Our Lady Peace with Blair Gun and The Renters

I used to love Our Lady Peace in the 90s.  I saw them at Woodstock ’99 and may have seen them another time, as well.  Their first three albums were great.  The fourth album, that actually gained them a lot of popularity, was okay.  After that though, I completely forgot about them.  I don’t know what I thought, maybe they broke up.  Until my friend M. asked if I wanted to go see them.  She could get free tickets, but she wasn’t able to go.  I said yes and was able to convince one of my younger friends to go with me.  She had never heard them before.  She wasn’t too into their music, but it was a free night out.

The day of the show when I was talking with my lover and telling him my plans for the night, it dawned on me that they could possibly have new music.  Why else would they be doing a show?  I opened up Spotify and gave the new stuff a listen.  It was shocking what I was hearing.  I was not impressed at all.  Now, I wasn’t looking forward to the concert the way I was before listening. 

When we got to the Magnolia in El Cajon (great venue, by the way)  and it was time for them to go on, they rocked.  They played a lot of their older hits but even the new music sounded good.  It was a great show.  Raine, the lead singer, engaged with the audience well.  He was even asking people to shout out requests, and if he was able to decipher something out of the noise, they played it.  He had his megaphone for vocal effects, which leads to a very cool sound.  He said he didn’t believe in encores and they just kept playing.  There must have been a designated end time because California is kind of a stickler for employment laws (which is a good thing!) and the staff must have had a specific time they had to get out of their before, overtime and more breaks would need to happen.

It was a rollercoaster of emotions.  I was excited to see them.  Then, I feared being gravely disappointed, but in the end, I left happy remembering some good old days.

There were two opening bands.  Blair Gun was the first group to take the stage.  They were decent.  There was a male lead singer and guitar player, a female bass player, as well as another guitarist and drummer.  The female did a few backing vocals for some of the songs.  When it came time for a song that she actual had a whole part to sing by herself, my friend and I both agreed that she should be the singer, or she needs to get another band.  I was a bass player myself, and in general bass players aren’t all about the spotlight.  It would make sense if she doesn’t want to lead up a band, but she definitely should.

The Renters were the next band on, a local band from Oceanside.  They were incredible.  The guys in the band didn’t look like any of them could be over the age of 24, and there were three guitar players.  Like I just mentioned, I used to play the bass, and sometimes I don’t understand the whole so many guitars thing.  However, it was such a good, full sound with the three of them.  They were unassuming and humble, saying that they usually just play parties; they need to have more real gigs.  The music was fun with a bit of angst.  I hope they do well in their career.