an afternoon being rocked in camden

The road to an Omnisoul show beckoned again Tuesday afternoon.  Since I am pressed for time, as always, I will cut and paste some of Matt's wonderful review and add my comments...

"Tuesday’s show at the tweeter center was a blast. My friends and I took the long way to the venue and ended up getting there later than the expected 5pm start. It was Miranda’s first time on the patco speedline! Turns out, however, that the whole event started late and the band went up to play at around 6pm.        

The crowd was filled with music enthusiasts. The opener, Not Alone, was pretty entertaining. Their guitarist was really laying down some hot riffs and they were warming up the crowd for an extremely energetic omnisoul performance.        

Unlike the last full band show, Tuesday’s show was highlighted by amazing sound. Never have I heard such a perfect band mix for an outdoor show. Mike Tate kicks butt. In Scare the Night, I actually heard both Josh’s AND Jamie’s solos. Amazing tone! In addition to making the band sound as great as they are, Mike was also “balloon tech,” tending to the mylar balloons that gravitated towards Derek’s face and Tyler’s cymbals.        

“My Own.” Enough said. Well, maybe not if you weren’t there. This song completely energized the crowd. Every band member was spot-on and Mike had Shawn cranked up during his screeching solo. By the end of Derek’s falsetto notes at the end of the tune, everybody in the parking lot was moving and going crazy.        

All of the free demo CD’s were gone by the middle of the set (any remaining ones were gone after Jamie blew our faces off with his trumpet solo in Home to Home). We were treated to two new songs on Tuesday: “Float on the Air” and “Rich Man.” Float on the Air is definitely going to be a keeper. It instantly went over well as if the band had been playing it for months. Rich Man has this nice funky guitar riff that Derek plays throughout the tune. Good work, guys.

The entire set was as follows: 1. All or None  2. Twinkle of a Life   3. Trauma  4.  The Greater You  5.  Float on the Air  6.  Feel What You Want  7. Home to Home  8.  Waiting  9.  My Own  10. Another Day Gone  11. Rich Man  12. Scare the Night  13. No More Love Songs

I thought it might have been nice to close with Happy Outside, but the evening had started to wear on and some people were ready to go see the dmb concert at the tweeter. I wonder why the band doesn’t play Happy Outside more often... are they afraid that it’s too menacing? I guess I only get a little frightened when I hear the album version....       

Several highlights stuck out in my mind. When the guys played Waiting, it was just as a cop car pulled up next to the fence behind the band. They just sat there and listened to the song as oodles of people sung along wit the words. It was fun. Perhaps another interesting subtlety that went down was Josh singing the voice-unders in Another Day Gone that will end up on the new CD. In the big heavy section towards the end of that song, Derek can be heard speaking the lyrics to the song before he sings them. It’s a nice haunting effect. Josh did these during the show and it was fun if anybody noticed it. Not that I expect anybody else to be a stalker fan that recognizes any note of any song, but it was funny anyway.        

Speaking of the new CD, I have heard some recent cuts of it and I know that everybody will be beyond impressed. The recordings have blown me away. On Tuesday, there were flyers circulating regarding the CD release – set for August 14th. Oddly enough, one of these flyers ended up right on Derek’s own windshield... I don’t know which is more ironic – that flyer, or the singer of Not Alone trying to get me to sign up on the omnisoul mailing list. I politely declined! Hee hee"

I agree!!  I do have other highlights to add...  Katie jumping over the Patco railings to ride the train after it didn't accept her card.  Watching Derek pass out flyers then wake up Tyler with waving a flyer in front of his face.  A flyer flew in my direction so I slid it under Derek's windshield wipers.  Derek telling jamie to not sit on his car.  Chris M. drinking Guiness in a can from a paper bag.  The fuzz not patrolling but watching the Omnisoul show.  The balloons decidiing that they wanted to join in on the show.  Heat exhaustion!

The police patrolling in the van decided to be dicks and drive right through the crowd.  As they passed I noticed the side of the van, which had the phrase "providing the community a better quality of life."  I laughed and pointed it out to Chris, who then ran after the truck waving his beer saying that to provide him a better quality of life, they should give him more beer.  It was great.

After the show we headed back to the Patco then Collingswood.  En route, Matt and Katie took me to the Bowie Diner.  It's not called the Bowie diner and I was wondering why they called the diner that, but I didn't ask.  I knew as soon as I walked in, and confirmed it with them.  One of the waitresses looked exactly like David Bowie.  Unfortunately I missed the face of death.  They approved of my diner choice of an egg salad sandwich, but shook their heads when I opened up the menu.

On the way home we listened to the Omnisoul CD while analyzing the tracks.  Seriously kids, brace yourselves... Another good road trip experience for the books. 

 More pictures can be found here...