Anyone going to the Ian Brown show in SF on 3/15?

http://s28.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2AFMCH1A6CTOK3NK9M2RSL3N4M

Have fun, though.

why not?

*sniggers smugly* :)

surely if you are only going to go to a few concerts this year there are a thousand better ones lined up!

but, whatever floats your boat. if you go you are duty bound to report back on it.

maybe, but the Stone Roses are my favorite band.

I went to the NYC show, which also cost $30, and was pleasantly surprised.

Glad to hear at least one positive comment here. I'm not into the hero worship at all. In fact, had I seen the band (esp. Ian, and esp. if he looked like he does on the flyer that's posted around town) before I got into the music, I probably never would have been a fan at all.

http://s18.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2HHSZJLCQ0ICO2U5J4DEK4IVNM

http://nme.com/news/111715.htm

Former (Stone) Rose And His Band Lose Bloom

Ian Brown (Stone Roses)
Great American Music Hall, S.F., CA. 3/15/05

Ian Brown hit the stage and was given much love from the 500 or so
fans in attendance, myself included. I remain a big fan of both Stone
Roses albums, and I think "Solarized" is the best album Ian Brown has
put out since "Second Coming."

The band played a song from one of his solo records, then played
"Sally Cinnamon." Neither sounded particularly good, but hearing
"Sally Cinnamon" performed live for the first time brought me back to
a very happy time in my life and I enjoyed it.

They then kicked into "Made Of Stone," but Ian stopped at the chorus
because he didn't like what he was hearing through his monitor. He
went off-stage to chat with the monitor person, asking the crowd to
bear with him.

Within a couple of minutes the band began "Made Of Stone" once more.
Again Ian stopped and went off to have words with the monitor person.
Two-thirds of the way through the third attempt at "Made Of Stone,"
some idiot jumped up on stage and barrelled into Ian's knees, wiping
him out and sending him to the ground. Ian, understandably angry,
started kicking the idiot. And punching the idiot. Ian was joined by
his bass player. And guitarist. And drummer. And keyboardist. And
percussionist. You could say it was overkill, especially since the
idiot, laying on the stage, did not appear to be fighting back.

It looked like they were trying to kill the guy.

Up came the house lights.

Finally a couple of security guys made it up on stage and pulled the
now-pummelled idiot toward the exit to the left of the stage. Ian
wasn't done pounding the idiot, however, and continued swinging at and
kicking the idiot even as security had him nearly off the stage. One
large, blond security guy peeled Ian off the idiot. Ian and the
security guy exchanged words, then Ian tried to grab the idiot again,
and the security guy grabbed Ian again. Ian attacked the security
guy. Ian was joined in his attack by his bass player. And guitarist.
And drummer. And percussionist. AND as-yet-unseen trumpet player.
Attacked by the entire band, the blond security guy (the only security
left on stage as the others had taken the idiot away) went down, and
the entire band proceeded to punch and kick him. It looked like they
were trying to kill the guy. By the time other GAMH security arrived,
the blond security guy was bleeding from his head.

The band left the stage.

I'd never seen anything like this in San Francisco where the locals,
even at rock shows, tend to be mellow and calm, almost to a fault. I
was so stunned by the goings on that I failed to take a single photo
of the melee until the tail end, when the blond security guy was
having his head stomped by the percussionist.

What photos I did get are available at

http://bagelradio.com/photos.html

During this downtime I learned that prior to the show my friend John
had been in the ticket line next to the now-pummelled idiot. Said
idiot was apparently a little out of his mind, from England, and a
huge Ian Brown fan who spent his time in line going on and on the
greatness of Ian Brown.

Twenty minutes passed before the crowd cheered the band's return. I
did not cheer. I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Ian had every
right to be mad at the idiot, but regardless of what the blond
security guy said to Ian, he was doing his job and did not deserve to
be beaten. I looked around at the cheering crowd and thought, "These
guys just beat up a guy who hadn't done anything wrong..." It was
bewildering.

Before the first song of act 2, Ian made matters worse by asking if
anyone in the crowd wanted to fight. He invited potential pugilists
up to the stage, even pointing out individuals, "You, with the
glasses, come up, I'll fight you." It was distasteful at best. The
crowd had just suffered through multiple delays -- the wat to remind
everyone that we were there to have a good time dancing around to
music was surel not to invite more fighting.

Then he took it a step further and asked if there were any members of
the security staff that wanted to fight. He repeated his question
several times before finally getting around to starting a song.

