No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master. ~Hunter S. Thompson
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| Half Life at 1st & Goal |
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| Written by John Abbott | |||
| Sunday, 15 March 2009 22:12 | |||
We have been meaning to see the band Half Life for the past three years. It took them performing within two miles of our house to actually get us out to do it. Half Life is a cover band specializing in 70's, 80's and even a few 90's hits. And, they are a good cover band, with a few caveats.
Though Half Life is a local band, containing among other members, Darrin (DC) Senn, and Tim, son of retired Chippewa Falls police chief Joe, Coughlin, the band seldom appears locally. Instead playing almost exclusively in the Twin Cities market.
My musical high point was performance of the Bon Jovi song, Wanted Dead or Alive. The solos were perfect, Tim Coughlin is an amazing guitar player.
A near miss, and I am very sorry for it, was the Pink Floyd song Wish You Were Here. Technical issues suddenly presented themselves in the form of some feedback whine from the guitar of Coughlin. Unfortunate, because thought the problems was solved a couple of minutes into the song, you could see it was still on his mind. It was a distraction that prevented him from playing it to his potential.
Half life seems to have a wide repertoire and seemed quite open to playing requests. It wasn't like going to a Brian Bethke show, "No, I don't know that one", "Aaah, I don't play that one any more" Here, the band knew the songs, though it might take a couple moments of stage conference to put it together. It could be just the age of the crowd on this particular night, but most of the music had a mid-eighties sound. And, it is my opinion, those years are a rock and roll low-point. But, a different crowd might get a different lineup. And, if you are into the era, you are going to love it.
So here is my trouble with the band. I realize there is artistic license. But there are classics, real untouchables of rock and roll out there. And I also realize people get tired of playing the same old song, the same old way, week after week after week. But how do you draw that line? How do you say, "we are going to do our own version of XXXXXXXXX" Where does that leave the fans? Are they really strongly enough Half Life fans to say, "I like it better than the original"? Or, are they like me wishing they wouldn't have changed it.
There were several examples but, one that turned into redemption. The bar room staple, Sweet Home Alabama, but it was played Half Life style. Ok, fine, these guys are no Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band, but can you really make something so iconic into your own? It ended up ok for me in the end. They took the modified song and rolled it into the Kid Rock song All Summer Long, which totally worked for me.
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| Last Updated on Sunday, 18 October 2009 18:18 |
