BAND:
King Norris
LOCATION:
Vertigo, Nyack, NY
PRICE:
$5 cover
CONCESSIONS:
I actually have no idea. This was a bar/restaurant, and I didn't check out the menu.
VIEW:
The setup is quite weird. It's two stories, and the stage is actually above the dining room. I went up to the second floor to be at eye level with the band. Otherwise, you have to look up to the stage balcony, where your view would pretty much be straight up their noses. Here are photos I took from the second floor lounge:
PRE-SHOW VIBE:
Since they've been on Sirius for the last year, their audience has definitely dwindled. I wasn't sure what percentage of them lived in the area and would come out to the show. I also wondered what kind of promotion they had, as now they have a much more limited audience than they did when they were on NYC's K-Rock. So I called ahead of time to see if I would have trouble getting in and they said I should be alright. Seeing Fred in person after listening to him on the radio for 10 years had me pretty excited and I wanted to make sure I could see the show, so that made me happy.
ATTENDANCE:
At it's peak, I think there were maybe 100-150 people there. It's hard to say, but it definitely wasn't packed.
AUDIENCE:
It seemed to me that the crowd was mostly made up of regular yuppie Friday night townspeople who weren't really aware of who they were watching.
WARDROBE/STAGE SET:
T-shirt and jeans, no stage set except the backdrop you see above. In front of the bassist was a table set up for the DJ who would take over during the band's break.
ARI RATING (ADRENALINE RUSH INDEX 1-10):
Frame of reference:
1= I sat in my chair motionless and felt no emotional connection
10= I walked out bruised and high off nothing but the energy of the show
For me, it was a 10 because it was Fred. If it was any other band, I'd say a 3. Definite headnodding, but most of my rush was fueled by the fact that I'm looking at one of my idols standing right in front of me.
SETLIST:
They would alternate between covers and original tunes. Covers included Roadhouse Blues, American Idiot, My Generation, and that ZZ Top song they used in the trailer for Demi Moore's Striptease. The originals were typical bluesy rock songs you'd hear from any other bar band.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Did I mention the fact he's a hero? I liked that the commute to the show was super short and that it was a small venue with a cover in the single digits. Ooh and I got free street parking. I forget how much convenience can add to the enjoyment of an evening. My normal concert routine usually involves battling traffic, paying astronomical parking fees and donating a portion of my paycheck to Ticketmaster. Not having to deal with all that for once was much appreciated.
LOWLIGHTS:
The audience. When the band took the stage, I expected a deafening roar. But what happened was just typical polite applause, with maybe one random "FRED!" while they were soundchecking . Later when Fred mentioned how he sang American Idiot as his choice for the show's recent karaoke contest, and ragged on Artie for basically talking his way through Mother (Pink Floyd?), I was literally the only one who gave any kind of audible reaction. It was then I realized I live in a bubble. A bubble where Howard Stern and crew are the center of my universe that my weekdays revolve around. But once I get out into the real world, I see they're just a radio show that left the public airwaves a year ago and King Norris is just a bar band with some guy that works with Howard.
I actually taped Fred's intro to American Idiot, but somehow it got deleted off my new camera that I am still learning how to deal with. Probably because the buttons are so tiny and sensitive that I trashed it without knowing it until I got home. Deleting the most memorable moment of the show? Major lowlight.
DO YOU RECOMMEND THIS SHOW? (YES/NO-EXPLAIN):
If you are a big Stern fan, sure. But otherwise it's nothing mindblowing that you have to see before you die.
BONUS POST-SHOW EXCITEMENT:
During their mid-set break the band hung out at the bar. I thought that since he is a god among men, naturally Fred would be mobbed, so I hung back and stalked him a little before I made my move. But people were paying more attention to the scene below where two girls were tearing up the dance floor with choreography that can only be described as Elaine Benes meets Justin Timberlake.
Encouraged by the lack of commotion, I went over to say hello to one of the coolest guys on the planet. Due to being starstruck, I didn't come up with anything too original to say, so I went to some go-to compliments: I thanked him for getting me through the day, that the cast is right about how fans listening can sense they're happier, and how the show is indeed much better now that it's on satellite. I said to tell Howard to go easy on Artie about Dana and he laughed and said "Oh we know, we've all been there at some point!" Although Fred's been painted as a mysterious psycho on air, he couldn't have been sweeter. Somewhat ungracefully, I ended the exchange by telling him that I'm glad that his band doesn't suck. He smiled and said thanks.
Here's some photos I took:
And some YouTube (sorry about the quality, I tried to fix it to no avail):
