Concert Review: Gin Blossoms at Wildhorse Saloon 6/26/2008

The Gin Blossoms have an impressive catalog of really good songs, considering their somewhat rocky history of personnel issues, hiatuses, and limited discography of 4 (best I can tell) original studio albums from 1987 to present. The titles of two of their albums reflect this history ("Up and Crumbling" and "New Miserable Experience"). Nonetheless they have many hits attributable to their strong song writing abilities. So I was looking forward to an excellent performance heading to the Wildhorse this evening.

The lineup has been fairly stable the past few years. Robin Wilson is on vocals, tambourine, and acoustic guitar, Jessie Valenzuela on lead guitar and vocals, Scott Johnson on second lead guitar, Bill Leen on bass, and Scott Kusmirek on drums. The playing was tight, with impressive trade-offs between Valenzuela and Johnson being the highlight. These guys can both rock out and play some impressive "feel" segments, and their interaction worked well. The set list was impressive as well. There were plenty of hits to be heard during the first two thirds of the show like "Day Job", "Fool for the Taking", crowd pleaser "Found Out About You", and "Long Time Gone", amongst others. Despite all this I wasn't overly impressed and it didn't take me long to figure out why.

I've seen it many times before. The band lacked energy. When all the other elements are there, good set list, good playing (technically), nice sized crowd, but the band lacks that "taking over the room" presence, it's an energy issue. About two-thirds through the show Wilson stated it was time for us to get up on our feet, and normally that would be about right. During a good performance a crowd will normally be up on their feet by this time, if not sooner. So when the front man needs to get you up it's a sure sign something's missing.

There was another element that was missing that didn't help, and that was clear vocals. Up to this point I couldn't understand the words big time. Not sure if the sound was too low or if Wilson's singing was to blame, but it really took away from the elements that were working. Maybe the people who were being serenaded through their friends' cell phones (Wilson takes cell phones from the crowd on a regular basis and sings into them) heard things loud and clear, but not me.

The last third of the show got much better, but for me it was too late because a lot of good songs were compromised, and they're just too good for that. Starting with "Allison Road" and through "C'mon Hard", and a very impressive "Till I Hear It from You", the words got clearer, the energy cranked up, and my spirits rose significantly. The crowd was responding better as well. The encore included a cover of Elton John's "Rocket Man" with Wilson out there on his own for awhile singing and strumming, and hits "I'll Follow You Down" and "Hey Jealousy".

Wilson did note the encore had to be limited because the band had a 17 hour bus trip to Texas immediately following the show. They played about 90 minutes, which seems a little below average for a Wildhorse headliner, so maybe the grueling tour schedule had something to do with their energy levels. Curious, I looked at their tour schedule and noticed they have two consecutive nights coming up in July, one in Atlanta and next in Michigan. Now that's another haul! Maybe they need a new tour manager. I'd hate to see this band go through another new miserable experience.