Tuesday, August 26, 2014

My amateurish review of The Dude's Concert at the Pantages...

As The Dude once said, “Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.” Or as this self-proclaimed Dude most often says, “I’m not passing judgment, I’m only making an observation”

Keep that in mind as you read through my feeble review of Jeff Bridges and the Abiders show this past Sunday night at the Pantages theater.

Actors and Singers; “strikes and gutters..ups and downs..”

Throughout entertainment there are great singers who have questionable acting talent and vice versa
Now for instance, Elvis Presley, great singer. Great as an actor? Some say Colonel Parker is to blame for those musical B movies that EP is so famous for.

Maria Carey, great singer, great as an actress? The movie, Glitter. Never saw it but by observing reviews and box office receipts, well ‘nuff said.

Whitney Houston, great, great singer, great as an actress? I’d have to say she was a pretty good thespian. My Bodyguard, case in point.

William Shatner, great actor; Singer? Well lend an ear to his version of Elton John’s “Rocket Man” and observe for yourself.

John Mellencamp, great singer songwriter, okay actor? I’ve not seen Falling from Grace so I’ll pass on the observation.

Then there’s Prince. Given I live in MN, I’ll declare myself not fit to stand trial and again, pass.

Which all takes us to Jeff Bridges. Great, great actor. An Academy Award winner. Singer?

Well…in my observation, I’d say The Dude rolled a pretty good ten frames on Sunday night, several strikes, a few spares and one or two gutter balls:

Strike: Paying homage to MN…the home of Prince and the home of…the…Coooooooen Bros as he so stretched out the vowel to the applause of the crowd

Strike: Great cover of a tune from The Big Lebowski, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “ Lookin Out my Back Door”

Strike: Dedicating the show to Robin Williams who he co-starred with in The Fisher King

Strike: Cover tunes by Dylan, “The Man in Me”; one by Townes Van Zant called “To Live is To Fly”; Tom Wait’s “Never Let Go” and The Byrd’s “So you wanna be a Rock n Roll Star

Strike: very engaging; laughable and appreciative of the hoots and hollers of Lebowski quotes that mixed through the night like a straw in a White Russian( the Dude’s drink of choice, affectionately termed, ‘a Caucasian’)

Spare: The show didn’t start on time, but most shows never do

Spares: Modestly priced Tshirts, CD’s and Albums both unsigned and signed

Spares: Souvenir stand only took cash and I only had a check written out to Ralphs’ for .69

Gutterball: Although it was great to hear that he had family in the audience ( sister, niece and nephew), they were seated in the front row, thus prohibiting any fans from sitting there; I believe there were VIP seats available but I “crossed the line and marked it zero”

Gutterball: He started around 7:10 and finished around 8:40, not much of a show but his musical catalog isn’t that vast.

There were no “Nihilists” in the crowd nor was there any “unchecked aggression”, just a good size, perhaps sold out crowd listening to good music and some great guitar playing by lead strummer Chris Pelonis, who's performance ”really tied the room together.”








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