Live Review: Blind Melon

Blind Melon w/ S.O.Stereo

Tremont Music Hall

Nov. 30, 2007

The Deal: Blind Melon returns to the stage with new singer.

The Good: The night started out with locals S.O.Stereo winning over a lot of the crowd. I was asked numerous times – “Who is this?” “Where do they play?” “Where can you usually see them?” While most in the crowd were talking during the first half of the set, they slowly won over more and more throughout their set. The crowd was ready for Blind Melon. From the first notes of “Galaxie,” frontman Travis Warren did his best to prove he’s the right man for the job (he replaced original singer Shannon Hoon who died of a drug overdose) and the fans appeared to agree. He began the night wearing a mask for two songs before shedding it. The band sounded fantastic as Warren did his best with the old songs. The new ones fit right in and are sure to add on to a great musical collection by an under-appreciated band. A four-song encore started with Warren alone on stage to perform “So Real” by Jeff Buckley. The band was all-smiles, full of life and poured everything they had into the 20-song set. I definitely had chills when the crowd sang, “Change.”

The Bad: While some may say that Warren is trying too hard to be Hoon, most fans will see it as a fitting tribute. The only bad thing was that Shannon will never be on stage with the band again. I wish they would only play the “Ripped Away” version of “No Rain” instead of going from that into the original version.

The Verdict: About as good as you can get without the original singer. The show was a fine tribute to Hoon and a great foreshadowing of things to come.

Setlist

Galaxie

Wilt

2×4

Soup

Wishing

Toes Across

Sleepy

Change

Tumbling Down

Skinned

Hypnotized

Soak

For My Friends

No Rain

Drive

So High

Pusher

Encore

So Real

Mouthful of Cavaties

Paper Scratcher

Time

This article appears in Nov 28 – Dec 4, 2007.