aprellberg, babaji23, bhawk, bremoon, CalicoShiva, DaveMc, David, dbmair, dbrundick, det1967, DiabolicScheme, drift_33, EmyA, Errgh, FucktheBULLSHIT, hives68, hokahey, jamie_mcclintock, kirkunit, lalaland, mich, MsfStl, patizzle, pauper, salvation, smilingjudy, southcitypride, sporty_coat, STL_Ben, tmcgee, wtbuser

MsfStl says0 Votes UP / DOWN
I was actually pretty excited to see BRMC at Mississippi Nights. This would be my first time to catch them, and at a venue that I hadn't been in for over seven years. Unfortunately, I was reminded why I hadn't returned to Miss. Nights in so long. The acoustics suck! BRMC had two opening bands, VoyagerOne and Elefant. I really liked VoyagerOne, reminded me of the Doves, but more low key, Elefant did well, had their moments and finished strong, setting up a wonderful stage for BRMC.
The show started with 'Faultline' a beautiful acoustic solo, and perhaps my favorite song, bar none. Next came 'Complicated Situation'; setting up a great show! Or so I thought. The hat trick was 'Shuffle Your Feet', but then the venue and the sound guy took over.

Once the band went full on, so did the volume and the horrendous acoustics. The level was so loud that until the band mellowed again for 'Symapathic Noose' towards the end of the show, 1 1/2 hours later, the entire set was washed out! I invited five other friends to the show. None of them knew anything about BRMC until my prodding. I loaned them my CD and all of them where 'on the bus'. While none of them complained, I was not happy. I gave the show at best a C+. An A for the music. I could discern they where putting on a good show, but a D for sound and a D for lighting. They used backlighting, exclusively, throughout the show, preventing any glimpse of recognition from the middle of the venue. While I am happy and fairly stoked to have had the opportunity to see BRMC, I suggest the band seriously consider either the Pageant or, IMHO, the Robert's Orpheum (the American Theater), for their next gig in St. Louis.

To the sound man: Dude, you've got to realize at a certain level all quality gets washed out and any band or set of morons could be up on stage. You're working with a fantastic set of musicians, let their music come through, not an overblown version of Phil Specter's 'Wall of Sound'. There was no quality in tonight's show, beyond the band putting themselves out there for us to enjoy. Let me hear the music next time, not how loud you can get it. PLEASE, these guys are too good to be wasted on an over-produced issue, that could easily have been accounted for.

For anyone that might be reading this to determine if you are going to spend your money on seeing these guys or cocktailing extra-late with the same group of friends you got drunk with last week: BY ALL MEANS GO SEE BRMC!!!! IF you feel you've gotten 'washed out', tell the sound guy, or better yet, after the show go up front and talk to the band and let them know. Their music is way too good to be wasted on an over-blown production of amplification. Ok, I'm done. Seriously, these guys are great. Sometimes, you don't get the best show, sometimes you do. Tonight: C+. The band: A++
Posted Saturday, February 25, 2006 pm28 at 11:54pm
DaveMc says0 Votes UP / DOWN
Thanks to Mardi Gras all downtown St. Louis was packed with drunk people and traffic was a bitch. Once I got in, Elefant had just finished their set and BRMC was setting up.
They opened with "Fault Line", which took my appreciation of that tune to another level. Then they moved on to "Ain't No Easy Way" as the remainder of the band slowly came out as the song progressed on to the chorus. After that was "Shuffle Your Feet", "White Palms" and "Howl". The first song on the encore was "High/Low" and it was really cool. I throughly enjoyed all 2 hours of the show. Especially closing the set with "Heart & Soul" and "Open Invitation" was a great touch, as I had wondered before if they might perform it.
From my view in the middle I could hear everything clearly, and I thought the mix was fine. All in all, the show kicked major ass and I would give it a solid A- (an A minus only because I was the DD, and couldn't drink, and being stuck in traffic for over an hour afterwards blew).
Black Rebel Motorcyle Club was amazing.
Posted Sunday, February 26, 2006 pm28 at 4:15pm
mich says+1 Votes UP / DOWN
I arrived at the venue having no idea if just Elefant and BRMC were playing or if another band had taken the place of MAG. I was pleasantly surprised with Voyager 1. They're definitely worth watching. Come early to see them!

