Our Lady Peace Live at the Cleveland House of Blues

Last night Our Lady Peace rolled into the Cleveland House of Blues...I've been looking forward to this night for a couple months now...I was not disappointed...

First we had to get through the opening act, Meese...They're from Colorado...They sounded better live then on their MySpace...By better, I mean more energy, and a dirtier sound...That may just have been caused by a bad sound guy...You couldn't understand a word from the singer...I would describe them as a bad mix of Weezer and The Fray...But they have a poppy sound that will win some people over...My wife included...She enjoyed them...

Then the stage was set for Our Lady Peace...They made the crowd wait a couple more minutes then we wanted to...But when they came out the place went crazy...They Opened up with a new song...Monkey Brains...It was rocking...

OLP sounded tight...Duncan Coutts' bass was thumping the room...Jeremy Taggert was working the drums with fire and strength...Steve Mazur ripped it up all night on guitar...AWESOME...



And Raine Maida didn't miss a note, and was the stellar front man he has always been...

Next they played the classic Superman's Dead...Audience participation a must...And Cleveland did not disappoint the band, as Maida stopped and said, "This is gonna be a good night!"

Then they played Angels/Losing/Sleep...Flowed right into Innocent...More crowd participation...Followed by fan favorite, Clumsy...Insert even more crowd participation...And an awesome jam at the end of it...OLP was killing it...

At this point Maida stopped and thanked the fans for their support over the years...Then gave a shout out to a little place from back in the day, called Peabody's...A little dump I spent far too many nights in...Yes I called it a dump, but I have nothing but good memories from there...Just wish once, that my band got paid with money instead of beer there....




Then they played Paper Moon and Escape Artist...Both from the new album Burn Burn...Which if you missed my review of that, here ya go.... http://thebeezewax.blogspot.com/2009/08/beeze-reviews-burn-burn.html

Paper Moon was great, as I expected...Escape Artist didn't disappoint me either...I had been hoping that they would play it...I just wish more people knew it...That will be a good audience participation song...

Now the next few songs I may have jumbled out of order...I had a few drinks, and I was just enjoying the show...Not taking notes...

Is Anybody Home was started out with just Maida, and his acoustic guitar, and the crowd...We did well again...the song finished with the whole band blasting in....Chills were had....

Then came Somewhere Out There...Insert audience participation....The tempo was slowed down with Bring Back the Sun....Then picked back up with One Man Army...That was followed by the classic Naveed...The whole time the crowd singing along...Then came the first single from Burn Burn, All You Did Was Save My Life...Again the crowd got involved...And Maida got into the crowd....he's made a habit of climbing into the balconies and rafters and getting closer with the fans...And he taunted a fan for sitting...Awesome...

OLP left the stage for a couple moments...All bands do this...We know they're coming back out for a couple more songs...But we still clap and chant, and hell some people still throw a lighter in the air...

When they returned to the stage, OLP started the encore with fan favorite, and city challenge sing-a-long, 4AM...If you don't know...4Am is a song that many people have connected with over the years, and the audience no matter what town, will sing the hell out of it...Cleveland did not fail..And yes, I sang along too...

Then they did In Repair...One of my favorites, as well as one of the little Beeze's favorites...No I didn't bring him...In the middle of In Repair, Maida and the band dropped in a little taste of Life, before blasting back into the powerful finish of Repair...

They finished the night with Starseed...Rocking the hell out of the House of Blues, with the help of their fans, of course....Including one fan who jumped up on stage and started singing with Maida...Raine gave up the mic to him and let him take it to the lead...Very cool...Even cooler was when the dude jumped back into the crowd and was catching some sh!t...Maida spoke up and said "Leave him alone...That takes a lot of courage." The band finished out Starseed, and the show was over...




I was left wanting more...A sign of a great show...

The sound was great...Great set list...Yes there were other songs I wanted to hear...But if it was up to me they would have played another hour...some people may not want to hear this...Or read it...But I prefer OLP,and probably many other bands, in a smaller venue like the House of Blues...You feel like you're part of something special...

My wife had never seen Our Lady Peace live...Hell she didn't even know who they were until I tricked her into marrying me...She had come to like some songs because of me playing them all the time...And she loves the new album...But now she's hooked...She couldn't believe how everyone knew every word, to every song...On the way home she said, "You have to put ore of their songs on my ipod, so I can learn them for next time." That's my girl!

Tickets were $22.50 before service charges...That's a bargain...I would have gladly paid more...It was an amazing night....If OLP rolls through your town...Check them out...And Check out the new album...And check out the old ones too...You gotta be ready to sing-a-long...

Later, the Beeze.

The Beeze Reviews Burn Burn

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In the past I have reviewed restaurants, movies, and a Dane Cook concert...Why do I do this...Because most critics suck, and I will always feel my opinion is much better then most!

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So today I'm reviewing the latest album from Our Lady Peace...One of my favorite bands...Most reviews come out before a album or movie are released...And most critics don't take the time to listen or view more then a couple of times...I've taken a couple of weeks...Mainly because I don't want to look like a douche bag fan...Okay, I may be a douche bag fan, but I took the time to listen to every song many times...So here we go...

