I don’t think I’m ever going to go to an arena or stadium again to see a band.
I’ve come to this conclusion after seeing a favorite band of mine, Drive-By Truckers, at a club in Madison on Sunday. Comparing this experience with the arena experiences I’ve had made me realize the more intimate setting is the only good way to see a band.
Drive-By Truckers, an Athens, Ga.-based three-guitar rock band, have been together for more than 20 years, although they’ve never gone mainstream because they’ve never had a big hit or a million-selling album. After a long string of solid albums, I’ve placed them in my top five bands of all-time, a list that also includes Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, U2, Pearl Jam and The Replacements.
I discovered the Truckers about 10 years ago when magazine reviews compared them to some of these bands, prompting me to purchase an album. I really liked the album, and as I often do with bands I like, I purchased their entire discography.
Now I’m to the point where I’m at Radio KAOS on the day they are released so I can listen to them as soon as possible. When I walk in, Randy, Radio KAOS’ owner, knows exactly what I’m looking for. “New Truckers album today,” he’ll say as a statement as to why I’m there. Such knowledge about the customer is the No. 1 reason people should shop locally whenever possible.
The band’s latest album, “Go-Go Boots,” is their second strongest album, right behind their masterpiece, “Southern Rock Opera,” a two-disc concept album that uses the plane crash that killed members of the group Lynryd Skynyrd as one of its central focus points.
While the Truckers might not be a household name, they’ve got some big fans, including David Letterman who has said the band is one of his favorites. When they played on his show this past summer, he made them do an encore performance of “Everybody Needs Love,” a song that now serves as my phone ringtone.
When they announced the current leg of their tour, which included stops in Milwaukee and Madison, I bought tickets for the Madison show at The Majestic immediately. I assumed it was a larger venue, so I was surprised when we arrived and it was just a small club with a capacity of 500 people.
All the bands I’ve seen in the past have either been at the Bradley Center or Marcus Amphitheater in Milwaukee, or at festivals throughout the state, where thousands of other people were also there. Even the bands playing at Riverfront Rendezvous in Stevens Point have thousands of spectators.
I’ve had some good experiences – namely Bruce Springsteen at the Bradley Center in 1999 where I had seats in the upper level right next to the stage. But often I’m so far away I have to watch the teleprompters, which is like watching a bad television viewing of the concert. Also, the sound is often terrible or too loud, which defeats the entire purpose of watching a live show.
But at The Majestic, the setting was intimate enough that I could get right up near the stage if I wanted to and the sound was great because the acoustics of the facility.
It helped the band put on a high-energy rock show in which members engaged the audience as though every person there mattered. My wife, who wasn’t familiar with the band at all, even found herself getting into their groove, coming away a fan.
That’s good rock and roll – when nonfans can become converted. I’ll give the club a lot of credit in helping with that, though.
Maybe I’ll have to see my least favorite band of all-time, Nickelback, in a club. And then I could understand why millions of people like them. Then again, maybe I’d rather see someone I like just a little bit in an arena. That’s probably the better choice.
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Originally published in The Portage County Gazette on Friday, Oct. 28, 2011.
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