All Grrrr, No Arghhh

The Bears
Blueberry Hill - Duck Room
University City (St. Louis), MO
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
General Admission
$17.50

I have a confession to make. I don't think I've ever heard the first two Bears albums. I didn't own them, until I moved in with Roy, and there were so many things to listen to. Then Car Caught Fire was released and we listened to that a lot. We saw them in concert a couple times in 2002, so I learned a lot of the catalog from hearing it live. And listened to the live album and DVD. And the new one, Eureka! But I haven't gone back to those studio albums yet. Weird.

The Bears are fun. They're accessible enough that I can lend their live CD to people at work, and they don't look at me funny. But they have great songs, great melodies, great musicianship... Roy said he enjoyed the Bears shows we've seen more than recent Crimson shows, because of the happy fun factor. The Bears are Adrian Belew, Rob Fetters, both on vocals and guitars, Chris Arduser on drums, and Bob Nyswonger on bass.

This was a general admission show, and as usual, I took that as a personal challenge to be first in line. I left work an hour early and walked all three blocks from home to Blueberry Hill with Roy. Our friend Ralph joined us for dinner at 4:30. I figured, if it looked like any other fans were around, I'd get right in line and eat there. We were safe. We were first.

It's a great place to wait for a concert - indoors, temperature controlled, with bathrooms, free refills on sodas. I've done worse. Good place for a concert too when it's non-smoking, like this one was. There were some other fans in the restaurant at this point. Through the picture windows facing Delmar, we could see the Bears walking down the street. Soon afterwards, they came in. Adrian Belew said hi to us and "nice tshirt!" to Roy, who was wearing his Big Electric Bear shirt from the last tour. Chris Arduser pointed out that I was also wearing a nice tshirt, King Crimson's Discipline. We could hear a little of the soundcheck. The wait was really painless; we talked for a while and I read the Riverfront Times.

Different setup at the concert than we expected. There's usually several rows of seats, but this time the seats were off to the side and the front was a dance floor. Yay for me, I love to dance at concerts. I grabbed the spot in front of Adrian, while Roy and Ralph sat at the table to my left. I was too far away to continue my conversation with them, but I chatted with the guys standing near me. Opening act had a great bass player with a seven string bass, I don't remember too much else about them.

Finally, the Bears started. It was 10pm, my usual bedtime. They opened with Complicated Potatoes. I could see the setlist, but the songs were shortened to the point I couldn't really figure them out - CP was listed as Pot. The setlist focused on songs from Car Caught Fire, which I know well, and Eureka, which I'm learning. Couldn't sing along with the Eureka songs yet. I could barely sing at all without popping cough drops - still getting over strep throat from March. Older songs included: None of the Above, Superboy, Figure It Out, Fear Is Never Boring. I think I've decided Under the Volcano is my favorite Bears song.

It was a high energy, fun show. I kept looking over at Roy, making eye contact with him and singing to him. It's such a treat to see the band play so close in front of me, I was feeding off their energy. I've seen the Bears from this same position all three times I've seen them, all four if you count the Here tour. I'm lucky Adrian does so many of these small club shows, I've been in the front row more than my fair share. It was one of those shows that, when it ends, you just want to go somewhere else and see and hear and feel it all over again. I'm low on vacation days from my other recent exploits, and traveling for the one weekend one this tour just didn't work out for us. So it was just this one. I hope they are able to tour again with this album.

Roy was on call that night, and had to leave right when the show was over. Ralph wanted to get autographs, so I stayed with him and he gave me a ride home. I used to be such an autograph collector, but I've kind of gotten away from that, so I didn't bring anything. Still nice to say hi to everyone. I've talked to Adrian a number of times, but never the other Bears. Chris said he saw me from on stage and that it looked like I had a fun time. Yeep.

There was a line of people to talk to Adrian. Had an interesting conversation with him - he pointed out my Discipline tshirt and said it looked like an original. I said no, but he insisted. I said I wasn't old enough to go to that one. I was tempted to mention that I was only 6 in 1981, but I didn't. He asked me if I wanted something autographed, and I replied that I think he's already signed everything I have of his. Only a slight exageration. I told him that Roy and I had gone back to Philly to see the School of Rock again and they put on a great show again. He said they were good musicians to play with. Then he gave me a hug(!) I love the fact that all these years of going to concerts and hanging out for autographs is leading some of my favorite musicians to know who I am.

We're really getting spoiled with all these Adrian shows. Roy and I are going to Nearfest this year, in Bethlehem, PA. Adrian is playing in Sellersville, 40 minutes away, that Saturday night. We're going to blow off the headliner Hawkwind and see him again. Three shows, once every seven weeks, completely different bands and setlists. Can he keep this up all year?