Collective Soul Marquee Theatre, Tempe,
Arizona
June 1, 2005
Live Review by Zane Ewton
This night’s show is billed as a celebration
of 100 years of Las Vegas, a chance to have the glimmer of Vegas in your
own town. The tour, sponsored by the Vegas chamber of commerce, Camel cigarettes
and some smelly wine, brings to you Collective Soul with Silvertide.
This proposed idea of Vegas in your town
includes a few neon signs, Elvis strolling through the crowd and a quick
showgirl routine. Thankfully the cheese factor is kept to a minimum and
Silvertide provides a quick pounding set of songs that Buckcherry recorded
five years ago. Silvertide is pretty much a fun, mindless band perfect
for the Vegas décor and easy to swallow for the “Over 21” but mostly
over 31 crowd.
The ugly wedding chapel sign and flagrant
ads for Camel quickly fade away as Collective Soul take the stage to the
thump of the Who’s “Join Together”. Wasting no time the band plunged into
“Counting the Days” but suffered from sound problems that left Ed Roland’s
vocals unrecognizable. Those same sound problems gave “Where the River
Flows” a menacing edge that was wholly satisfying regardless of missing
vocals.
By the third song any sound bugs had been
worked out and the band lined up hits and new songs then knocked them down
to the glee of a faithful audience. Collective Soul is in the enviable
position of being able to pull out any track from their six albums and
have it be an instantly recognizable and memorable song. Even a cover of
the Who’s “Squeeze Box” was greeted with the enthusiasm of meeting an old
friend.
The energy remained high through “Heavy”
and “Precious Declaration’ with a slight breather for the tense “December”.
The band focused heavily on the new album, Youth, and on 1999’s
Dosage, pulling out a few other gems along the way. “Perfect to
stay”, “Needs”, “Run” and “Under Heaven’s Skies” cooled the frenetic pace
but remained engaging. Bassist Will Turpin’s lead-in to “Gel” provided
the loudest ovation of the night, breaking into a screaming “Feels Like
(Feels Alright)” and “Why Pt.2”.
The dramatic “The World I Know” flowed
into the crushing finale of “Shine”. New guitar player, Joel Kosche flailed
away through solos and riffs giving the music an immediate quality not
found on the records. The studio perfectionism and finely crafted pop/rock
records that Collective Soul deal in gives way to a looser, harder-edged
live sound. When not faced with equipment problems, the band sounds outstanding
live, the music is fresh and rejuvenated. It will leave you begging for
a push towards a rawer, live sounding record.
On this night the band could do no wrong,
the rhythm was tight (despite a back-up drummer filling in for an ailing
Shane Evans), the guitars were in full force (many songs including the
three guitars of Kosche and the Roland brothers interweaving) and the mood
was celebratory. Not just for the milestone of 100 years of Las Vegas,
but for the excitement of a rock and roll show by a band excited to be
playing rock and roll.
