Jan
14
2012

Everybody Wins Sometimes

Mill Avenue Of The 90's at The Crescent Ballroom

PhotosSaturday, January 14, 2012 - 08:02:46 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music, Live Shows)
Y'know, the David Letterman segment Is This Anything? If Letterman had posed the question to Paul Shaifer at the Crescent Balroom tonight, the answer would have been a resounding "yes, yes this is something".

We've been pretty excited about the show since we first caught wind of it back in November. An old school Long Wongs/Mill Ave. night, with an original billing of Gloritone, Ghetto Cowgirl, Dead Hot Workshop and The Pistoleros. It became apparent a while ago that Gloritone wasn't going to happen. Minor setback.

Despite the excitement, and the killer lineup, I wasn't anticipating this as something I haven't seen before. These days Pistoleros and Dead Hot Workshop performances may be a bit far between, but not non existent. We saw Dead Hot Workshop on New Years Eve, and Pistoleros back on Thanksgiving. And while they don't happen necessarily every weekend, great "must see" lineups happen frequently enough. So this was going to be a great show, but nothing that out of the ordinary.

Photobox ImageThough, on walking into the Crescent Ballroom tonight, it was quickly evident that I had slightly under estimated what we'd plunked our $8 down for. There was of course the stage. And then the fact that you couldn't walk more than a few steps without running into someone you know. Even before Ghetto had taken to the stage, there place was a buzz with people. There is nothing like seeing a room full fill up for your favorite local heroes.

The degree to which I'd under estimated tonight's show became fully apparent once Ghetto hit the stage, and launched into Ten Tons. The size of the stage, the lights, the sound and the general sense of excitement in the air - this wasn't any regular show.

Ghetto delivered a hell of a performance, with Marc giving the huge crowd a dose of his pageantry. Even with the much large stage than usual, it wasn't long before he was off it, getting closer to his adoring fans.

Photobox ImageMuch like on New Years Eve, Thomas was on triple duty tonight, playing with all three bands. And Curtis pulling a double, with Ghetto Cowgirl and Dead Hot Workshop. During their set we were joined by Bobby. Haven't seen that dude in forever, and it was great to catch up with him. When Dead Hot Workshop gave into the audiences request for "one more", there was shared excitement among the three of us that the closer was Hanging Out With Ray.

Photobox ImageThe Pistoleros took the stage after a rock star introduction from Nico, and proceeded to command the stage for the next hour and 20 minutes or so. The set list was reminiscent of Thanksgiving Eve, with some notable exceptions. Iggy Pop's Something Wild was the first of such exceptions, something I've never heard the band before, and they tore it up. Some impressive crowd jumping was witnessed on that one. In addition to that, they pulled out Running Underground with Mark taking over lead vocals for.

Two thumbs up go to the Crescent Ballroom, which indeed is a cool venue. Aside from going down to the stage while shooting Ghetto, we stayed up in the bleachers virtually for the whole night, which provided an excellent vantage point over the sea of people on the floor.

Definitely an awesome night. We should do this again some time!

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