Last week I walked down to The State to see Blind Melon. Yes, that same Blind Melon. Yes, Shannon Hoon died. Yes, they got a new singer, and much like Creative Loafing penned, I walked into the show thinking, “Who wants to ride the jock of a dead guy?” However, despite expecting something terrible, curiosity got the better of me and I had to go. So I went. Drunk. And not that pre-show, catch a buzz drunk either. I was ‘1/3 a bottle of Beam at home topped with 2 beers and a double at Dirty Nelly’s’ drunk. That’s not wobbling, but beginning to show signs of mouth failure drunk for those that don’t know me. The rest of this tale is told from those fuzzy memories.

Upon walking into the venue I was blow away by the amount of people who had actually come out for the show. I dunno what I was expecting, but it wasn’t a packed house. So I jumped in the beer line, got my eight dollar big beer and set off to find a good spot to watch the show from. Down go the lights and out comes the band with their faux-Hoon. They open with “Galaxie”, with the singer wearing a fully buttoned coat, gloves, a wig and a mask, all the while carrying a mannequin head. Maybe it was the Beam talking or maybe I got it, but I thought the outfit, coupled with the lyrics/chorus of that song, was their way of taking on the issue of Shannon not being there head-on. Two songs later, Travis (the new singer) removed the getup and the band broke into one of their new tracks from their upcoming album. Having a certain flair for dramatics, the metamorphosis wasn’t lost on me and I’ll admit it, they had won me over at that point.

If you close your eyes, Travis Warren does indeed sound just like Shannon Hoon, and I guess it’s easy enough to suggest that they’re riding on a dead dude’s jock, but as I watched the show I got to thinking….This ain’t that bastard version of Lynyrd Skynyrd currently running around the country. Four out of the five original members were up on the stage. They wrote that music too. Shannon Hoon wasn’t Blind Melon…he was the singer of Blind Melon. They have a new singer, he sounds like the old singer, and that will help with the songs from their first 3 albums. They put on a good show and you could tell they were appreciative of the crowd and eager to play. Next time they come to town, I think I’ll go see them again.

I took a few pictures but as I stated earlier, I was rather drunk. Those I did take that came out are visible here.

Blind Melon – Galaxie
Blind Melon – Dear Ol’ Dad
Blind Melon – Tones of Home
Blind Melon – Toes Across the Floor
Blind Melon – No Rain