Sounding Off On Sound

Needtobreathe and Drew Holcomb at the Orpheum Theatre: Not for the particularly discerning

By Dwight Hobbes, Sounding Off On Sound

Rock fans just aren't all that picky in this day and age about what they listen to. And go crazy for. Serving as a perfect example, were Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band as active as they used to be, Needtobreathe would not able to get arrested, much less fill the Orpheum Theatre as they did May 1st. The outfit's musicianship is reasonably adequate, but the songwriting is mediocre on top of which frontman and lead singer Bear Rinehart doesn't have an original bone in his body. In fact, song after song, phrase for phrase, his vocals put you in mind of someone who always wanted to grow up and sound exactly like Bob Seger. Imitation, here, isn't the sincerest form of flattery: it's the surest form of failure. Seger—albeit clearly influenced by seminal pioneer Little Richard, did it first and did it with feeling, not as anyone's echo, a note for note copycat. That is how it went, throughout the entire evening with the band doing number upon number that was to music what tracing paper is to art.

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Russell Peters at the State Theatre: The funniest thing Minneapolis has seen all year

By Dwight Hobbes, Sounding Off On Sound

Courtesy Russell Peters

Probably the best comic you never heard of, Canada-based Russell Peters is a rare find, doing the sort of ingenious stand-up you just don't see these days. Not that he's exactly unknown, having done extensive stage, television and movie work. Still, Peters has to be one of the quietest successes in the entertainment industry, drawing, for example, a respectable but hardly sold-out house to the State Theatre on May 2. In the preceding weeks the widely famous had come through and packed the place—but, ironically, not one of them was half as funny. In fact, if you go through a roster of the biggest names in the business, you'll be lucky to find a handful that who are as good as this guy.

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Aziz Ansari turns in a disappointing performance at the State Theatre

By Dwight Hobbes, Sounding Off On Sound

Photo courtesy Aziz Ansari

Even gifted artists sometimes work harder on their way up to stardom than they do when they get there. Jamie Foxx used to do killer comedy on the groundbreaking show In Living Color, but after he become a name himself, he did stand-up that phoned it in.  Even the wonderful Wanda Sykes, as generally engaging and entertaining as she was last year headlining the Orpheum Theatre, was, several seasons ago, so strong opening for Tommie Davidson that her performance was worth the ticket price while his was weak as diet water.  The talented Aziz Ansari, who a while back was hilarious opening for Kathy Griffin at the State Theatre, on April 6 at the same venue simply was not the same comic.

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Chicago at the State Theatre: As perfect as they needed to be

By Dwight Hobbes, Sounding Off On Sound

Photo courtesy Chicago

Once upon a time, way back in the late 1960s there were three bands who played rock music a la big-band style. They were The Electric Flag, Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago Transit Authority. Hipster authorities had it that the Flag were the baddest, followed in quality by the Al Kooper-led B, S & T, then the Kooper-less lineup, then the woefully commercial CTA (who quickly shortened the name to Chicago). Well, baddest to the bone or not, Chicago, charting higher and lasting a whole lot longer than the other two put together, wound up leaving an indelible, signature imprint on the music industry.

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Widespread Panic at the Orpheum Theatre: Master musicians at their very best

By Dwight Hobbes, Sounding Off On Sound

Courtesy Widespread Panic

On April 14, the Orpheum Theatre was struck by Widespread Panic, inciting a completely sold out house of revelers to create absolute pandemonium. Fans of this veteran rock powerhouse are nothing if not faithful, wildly devoted to what can only be called an extreme. It must be pretty thirsty work, because when Panic hit the State Theatre across the street on Hennepin Avenue in 2011, the bars ran out of beer before the show was half underway—so, quite sensibly, things were moved to the larger venue and the venue laid in a stronger supply of brew.

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