Center Stage

Got invited to see Gavin Rossdale with my new buddy Megan (i know i know. it's about as popular as "Ryan," right?) yesterday. yknow, from the 90's band Bush? Neither one of us knew much about his solo stuff accept for that one single he has, but it was like hey, we'll check it out. Small venue called Center Stage off Peachtree (ha, off peachtree in downtown atlanta. that narrows it down. :-P).

The opening act was a little band called Nico Vega; a trio with a dude on set, a guitarist with lot of pedals and lots of curly hair, and a just wacky vocalist chick. had kind of a Joplin meets Cranberries meets something else vibe. tons of energy. the girl was like flailing everywhere, doing one-legged yoga poses with her extremely short dress, and generally rocking it out. they seemed a little put off that the crowd was kinda just chillin, a bit quiet. on to the main act.

Gavin comes out in a white long sleeve shirt and this grey hoodie-vest that i kinda wanted to steal. played the first song, and i was kinda groovin to it, not a bad start. then the second song was Machinehead! i did not expect to get that excited when the opening guitar riff came down all hardcore. but he was definitely still rockin, jumping around, and getting into it. after a few songs in Megan's like "so much for him having lost his edge."

I was kind looking at him funny after a bit, cause for his in between songs talk, he'd get into his say-anything-and-it-sounds-deep british accent and say things like "i really don't know why i can't wrap my head around this. i think it's cause these guys and my band, they launch me into the stratosphere..." I couldn't quite tell if he hadn't had a little something-something before coming on. but the vocals and the guitar work were pretty much on point for the whole show, so i can't complain. at one point he jumps off stage during a solo and i couldn't see his face but i think he was just about macking it with someone in the audience. definitely seemed to have a crush on some of the audience. "i could do it... i could just tell you all how much i love you, and appreciate you coming..."

he humped his guitar for about 16 bars of a solo.

Gavin Rossdale dies on stage?

here's the intro and first verse of Comedown. crapy camera phone quality audio. Edit: wow, the audio is completely indecipherable on the uploaded video. sadness. i'll add some photos

Oh and finally tried Intermezzo coffee off Peachtree. The same Peachtree as the venue. i think. had a liqueur cappuccino!

Also trying to get in some more applications in the next couple days, including an assistant professor of architecture at SPSU down the street. i didn't hear about the announcement until past the due date for "primary consideration for applications" date, but who knows. i don't know how much professional practice experience they're looking for - the app said strongly preferred a "substantial" amount, so we'll see. blargh

Current Music: Company Flow - Population Control