Elefant had a different set than earlier in the tour. There seemed to be more from "Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid" than "Black Magic Show." Despite his injured heel, Diego worked the crowd, moving around the stage. The Mississippi Nights crowd seemed more receptive to them than other crowds had been, and the guys seemed very relaxed. It was great to see them again!

At this point in my review, I would just like to say God Bless Robert Been! The man is incredibly dedicated to his fans and his music.

I knew he was extremely sick before BRMC took the stage, but had I not, I would have known as soon as I saw him. He looked so incredibly exhausted and was obviously not feeling well at all. He really shouldn't have played the gig. But he didn't want to disappoint and went above and beyond the call of duty.

The setlist was full of Peter-sung songs like "Salvation" and "Red Eyes and Tears" to help ease Robert's workload, but Rob was still struggling to stand through most of the set, sitting down from time to time and resting his head on his bass when he wasn't playing. Somehow he made it through, and at the end of the first set, he said, "This may be our last song because I seem to have caught my death in Nashville."

Everyone wondered if Pete would even come back to play an encore, but sure enough, he appeared a few minutes later to play a beautiful rendition of "Feel It Now."

Robert made a surprise appearance in the encore, not only to play the rest of songs on the setlist, but also to play punk song and Heart + Soul, which the crowd had been begging for all night. He thanked the crowd for being so energized and for having so many people show up. "I've never seen so many people at a St. Louis gig! Thank you very much!"

It's corny to say this, but it's us who should be thanking you, Peter, Nick and Spike for a fantastic night of music.
Posted Sunday, February 26, 2006 pm28 at 5:59pm
hives68 says+1 Votes UP / DOWN
OK. Boy do i have a story to tell. Alright, so i got to the show 3 and a half hours early. We arrive and i go to the front of Mississippi Nights and see that BRMC are doing their soundcheck sooo i ask the booth guy if i canget in and he says "no." soo we leave go find a place to piss then come back and jsut out of peer luck i see Spike the 4th guy whos been playing with BRMC he was coming out of the tour bus and he tells me who hes playin with and all that soo i ask "can we meet the guys" he says yea let me see whos in there........soo he comes back out and says "peter with be out in a minute"...........sooo we wait then peter comes out and we talk for about 2 minutes and he says "you guys wanna get of the cold" soo we follow him into mississippi nights without tickets checked or anything and i talk to him for about 45min. asking him about his guitars and gear he showed me all his stuff his pedals everything his amps his guitars let me play them showed me alittle bit of In LIke The Rose and we jsut talk about guitars for the most part then he had to go somewhere soo he was like "you guys are welcome to hang around here if u want" so of course we did also let e say Peter is a really really nice guy he kept offering things u know asking if we would like some Cokes(soda) and we said sure soo he went back and grabbed us some cokes it was cool of him. Soo, alright we stay for the sound checks everything talk to the guys from Elefant and Voyager 1........cool guys.........then the show was fucking amazing i was right up front dead center i was wearing a white jacket and i have really curly hair maybe some of u guys saw me.......but yea after the show we're waiting outside by the buses for our ride that was of course an hour and a half late.........and peter saw us like 3 times jsut stanfing there freezing our asses off soo he finally jsut asked "do u guys wanna go wait in the bus and get warm" sooo of course we do sooo we go in and pete went to a different bus but Nick was in the bus we went into and once again super nice guy.........we watched the ending of the movie Ray.........then i talked to NIck about rap music and shit like that he also was very gracious asking if we were thirsty and said g oto the fridge jsut get whatever u want.........then he was telling me about how hes learning guitar sooo he had this acoustic that he said he got from haiwai soo i asked if i could play it and he said sure soo i got it out of the case and tuned then he was telling me what hes learning he said some stuff by The Doors soo i started playing People Are Strange and he was singing along ot it......it was alot of fun............soo then the ride showed up and we left and it was great.....i didnt ask for photos autographs or anything thats not what i'm into i think its kind of rude and jsut kills the experience i just wanted to hangout and learn some thigns it was really cool and they're all really nice guys
Posted Sunday, February 26, 2006 pm28 at 7:42pm
hokahey says+1 Votes UP / DOWN
This was my first BRMC show. I had heard a little of their music over the years but it wasn't until I heard "Aint no Easy Way" that I really decided to check them out. Over the past 6 months or so I've really delved pretty deeply in to the band and their music and really respect what they've done. So I was pretty excited to see them live, and I wasn't dissapointed. Howl is the only album I know by heart, so of course I was most pleased by the tracks from it live. However, the older material was equally compelling live. It was exciting to see how passionate the band was about their music and stage show. They played with a lot of conviction and seemed comitted to making every song special. The crowd was much better than expected. I saw NIN for about the 4th time the previous weekend and despite NIN massive stage show, the BRMC show is the one I'll remember the most fondly.

