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Friday, October 31, 2008
Beastie Boys, celebs rock the vote
TROTWOOD — The big-name, relatively low-priced concert tour that came to town Thursday night, Oct. 30, to promote voting may be selling out elsewhere, but the show — which featured performances by the Beastie Boys, Sheryl Crow and Ben Harper — barely reached half capacity at our own 6,000-seat Hara Arena.
Perhaps the conflict of Beggars’ Night the same evening affected ticket sales. Or perhaps the $36 price tag (plus $10! to park), was still too high in a tight economy, despite the fact that it was half what Crow charged for her last sell-out performances at Fraze Pavilion summer before last.
Or perhaps we’re suffering from collective election fatigue.
Many people certainly seem weary of hearing how important their votes are, in this important swing state, in this important election year.
While ostensibly a non-partisan event, Thursday night’s show was nonetheless a political affair, with between-set speakers — including an impassioned Max Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy — urging political participation.
“I can’t tell you who I’m going to vote for,” Kennedy said. “But it rhymes with Yo Mama.”
Kennedy’s comments seemed to meet with a more favorable response, however, than Crow’s calls for action.
Performing a 50-minute set that also featured the participation of singer-songwriter Ben Harper, who had opened the show with his own soulful 50-minute set, Crow played a selection of her songs that if they weren’t already politically flavored, certainly took on a political cast in the context of Thursday’s concert setting.
Opening with a solo acoustic version of “Bless This Mess,” and sounding like a classic folk singer in the process, Crow brought out her full band for a rocking “A Change Would Do You Good.” She followed with a trippy “Gasoline,” a Western-vibe “Redemption Day” and a soaring “If It Makes You Happy.” She concluded with “Out of Our Heads,” inspired by a meeting with the Dalai Lama, and a funky cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground.”
While Crow had her fans, the crowd went wild for headline act Beastie Boys, which offered up a high-energy hour of hits, punctuated by a priceless appearance by the actor Ben Stiller.
Stiller first came out unannounced, dressed like the be-hatted and baggy-clothed Adam Horovitz (aka Ad-Rock), with whom he exchanged places to finish out a performance of “Root Down.” He came out during the encore as himself to provide an extended scream on “Sabotage,” which the Boys dedicated “to some broken voting machines in Florida.”
Other highlights of the show, throughout which the crowd on the floor moved in a united pulse of bobbing heads and pumping fists, included “Ch-Check It Out,” “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” and “So Wat’cha Want.”
If the Boys didn’t rock the vote, they certainly rocked the house — what there was of it, anyway.
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