Concrete Blonde, live, 03/03

CONCRETE BLONDE / LIKIDO / MARBLE RYE
Ventura Theater; Ventura, CA; 03/07/03

The evening opened with a band I've never heard of: Marble Rye. They were closer to soft punk than metal. I talked to the band while there and they told me they were still working on creating a website, so stand by for that. Not too shabby, but a little too mellow for my taste. I'll admit I liked them better than the second band that played (Likido, more below), but that's not saying much. If you're looking for mosh pits and leather, don't bother with Marble Rye. But if you want to check up on an upcoming band with a lot of potential, then by all means go see them when they come to your area. They played for about 30 minutes, but did something I consider to be the wrong move at any concert: They closed with a slow ballad, lulling the audience to sleep.

Next up: Likido. I think the major reason I liked Marble Rye better is because I only know English, and Likido does most of its show in Spanish. This upcoming band is all Latino straight out of Los Angeles, CA. and consists of Santino de la Tore (vocals), Walter Ledesma (guitar), Daniel Willy (drums), and Gustavo Lozano (bass). Language barrier or not, Likido have more energy than most opening bands I've seen in a long time.

Santino came out and woke up the crowd. It kind of reminded me of a live bull fight in Spain. Lots of emotion and drive from the entire band, but I had no clue what they were singing about. Thirty minutes of great sounding music though. You can read more about these guys by going to www.likido.com. Johnette Napolitano (lead singer for headliner Concrete Blonde) came out and did the introduction for these guys which gave them a leg up in my estimation.

Finally, promoting their new album "Live From Brazil," was a band I've been a fan of since the early 1980s: Concrete Blonde. Concrete Blonde is Johnette Napolitano (lead singer, bassist, and part time guitarist), Jim Mankey (guitarist, and part time bassist), and Gabriel Ramirez-Quezada (drums).

Believe it or not, the new CD is the first live album from the band. The 2-CD set was recorded in Rio de Janeiro and includes such well-known Concrete Blonde hits as "Joey" and "God is a Bullet."

Of course, like the first two bands this evening, Concrete Blonde isn't metal either. In fact, they originally formed in 1981 as a punk band under the name Dream 6.

Regardless, they performed such classics as "Caroline" and "Joey" and even threw in their rendition of the Kinks' "Hollywood Boulevard" which sounded just great. I was a little disappointed with their new performance of "Caroline," however, as that has always been my favorite Concrete Blonde song and the way it was presented this evening, it almost didn't sound like the same song.

Anyway, if you're a fan of this band and, like me, thought you'd never get the chance to see them live, you should definitely check them out. Even if you've never heard of Concrete Blonde, go see the show. You'll like it.

Of course, if you're strictly into heavy metal and moshing, don't bother.

Back to Live Reviews Page

Back to RoughEdge.com Home Page