SHOW REVIEW: Bush/Veruca Salt/Souls
By: unknown
In the midst of their North American tour, Bush played to a sold out Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View on Friday; resulting in a high energized and entertaining concert. Bringing along two bands for the ride--Souls and Veruca Salt--Bush fans where treated to nearly five hours of banging drums, melodic bass lines and hard driving guitars.Souls--which is the first band signed to Bush front man Gavin Rossdale's record label "Mad Dog Records"--opened the concert with material off their debut album "Bird Fish or In-between." The Shoreline concert marked Souls opening performance for their boss's band and it showed. Souls displayed enough potential to warrant another look, but coming straight from playing small club gigs it was clear the band was not ready for a venue this size. Lacking both experience and adequate material, Souls left something to be desired.
Veruca Salt--hot off their hit single "Volcano Girls"-- took the stage next, giving a loud and heavy guitar driven performance. The sexy girls of grunge blasted through songs "Awesome", "Earthcrosser" and "Stoneface"--off their latest album "Eight Arms to Hold You"--with a reckless abandon, much to the delight of ever growing crowd. While Veruca Salt may not be ready to headline a concert, their performance is worth watching.
Veruca Salt couldn't exit the stage fast enough for the thousands of pre-teen girls who where calling for Bush to take the stage. Cries of "Gavin I love you", filled the amphitheater as the roadies transformed the stage into Bush's Stomping ground. After a half hour of preparation, Bush was ready to take center stage; as the lights turned black, the crowd buzzed with energy and anticipation. Bush didn't dissapoint their fans as they jumped into a quartet of hits "Personal Holloway", "Machinehead", "Greedy Fly" and "Everything Zen." Bush's energy on stage fed the music starved crowd exactly what it needed, yet they seemingly could not get enough. After nearly two hours of delivering hit songs off their two multi platinum albums--16 Stone and Razorblade Suitcase--, Bush exited the stage. With the crowed still begging for more, they obliged the crowds request and returned for an encore. Immediately the band blasted into "Swallowed" and the crowd reached a new level of frenzy; with fans of all ages moshing and slam dancing. When Bush ended the show with a eight minute version of "Little Things" the crowd seemed exhausted. Bush's sound may not be new or innovating, but they have the ability to deliver what many bands can only attempt; a kick you in the pants, pop your eardrum, make your mom cringe concert.
