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Rating: The Rotamind start, an almost perfect German copy of Bush/Nirvana (www.rotamind.com). It's time to head to the adjacent bar for a drink.
Mellowdrone is the official support (www.mellowdrone.com). He is alone on stage with the guitar and an effects rack. He plays an arpeggio that gets sampled and goes into a loop, over which he plays two notes that get sampled and go into a loop, sings a phrase, and goes into a loop. He plays a solo over them. A madman. Immense. Then, for the last three songs, a drummer comes on stage. The drummer plays facing the guitarist, offering the right side to the audience... “I have a cold tonight so this is the last song.” And the drum part of the last song is so incredible that the light technician gets up on the stool. Class. Kick, snare, high-hat, tom, cymbal, and that's it.
Completely the opposite of Zak Starkey’s drumming, son of Ringo Starr, a drummer so poor that for the first Beatles record, they replaced him with a session man...and good blood doesn’t lie. Zak's drumming is the opposite of Mellowdrone’s, worthy of the worst Phil Collins, it looks like a shop... the pinnacle... the resonant skins of the two(!) bass drums are mirrored. This is going badly. Johnny Maher (Marr) comes in; I expected him to be small, but he is tiny. He picks up a red Gibson SG, which he will change during the concert with a 12-string Rickenbacker. He plays his new record. What to say... deadly boring between Oasis and Kula Shaker (not just because of Alonza on bass, but really the vocal tone and harmonies). At one point, he throws in a bland cover of Dylan's “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright.” I'm mortally bored. I think of Mellowdrone, I go buy their CD. And I reevaluate Morrissey, whom I thought only wrote lyrics for the Smiths, and even Rourke and Joyce, who must have contributed much more than they are given credit for, because honestly, I can no longer believe that Marr wrote "those" songs. Or all the inspiration is gone. These ones of his are a tragedy. He even ruins “Down On The Corner,” which holds its own on record. Boring. And I'm sorry because he really seems like a nice person.
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