From: William Stearns
| Being a Verve fan, and lacking any other decent concerts
to see in the summer of '95, I decided to see the band as many times as I
could. Starting w/ Chicago, I also saw the Verve perform in New York,
Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, and Toronto. I had a memorable time on my
journies, but I found myself to be very disappointed with the band's
progressively deteriorating performances. Chicago was nice for me as it was
the first time I ever saw them play live. But as early as the New York show
it was obvious to me something was wrong with the band. They were playing
the same set every show (and actually dropping a few tunes as the tour went
on). Not something I expected from the Verve. Not only that, but several
times I could hear the band lose the groove in the course of a song. It was
subtle, to be sure, but definitely discernable. Nick looked particularly
bored as I'm sure he was playing the same thing night after night. Richard I
was very impressed with as it was obvious he was putting everything he had
into the music, even when it wasn't working. The low point was Cleveland as
the band's equipment failed in the hot sun (or wasn't allowed to warm-up
properly due to the "Alternative Press'" time constraints) Nick threw his
guitar and left the stage in a rage as the crowed stood stupefied wondering
what the hell was going on. As the stage hands began removing the Verve's
equipment threats were issued from the crowd. Finally cooler heads prevailed
as Richard came out and explained what had happened saying, "We want to
play, but we can't. Sometimes things don't happen the way you'd like them
to-that's life." (He also promised to play a free show in Cleveland
sometime(!!!???)) I told a few friends of mine I thought the bands days were
numbered as it was obvious they (especially Nick) weren't having fun anymore
and the music was not working for some reason. Interestingly enough, the
next show (Detroit) was the best of the tour as they played with much energy
and the guitars were as loud as they were the whole tour. I still found
myself a little bored with the whole thing, though. Toronto was the worst
for me. I almost decided not to go (of course I had to.). I wish now that I
would have stayed away because I thought the music was horrible and the
whole thing a bit contrived. They jammed at the same parts of songs and
Richard said the same things he had all tour. It was shit! The worst was the
last song "The Sun, The Sea." Same as every show they ended w/ a prolonged
jam of this song and this time it was really bad-loud and very metalish-I
couldn't decide whether to be sick or laugh at it all. I went away wondering
what was wrong with the band and what would be their future. P.S. I'd hate to end on a down note, so I'd like to wish the band good luck with their new album and (despite my critisims) say I am looking forward to seeing the revamped band live again as I'm sure I caught them in a bad spot before. Thanks much for the great music and memories. |
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