loPEZ Dispenser

Until Saturday it had been three years since I had seen Third Eye Blind in concert. For a long time I considered them my favorite band; their blend of intricate guitar riffs, lots of off-beat drumming and Stephan Jenkins’ lyrics and voice created, to my ear, a perfect blend of fun rock music. A lot of their “popular” tracks are more poppy than the rest, which often gives people the wrong impression about the band. I cannot count the times that I told someone how much I love 3EB followed by them saying something to the tune of “That isn’t rock music.” Oh how wrong they are. You must experience them live to truly understand them. They are a great rock band; loud, heavy and talented. When performing live they completely brush off any tinge of being a pop band. Their debut album is simply one of the best overall albums I have ever heard. Every track is good. “Losing a Whole Year,” “The Background,” Graduate,” I could go on and on.

All through college and for a while afterward I considered them my favorite band. Their third album, “Out of the Vein,” was decent, but did not live up to the previous two. After that album and the subsequent tour in 2003 they have been fairly quiet, so my passion for them began to fade. I still listened to their music every once in a while, but not like I had in the past. That glut ended Saturday. To provide entertainment for visitors in town for Orlando’s two Bowl Games last weekend, the city and some other sponsors put on a free 3EB concert. When I found out about it I definitely wanted to go, but I was not excited about it like I have been in the past. They had no new album to promote, it was free and it was outside, three things that I thought would cause them to perform a little below par. As with all of the previous 3EB concerts I have attended, my wife tagged along. She has never been a fan to my degree, but she likes most of their music. The concert was outside, on the banks of Lake Eola in Downtown Orlando. It was a beautiful day, 72 degrees, slightly breezy and perfect blue skies. They came on playing “Crystal Baller,” one of the better songs from Out of the Vein. They were very energetic from the start, and appeared to be having a lot of fun. The set list was the best of any 3EB concert I have attended. They played both “Narcolepsy” and “Motorcycle Drive By,” two fan (and personal) favorites, both from their debut album. Neither of those songs received any radio play when they were released, which is a testament to the fact that Third Eye Blind doesn’t just play their “hits.” The musical quality was perfect, as were Jenkin’s vocals. It is great watching Tony Fredianelli play the guitar. He is as much of a clown as a guitarist, but it makes for an entertaining show. The one dissapointment was that their normal bass player, Arion Salazar, was not playing. Apparently he has been absent at a lot of concerts lately. He is a very good bass player, so I hope they don’t lose him. The substitute played fine, but he didn’t really have any excitement to him.

The band was on stage for over an hour and a half without losing any of their energy or the crowd. Seeing how much fun they were having helped all of us in the crowd enjoy the show even more. I knew at least 90% of the lyrics for all of the songs that were played, and amazingly so did a lot of the people around me. It is great being at a show where so many people are true fans. I left the concert completely satisfied with what I had just experienced. My shattered faith in the band has been fully restored, and I will not lose it again. They played two songs from their new album, which Stephan claimed was almost complete. I can only hope that when it is released later in 2007 it will be accompanied by another tour, with a stop in Orlando, Tampa or Jacksonville. If so, I will be first in line to buy tickets. For those of you who have never gotten to know Third Eye Blind I implore you to listen to their debut album, cleverly titled “Third Eye Blind” from start to finish without pause. You probably won’t be a fanatic like I used to be (I am just a big fan now, not a fanatic), but I think that you will enjoy it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007 at 8:44 pm and is filed under Music Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.