Last night I went to The Garden to see Matisyahu's set opening for O.A.R., and made the mistake of sticking around for a bit of the headliner. Now I'll admit upfront that I'm no real fan of the jamband scene, but these guys were SO milquetoast and average that I couldn't believe they nearly packed MSG. What am I missing here? Or is that why they are successful? They seemed to me to be like a boyband Phish or something. As an aside, that was the youngest/drunkest/most-obnoxious crowd I've seen at a show in years. More white-capped date-rapers and chubby miniskirts in Uggs than at a Penn State tailgate.
Is there anything worse than drunken chubby miniskirts at concert of a horrible band they just "discovered" three months ago?
Brief threadjack - How was Matisyahu? He's going to be here in March, and I'm thinking about going to the show.
Great, as usual. His band is really fantastic. It was pretty amazing to see all the Hasidic kids having a ball at the show.
I was a huge OAR fan, loved their stuff but their last album is horrible. They've totally sold out and changed their sound, it's like listening to another band.
Those frat-boy A-hole types who never go anywhere without their white baseball cap, usually sporting a school name & logo.
a couple years ago i had the misfortune of being forced into listening to a live O.A.R. recording for an entire drive back from the STL airport. over an hour for where we were going. and let me tell you, a worse hour I may not have spent in my life .... EVER. they are so mediocre ... i don't even know where to start. let me just say this: as a general rule, I will not invest my money or time to listen to a singer with a worse voice than me (and i can't sing). i mean, this guy is just choking along his set, with the vocal range of carl lewis, with no regard for melody whatsover. he sounded like Tom Waits gargling peanut butter. one of the least talented vocalists i have ever heard (in a so-called "big band"). the whole time i was thinking, "people pay money to listen to this $hit????"
Ok. I just didn't realize they had a particular thing for white caps. In Chicago, a lot of the time those sorts of guys (post-college) are called "chads". I really don't like my name sometimes.
What you are missing is a poor sense of judgement. They suck a great sucking and I have come to realize over time that the majority of people are sheep. Be proud that you don't "get it."
They fvckin filled MSG? That is unbeliebvable to me. Basically they are a terrible Columbus, OH bar band who were smart enough to just tour university towns the past 6 years or so and thus have got a huge white cap following. But I never woulda guessed they could fill MSG. Wow.
Yeah there are alot of people in this country and alot of them have poor taste and are quite stupid. Ok so that's all opinion but true enough to me.
I get a kick out of how people feel the need to call the fans stupid and have poor taste. So they like OAR, so what? Different strokes for different folks. Personally I think bands like Sleater-Kinney suck, same goes Kanye West and other "popular" groups on this board, yet I don't go and bash them every time we see a thread about their music.
Agreed. I also hate in when people complain about a band going "mainstream" and getting "too big." So what if they are no longer obscure. If I am in a band, I am going to try to make as much $$ as possible and get popular as possible. Nothing wrong with that, as long as the music stays the same.
I'll agree with both of the above posts. I'd never criticize anyone for liking any kind of music, especially considering my own strange tastes. My original post was really generated to find out what the appeal of that band is, which I'm obviously missing. Unfortunately, I still don't know.
I almost punched my roommate in the head the other day when we were watching scrubs and he was bitching that Citizen Cope - Sideways was playing during the end of the episode. He was bitching that they were now going to become popular and it would no longer be cool to listen to them. Makes me want to vomit that some people are so musically elite that they can never appreciate a popular band.
Yeah, that's how it was in Orlando (big Jewish community there too.) A lot of older Hasidics came out too (somewhat surprisingly.)
Sleater-Kinney Sucks. OAR sucks, "CHADS" or White-cappers suck and most are sheep like idiots. People who get whiny and pissy because someone has an opinion that a certain band sucks, suck.
I love jamband music, though I hate that name, I tend to call it improvisational music. I love Phish, the Dead, Widespread Panic, etc., but O.A.R. is just unbelievably awful. Most of my friends like the bands listed above, but I honestly don't know anyone whose a fan of those others that doesn't think O.A.R. are just awful. Sorry I can't be of more help Footix, but even a good many of us on "the scene" can't stand it. I think they're more of a frat band posing as a jamband.