I believe the band made it through three songs, including "Love Bug"
and "Time Is My Everything," but I couldn't get into it. Ian's voice
was completely flat, and the band couldn't save him, especially since
he insisted on ending most songs acapella. The man was clearly unable
to sing but insisted on sharing his voice with us without the cover of
other instruments. Even mountains of chorus and delay on the vocals
couldn't hide what was clearly lacking.

Is it possible that Ian Brown was trying to hide faded vocal abilities
behind a facade of faulty equipment?

M'lady asked if I was OK. I told her I wasn't happy. She said,
"That's obvious," and asked if I wanted to leave. I told her that if
he would just do one Stone Roses song and not sound flat, he would
probably win me back over.

They then started a Stone Roses song. Ian was flat. About a minute
into it Ian again decided that what he was hearing through his
monitors wasn't good enough and headed off-stage to speak with the
monitor person.

At this point I shouted boos at the stage, something I don't recall
having done since seeing The Butthole Surfers stink up the Rathskeller
in Boston's Kenmore Square in the mid 1980s. Most of the friends I
was with decided we'd had enough. They headed for the exit, I went to
retrieve my checked bag. The band started up again. Ian was still
flat and feedback was drowning out much of the music.

About five minutes into the ride home we got a call from our friend
Pauline who, wanting to get her 28 dollars-worth, had decided to stay
at the GAMH and stick it out. Pauline was calling to tell us that Ian
had chucked his mic down to the stage and stormed off. The bass
player tried to take over on lead vocals because Ian wasn't coming
back on stage. That's when Pauline decided to leave.

Beyond the wasted $28, the needless violence, and the dumbass
testosterone-fueled posturing, another thing that's bothering me is
that next time I hear songs like "Waterfall" and "Sally Cinnamon,"
what will immediately come to mind is tonight's ugliness.

Those famous orange slices have grown moldy for this Roses fan.

-Ted

it really spoiled the mood of the concert.

-- Spencer Chow (spencercho...), March 16th, 2005.

don't expect them to pay you too fast for 'em

did you used to write for the nm3?
did you used to live in detroit or something?

And no, he didn't do Fool's Gold.

Kitty Genovese: http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/kitty_genovese/1.html

it also doesn't show the Indian dude with the Nehru cap (visible on the far left in the lower pic, and on the right in the top pic) kicking the security guard in the head repeatedly. it would have been somewhat comical had it not been so violent and 5 feet in front of me.

thanks, Shakey, I couldn't think of her name.

Ah, finally it's clear what happened to Burnweed.

Burnweed's from the US, though. And he's already stated on the Stone Roses message board that he can prove he was on the East Coast at the time. (someone made a similar comment to yours on that board too.) :)

-- just adam (adamr...), March 16th, 2005.

yes and yes ('or something' = windsor, canada)

Well... sort of. The aggression was a response to the attack. It was really weird. Ian was singing and walking towards the right of the stage when all of a sudden this guy flies onto the stage from behind him (where he couldn't see) and leaps over and tackles him. I'm sure it was extremely scary for him, and Ian bashed the guy on the head with the mic before the band jumped to the rescue and started beating the guy senseless. (The guy seemed truly perplexed that he would receive a beating for his actions. His face showed a sense of sadness caused by misunderstanding, and his hurt eyes seemed to say "why am I being punished for loving you, Ian?") Security pulled the guy away from the attack. Ian and the band gave chase, but a burly guard tried to hold Ian back. Ian and the band were then angry at security for depriving them of their right to beat the fuck out of the initial aggressor, and so they started beating security.

Human anger is very hard to contain, as we all know, and I'm not the least bit surprised that this is how it ended, given how it started.

seriously though. i've got a handful of Roses bootlegs and they all sound shit. maybe if you were on E and in the crowd in 88/89, the feeling/experience could have been spectacular, but just listen to the more popular boots from the SR's...they're awful. i'm not surprised at all by this account of events. it's probably a better night because of the excitement than it would have been if he had just yodelled through his set.

as they say: when in america...
http://www.jimmydoolittlemuseumpromotions.com/Patches_images/Operation%20Enduring%20Freedom%20patch%204%20inch%20diameter%20afghanistan%209-11-01%20with%20eagle%20carrying%20flag%20004.jpg

Shouldn't the security shirts have the shit written on both fucking
sides? Jeezus, this shit is obvious.