Another cold night

SEETHER (live pix)
FLYLEAF (live pix)
RED

May 9, 2008
Pier Six Pavilion
Baltimore, Md.

By GREG MAKI

Booking an outdoor show on a Friday night in May probably seemed like a great idea. It’s the heart of spring, with the days growing longer and the air growing warmer. Summer and the busy concert season that comes with it are just around the corner. But rain drenched much of this particular Friday. It passed through the area long before show time, but it left behind a damp chill. The point: It was cold. Seether frontman Shaun Morgan even gave an extra thanks to everyone for coming out because of it.

Red, from Nashville, opened the show with their radio-ready rock. Many in the audience obviously were familiar with them (I can’t say the same for myself) and gave them a nice response. I don’t have anything bad to say about what I heard and saw, but nothing about the performance stuck out either. My only real observation is that it seems like this band should have a keyboard player onstage with them since they used pre-recorded tracks on nearly every song.

Flyleaf, a band that refuses to stop touring, brought the energy straight from the start, opening with the popular non-album track “Justice and Mercy.” The band ripped through almost every song from their one and only album—including favorites “Fully Alive,” “I’m So Sick,” “All Around Me” and “Cassie”—as well as a handful of new tracks, presumably slated for disc No. 2, and a cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Something I Can Never Have.” Frontwoman Lacey Mosley did not address the crowd until the end of the hour-long set, when she had bassist Pat Seals lead the audience in singing “Happy Birthday” to their sound man. She also introduced the closer, “There for You,” saying a fan told her that her husband, a soldier killed in Iraq , had sung it to her over the phone the last time they ever spoke. The band members left the stage one by one as they finished the song, which made for an odd, anticlimactic end to the set.

The tour was billed as a co-headliner, but it quickly became apparent who the top dog was. With a white curtain hanging in front of the stage, Seether bassist Dale Stewart began the eerie bassline of “No Jesus Christ,” the longest song in the band’s repertoire and a bold choice for a concert opener.

In early 2006, when Seether co-headlined a tour with Shinedown, I wrote that they lacked the stage presence of a true headliner. At some point during the two-plus years since then, they found it. Backed by top-notch lighting and video screens, Seether came across as every bit the band that has had multiple Platinum-selling albums this decade. The crisp sound and mix made it easy to focus on what a wonderful songwriter Morgan is. The set featured one great song after another—“Gasoline,” “Driven Under,” “Fine Again,” “The Gift,” “Truth” and a truncated, acoustic version of “Broken,” to name a few. The current single, “Rise Above This,” dedicated to Morgan’s late younger brother, made for a powerful moment, and the show ended with the fantastic one-two punch of “Fake It” and “Remedy.” Morgan and company added extended introductions to most of their well-known songs, effectively building anticipation each time. I also must mention the band’s new second guitarist, Troy McLawhorn. Formerly of Dark New Day and a touring member of Evanescence, he is a pro who makes any band he’s in sound better.

The chill in the air only grew stronger as the night went on, but it was of little consequence. Baltimore’s Seether fans would have braved it for a lot longer.