Kiesha “Areila” Jenkins checking in with a review of Monday’s Zwan concert:
Cleveland Rocks, for several reasons
by Kiesha Jenkins
Spring Break rolls around only once a year, and while many of my fellow Ohio University students plunked down their parents’ hard-earned money and boarded planes to Cancun or Miami or whatever other southern city rich, drunk college students go, I went a very different direction – North.
Cleveland, ah! Take a deep breath and smell the lake. Take a deeper one and smell Canada. Or, take a little drive and make your way to the Agora, a hip club similar to the Newport but with a much better sound quality. And while you’re there, hey, why not catch Zwan?
Yes, Robert Duffy and I braved Interstate 71 for three hours to catch the band in all their glory. Having seen them back in December at the Newport, and having gotten my hands on their album, I was very eager to see the band again, this time familiar with all their material. We decided to take a seat in the balcony, mainly so we wouldn’t have to stand through the whole show. This proved to be a wonderful idea, and the view was great. We got to watch the kids in the mosh pit bat around a beach ball.
The opening band was called The Children’s Hour. I was not a fan. It was a interesting sound (electric and accoustic guitars, harp) and Dave Pajo playing drums for a few songs, but I just wasn’t into it. And neither was the audience. After a few songs, the crowd turned brutal, and during the quiet moments in between songs, they could be heard shouting things like “Turn this bullshit off!” These kids obviously wanted Billy Corgan and wouldn’t take anything but.
They got their wish. The Children’s Hour finished up with a song that most of the crowd recognized as the theme song to “Sharon, Lois and Bram’s Elephant Show” (I love you in the morning/and in the afternoon/I love you in the evening/underneath the moon!) and got off stage in a hurry. The beach ball made a triumphant return, until someone batted it onto the stage and the roadies threw it backstage.
Zwan was incredible. The show was loud and energetic. Billy was happy, something I’m sure shocked all the goth kids wearing their Smashing Pumpkins t-shirts. They played (as far as I could tell) every song off their new CD and a few extras that I honestly didn’t recognize. They were greeted with love and admiration from the crowd, especially every time Billy shouted out “Balcony!”
There was even a statement about the war, when Billy said, “Thank you for making it so easy for us to play. It isn’t easy right now to be jolly, so thank you for giving us your energy, your blood and whatever else comes out of your body.”
Two encores followed the main set, and the entire Zwan show lasted about 2 hours. Mr. Duffy and I were on our way back to the hotel by 11:00 p.m. I haven’t been home that early from a concert in a long, long time.
So all in all, it was a great trip, and I’m looking forward to heading back to the Rockingest City in Ohio in May for Ted Leo and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And to get a photo of the World’s Largest Rubber Stamp.
Oh yeah, one more thing. I’d like to give a ‘shout-out’ to the bodyguards at the Agora. They were the nicest guys ever. When the kids were batting around their beach ball, they retrieved it everytime it went out of the kids’ reach. They even climbed onstage twice to get it back for them. And they made sure everyone who was bodysurfing got down safely. It was a nice change from those assholes jerks at the Newport.