It seems long overdue, but last night I finally got to see the show that everyone has been telling me I absolutely had to see. The show that might just take top honors for the best live show. Not only did I finally get to see Bob play, but I also got to see him play at the grand opening of Bend Studio’s satellite location in Fort Worth (everytime I say Fort Worth…I think Fart Worth…not sure why).
First things first. Ally David tells me that she has not yet decided what she is going to refer to the new location at Soul Fitness Yoga in Fort Worth as. For my own devices, I think I will refer to it lovingly as Fort Bend. SO, how was Fort Bend? I must say I was very impressed. The building is two stories, and like Bend has the studio upstairs. The space is quite large, and even with a large portion unused, offered more space than the Dallas location. The walls were lined with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the street on one side, and down town Fort Worth on the other. It provided a fantastic view, and great atmosphere. The sound and stage were well set providing a fantastic night to the more than 100 patrons who filled the space for the sold out show. I will be excited to see what other shows take place in this exciting new venue.
And what about Bob?!?!?! How was the show I keep hearing about? The show Courtney (who doesn’t drink, cuss, and listens strictly to country music…) said is racy and fantastic. Before I go on, pardon me while I fix myself a frosty beverage.
Ok, I’m back with some of Grandpapy’s cough medicine and Redbull in hand. Ahhhhh.
Back to the task at hand! Bob! Tell me about Bob. Bob put on a fantastic show. His music sneaks up on you and then smacks you on the back of the neck. Most of what he played last night was pretty mellow and low key. His voice tended to say soft, with a lighter and with a higher pitch than you might expect out of the burley man who is Bob Schneider. The beats were light at times with almost an island feel, but never far from it’s folkie roots. What is great about the music is that it is light and easy to listen to. Light enough you can enjoy it without thinking about it, but if you listen to the words….. If you dive into the lyrics you are opening Pandora’s box, and will probably find yourself either shocked, laughing your ass off, or both. The lyrics are very vivid and paint pictures easily seen in the mind’s eye. Just as soon as you have painted a nice pretty picture in your mind, you might be surprised to see what it is. I almost sprayed my beer through my nose when I took a step back to look at the picture old Bob drew in my mind, and found it was God with a big dick and bag of good cocaine.
All in all I would say the show was great. He made my top 5 shows list for sure. The only thing that I was disappointed in was that I felt like he was holding back on us. As mentioned before most of the music was vocally very light and soft. Bob is a big guy, and I’m positive that there is a monster of a voice hiding in there somewhere. On a song or two he opened up a little bit, and hinted to the fact that he could probably flat out wail if he wanted to. I really would have liked to hear a little more of that. I take that back!!! There were two things I was disappointed in. Bob got a 2 minute standing ovation from a packed audience, and didn’t play an encore (even though he left his guitar on stage…the perfect set up for an 2nd go!). I got the feeling that a lot of the crowd was shared in my disappointment. I got over it, and I’m pretty sure they did too. Do you know how I know? Because I heard at least 10 people on the way out of the show, including me and including Nikki, say four words over and over from his final song Mudhouse. Over and over on the way out, you could hear people under their breath, or in a full out scream on the way to the parking lot : “AINT GOT NO DOPE!!!” It was a great show, catch him if you can!