to play. Confetti deployment included parachutes with something attached (don't know what -- fun to watch, tho). Guitarist used the long T extensively, and the whole band went to the far end where they mounted two suspended stages that rose up pretty high (drummer and one guitar on one; front man and other guitar on the other), thus making the worst seats in the house pretty awesome seats in the house for a few songs. Very fan-friendly approach to staging. The other "bit" was a video of the charity / non-profit they picked for this city / show, someone who does mental health advocacy. Video background had a variety of clips, including many of Kaepernick and others taking a knee -- nicely contextualized, did not feel exploitative and felt good.
We stayed for the whole show, and didn't have any trouble making it to the 10:40 train. Thank you, FOB for ending it at exactly the right time!!! I'd happily go see them again.
Crowd was _full_ of adults around my age and kids around my son's age. Everyone seemed to enjoy the show, but that combo makes for the _longest_ t-shirt lines I have ever seen. A lot of people were there for blackbear, too.