The Pennsylvania rockers ‘sell the drama’ to the West Michigan crowd, ‘walk in starlight’ as amphitheater shatters summer attendance record. Review and photos.
Ed Kowalczyk and LIVE closed out the Meijer Garden season Monday night with an anthem-packed show. Photo/Jamie Geysbeek
Taking the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park crowd back to the days of “much larger cell phones” Ed Kowalczyk and LIVE put on a nostalgia-inducing, hit-packed show Monday night in Grand Rapids.
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From the show-opening notes of “All Over You” the near sold-out audience was on their feet singing along with every word the 90s rockers from York, Pennsylvania put out into the air.
LIVE Live: Ed Kowalczyk and band on stage Monday night. (Photo/Jamie Geysbeek)
The set list, consistent with what the band has been playing throughout the summer, featured monster hits such as “Selling the Drama,” “I Alone” and “Lightning Crashes,” the recently-released “Love Lounge” and songs from throughout the band’s career which dates back seven years beyond their ’91 debut album “Mental Jewelry” to a time when the core four came together as junior high-schoolers.
Going back to the beginning, prior to performing “The Beauty of Gray,” lead guitarist Chad Taylor shared a story of Kowalczyk coming over to his parent’s house while they were still in junior high, and playing the opening notes of the future “Mental Jewelry” tune and saying “hey, I wrote this song …”
The band’s set, also highlighted by “The Dolphin’s Cry,” a cover of Jimmy Reed’s “Baby What You Want Me to Do” and a crazed fan running on stage to hug Kowalczyk during “I Alone” delivered on many levels. And while at times the now sextet was as tight as they were at their 90s peak, at others LIVE seemed to rely more on crowd participation to pull them through.
The smile on Kowalczyk’s face was contagious, however, and the eventually shirtless singer took many on a trip up and down the emotional rollercoaster that they rode during their formative years.
LIGHTNING CRASHED AND IT DIDN’T
With thunder in the forecast, the season finale had venue staff worried about lightning crashing in more ways than one, however, as Wisconsin-based opening act Boom Forest took the stage 20 minutes early to play an abbreviated five-song set, ensuring LIVE would be able to get a full show in before any real lightning crashed.
Thankfully, no storms rolled in overhead — Kowalczyk’s tequila offering to the rain gods may have helped that — and the Meijer Gardens season was able to end different than when it began back in May with a weather-shortened Tedeschi Trucks Band show.
Boom Forest opened the night with a shortened set due to weather concerns. Photo/Jamie Geysbeek
PACKING THEM IN
The final concert in Meijer Gardens’ 2018 summer series wrapped up another record-breaking year for the outdoor amphitheater. While the finale was about 150 tickets shy of a sellout, Meijer Gardens sold out 23 of 30 shows, with total attendance (not counting sponsor seating at the top of the amphitheater) reaching 57,350 for the summer — a 6.9 percent increase over 2017.
Set List: All Over You, Love Lounge, Pain Lies on the Riverside, The Dolphin’s Cry, Selling the Drama, Baby What You Want Me to Do, The Distance, The Beauty of Gray, Run to the Water, Rattlesnake, Shit Towne, Lakini’s Juice, I Alone, White Discussion, Encore: Heaven, Turn My Head, Lightning Crashes
PHOTO GALLERY: LIVE, Boom Forest at Meijer Gardens
Photos by Jamie Geysbeek