Excellent story above about meeting the band. I have had the pleasure of meeting various musicians, some of them over long periods of time, and none were as down to earth as it sounds like BRMC was. That just confirms my respect for these guys.

By the way, did anyone see the guy to the right of the stage that looked like he had stepped out of a timewarp from 1960's England? He yelled something new after every song. My two favorites were:

"Outta Site!"

and

"Bringin' down the house!"

That guy made the concert for me.
Posted Saturday, March 4, 2006 am31 at 11:10am
lalaland says+1 Votes UP / DOWN
Bless Robert's heart for playing this show while being sick. At one point he said he didn't think he could go on. Then came out & performed an encore. Was it 3 or 4 songs -- an extra one not on the set list as well?? If he felt the way I feel w/the flu (which is horrible), my god, he has such beautiful will power to keep performing & such a love for music. The love shown through!!!

It was a great show; defiantly from the heart. Thank you so much.

*Then to hear about the next night where both Robert & Peter were sick. Wow, they are amazing performers!! I hope everyone is back to health now.

Posted Monday, March 6, 2006 pm31 at 9:35pm
STL_Ben says+1 Votes UP / DOWN
The line stretched the length of the building and the opening band had already played; now everyone was waiting for the main event. While the buzz outside for Mardi Gras was loud and flashy, the calm crowd inside was all waiting for the lights to dim and for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to come out. The lights dimmed. Peter Hayes walked out. He started the night off with a wonderful solo acoustic performance of “Fault Line”. It was just one man, his guitar, and a harmonica; the crowd loved it. He followed this with “Restless Sinner”, also from the group’s latest album Howl.
The rest of the band walked out and kicked up the speed with their single “Shuffle Your Feet”. The boys from B.R.M.C. kept the pace up flying through a couple other songs from the new album and then broke out with “White Palms” from their self-titled debut album. Then they followed this with the slower song, “Shade of Blue” from their album Take Them On, On Your Own. With guitar solos and a wonder blend from one song to the next, the audience almost did not believe when Robert Been (vocalist/guitars) said that he was not feeling good (over an hour into the show.) This did not slow down the show though! They continued with an alternate version of “U.S. Government” asking the crowd if they were being too controversial or not?
Do not let the name Black Rebel Motorcycle Club fool you, these guys are the best in new classic rock. The trio of performers perfectly blended the rock vocals, guitars, and a drum with a mix of trombone, harmonica, piano, and even an accordion. Back to the show, yes it’s still going with over an hour and a half of jamming when they finally play a “Spread Your Love” and walk off the stage. Hold on though, all this talk of sickness doesn’t keep them from coming back out for more. Peter comes back out once again alone with his acoustic guitar to play “Feel it Now.” Then the rest of the band came out and played for an hour long encore performance, finally ending with “Open Invitation.”
Although the show didn’t end till around midnight all the guys in the band were great enough to come out and talk to the crowd at Mississippi Nights. While local celeb Beatle Bob got the majority of their attention, they also stopped to take photos and sign autographs for the fans and stalkers. These nice Rebels did a great job pleasing the crowd all night long and I for one can not wait for more from them.

Posted Sunday, October 26, 2008 pm31 at 6:53pm