Summerthing!
Today was the official start of Summer. To celebrate, a local radio station here in San Francisco threw a free concert in Golden Gate Park called “Summerthing” I caught wind of the free concert action early last week and made plans to go. The lineup for the afternoon was Parachute, Sugar Ray, Matt Nathanson & Gavin Rossdale! Oh, and did I mention the concert was FREE?
I’ve already had such an amazing time out here for the past month, but to have my Summer officially kicked off by seeing Gavin Rossdale perform live from what was essentially the front row, will be something that I will never forget, and something that I will probably never be able to top. Bush was (and still is) my #1 all-time favorite band, and the CD’s Sixteen Stone & Razorblade Suitcase are still my favorite albums of all time. But what made this concert extra special is that, even though Bush is history, Gavin Rossdale’s new touring group knows exactly what the audience wants.
Gavin walked out on stage to the heavily vocoded song, This Place Is On Fire from his solo CD “Wanderlust, playing over the speakers, but then interrupted it with the screaming opening riff from Machinehead! Wow! I had expected him to play a few old school Bush songs, but as the concert continued, he mixed in songs from his solo CD, his side-project band Institute, and several more Bush songs that I have always wanted to see him perform live.
The set list (as best I can remember it):
This Place Is On Fire
Machine Head (Bush)
Boom Box (Institute)
Front Line
The Chemicals Between Us (Bush)
Everything Zen (Bush)
The Trouble I’m In
Landslide (Fleetwood Mac Cover)
This Is Happiness
Love Remains The Same
The People That We Love (Bush)
Comedown (Bush)
All in all, hands down the best concert experience I’ve ever had. I’m still trying to process it, really. I never thought I’d get to see “Bush” perform live, and honestly this was close enough. To me, Gavin Rossdale is Bush, and I’ve been a fan of everything he’s done since.
Be sure to check out a few more of my pics from “Summerthing” below in the Flickr Slideshow. Be sure to full screen it for the best quality!