The Blasters - J's Review

Let me add a few things about Beale on Broadway, the venue for the show last night. The indoor part of the club is a pre-Civil War building, with not much room inside. Attached is a patio of sorts, which is all wood and does not look as nice as the picture on their website. The stage is outside and covered. It looks a bit like a shack with only one wall and some stilts holding the rest up. There are lights on the stage, but the audience is lit by the street lights of St. Louis, a few beer bottles hanging with white Christmas lights stuffed in them, and some tiki torches. Before The Blasters took the stage, we watched a train pass on an elevated platform through the city. The place definitely has atmosphere.

When we arrived, there was a lone bluesman playing a guitar on stage. Neither one of us are fans of that kind of music, so we just sat and talked about work, etc. The supporting act was announced as the only “roots rock” band in St. Louis, a band called Scott Kay and the Continentals (www.scottkayband.com). They sounded good and played some recognizable stuff like Johnny Cash’s Cry, Cry, Cry, and Mystery Train mixed in with some original hits. I enjoyed this more than The Blasters. Rockabilly bands, come to St. Louis! Scott Kay opens for every roots rock act that comes to St. Louis so they can probably handle a little healthy competition!

As for The Blasters, the club announcer mentioned that they have not played St. Louis in 10 years. The audience was crammed into the patio and spilling over into the parking lot. You could tell there were some hardcore fans. When they took the stage it was very understated and every song sounded the same with very low energy. You could tell the guys (audience predominantly men) were getting into it. I leaned over to K and said, “This is guy music”. When I listen to music like that, I can tolerate it, but I wonder, is it because I technically don’t know anything about music and guitar playing the reason why I don’t appreciate it? My brothers can talk about it at length and I am just bored. We didn’t stay for the whole set.

I had put together a playlist on my iPod before heading to the concert, and just for fun, added the song My Sharona off of The Knack’s Get the Knack album. My two older brothers bought that album for me for Christmas when I was nine years old and I thought it was the shit. My brother M teased me about it and would refuse to let me play it on his stereo. So maybe I still have crappy taste next to the two of them, I don’t know. I like to think we just have different taste, one not better than the other. We just like what we like. Isn’t that all a music lover can claim?

--J

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