Octoberfest

What! How did he update 3 weeks ago and I'm only getting the RSS feed now?! OK, so I'm backdating this post to the beginning of the month, and hopefully finishing my review of Duvall. Its been one heck of a month, even though I don't feel like I did much. Maybe I'll post about it, maybe not. No more guarantees.

Anyway more on the show. After meeting HIM we had enough time to head for dinner and a few drinks at a local pub. Downtown Naperville on a Friday night. Wonderful. After finding a parking spot a few blocks away - (damn the evil parking garage!), we walked into an emty bar to get some grub, since most of the fine restaurant establishments in the area would have a nice wait.

After getting our stomachs full and a good pre show buzz (no drinks on campus), we head to the theater. A very small venue, with theater seats - I would say about 20 rows total. The opening band is finishing their set and we grab seats stage left/center - about 12th row. While waiting for John Davis to start, they announce the benefit show and how they are raising money to support Katrina relief efforts. Man Katrina, seems like so long ago. Finally John Davis of "Superdrag" fame come out and sits down at a nice grand piano. It doesn't look like the singer I remember from the "Sucked Out" video - bald head, maybe put on about 30 pounds or so, but it definitely sounds like him. I didn't know he was from TN, the South as we like to say here in Chicagoland, and his drawl was pretty thick. His songs were really slow, don't think I would ever buy any albums, but the music wasn't bad. After 5 or 6 songs on the piano, he stands up, picks up the guitar and starts rocking. A nice Souther Rock sound and a little higher tempo - much better for a "Rock Show".

After another announcement about the Hurricane Relief a short slideshow and speech Duvall was ready to rock. We were lucky to have the original lineup with Eli Caterer on Bass (quit the band after releasing the cd to focus on family). I was hoping this meant they would play a few Smoking Popes songs considering Eli was also in that band. Unfortunately, the only Smoking Popes music was inserted into the middle of a Duvall song, and a few acoustic songs by Josh. It was really cool, but I say unfortunately because I don't think Smoking Popes songs (most anyway, there are a few that could be done) can sound great acoustic. They have a really hard sounds with amazing solos which can't be duplicated on an acoustic guitar. The overall sound was great and Josh sounded really good. He has a very distinct sound and I wasn't sure how close to recordings he could sound live. He sounded very close the recordings live, he did not disappoint. Seeing this show made me wish that Nov 11th was tomorrow. I can't wait to see a full set of Smoking Popes songs live!

Until next back dated Post...

Waj