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For years Our Lady Peace has had to deal with their record label giving them crap to write "hit singles." It seems to be a common story in the music business...Labels trying to tell artists what to do...Now OLP is free from their label, and Produced "Burn Burn" on their own...Guess what? Some douche at Sony is kicking himself right now...Not only is this excellent OLP album, but it may be the most "Radio Friendly"...Although being in Cleveland, it's been a long time since I've heard a good radio station....Most the time it's jumping around fro song to song...Actually Most the time i'm listening to CDs or XM...But that's not the point right now...

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When I heard the first single "All You Did Was Save My Life" on the radio I was a little nervous...My co-worker, Jurk and I both thought it had a hint of Goo Goo Dolls to it...This scared me...But after listening a few more times, and listening closely...I realized this was OLP without a doubt...

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The poet that is Raine Maida, picks up where his solo disc "The Hunter's Lullaby" left off, opening himself up for all to see...I've always admired his lyric writing...The rest of the band, guitarist Steve Mazur, bassist Duncan Coutts, and drummer Jeremy Taggart, sound revitalized and crisper then ever...

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Through out the album I was blown away by Mazur's guitar work...he drops the gloves on this one and plays some old school rock & roll guitar...(sorry if the hockey metaphor gave you douche chills)...But seriously, this is some of the best guitar I've heard from OLP...And honestly, the rhythm section of Taggart and Coutts sound stronger then ever...I guess Bob Rock isn't the only guy who can get the best out of musicians...Our Lady Peace seems to have gotten the best out of themselves...

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The second track on the disc is the uplifting "Dreamland"...Great music, great lyrics...One of my tests for music is if my kids like it...(They both [7 and 4] love OLP...Seriously they're mad that the Mrs. and I are going to the show here in the Cleve and they aren't)...My son can sing every word of "Thief" and "In Repair"...Well his new favorite is "Dreamland" and he's got it down...If a 4 year old can rock out to a song and learn the lyrics in a matter of a couple days...That's a good song in my book...

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Next is "Monkey Brains"...This one jumps right into your face...Taggart, Coutts, and Mazur show you where they're from on this one...Straight up rock & roll...Then OLP slows it down...Just to come right back and blast you in the face...I've seen videos on YouTube...And they tear it up live too!

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The next song is "The End Is Where We Begin." This is one of my favorite songs on the album...The Lyrics are great and the music strengthens them...Every band has those certain songs that become staples in their set list and this feels like another one for OLP...

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Then comes "Escape Artist"...It opens up sounding like something from "The Hunter's Lullaby" and then the band joins in with the stadium sized chorus "you're the ghost" and it's amazing...A really powerful tune, and it leaves you wanting more...Some of the best songs do that...Leave you wanting more...I hope OLP does this one live when they come to The House of Blues in Cleveland August 20th...

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That's followed up with "Refuge"...A song about being a father in this screwed up world and raising your kids to be aware of it...While still giving them hope...When I heard this song I thought to myself...'This sounds like something U2 would write.' I don't mean that as a knock on OLP...In my world that's a compliment...

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As the album goes on, you can hear much of the writing is talking about relationships...And the next tack does more of the same..."Never Get Over You" could very well be the return of the power ballad...That isn't a knock either...It's been too long since we've heard a good rock ballad, with the singer wearing his heart on his sleeve...Any man who's man who's married or at least been in love can relate to the line..."There's no hiding, from your silence."

My wife immediately fell in love with this one...She tried to be nice and say it's not as good as the one I wrote for her...But she's full of sh!t...Of course it's better then the stuff I've written...She's just a good person...

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After that comes probably the most up-tempo song on the album, "White Flags." This one is my favorite on the album...We all have songs that we feel we can relate to...And this is one of those for me...The line, "this whole world has gone crazy, God's got a little lazy" is a thought I've had countless times...This is another song I hope to hear live...It's got such a great energy to it...I can see the whole place going crazy...

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Then there's "Signs Of Life." This is another one that has a similar feel to Maida's solo stuff...Another great line I wish I would have come up with..."The sound of quiet is deafening"...This song puts you in a place...A lonely place...Feeling kinda lost...And it's done beautifully...Including a sweet, trippy, bluesy solo by Mazur...

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The album ends with "Paper Moon." When you write a letter, you always end it with your signature...Well at least you did back when people wrote letters...That's what "Paper Moon" is...OLP's signature...It's everything you want and expect from them, plus a little more...That's what great musicians do...Give more then what you expect...And yes, I've seen videos of this one too..."WOW!" That's what I said after Steve Mazur's guitar solo...

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It may have taken awhile to make...But Our Lady Peace have put out a great album, and they did it without a record label, and without a high priced, high profile producer...(More people may be looking to come to Raine Maida's studio)

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Many people have been down on the music business, and with good reason in this silly, American Idol, flavor of the week world...But maybe it's better off having not so many hands all over it, trying to put their two cents in...

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Checkout OLP's website... http://www.ourladypeace.net/ ...And if you can catch them live, do it...I can't wait to see them at The House of Blues in Cleveland...I'm looking forward to hearing the classics...But I'm even more excited to hear the new stuff live...Maybe I do sound like just another fan...Tough sh!t.

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Later, The Beeze.