Alt-rockers Live still kicking
Group proves it still knows how to groove
By Dennis Fallon
It is always with apprehension that I go to see bands that are "past their prime." Will the band be stale, uninspired and dusting off old gems? Or will it have embraced a new sound or be shoving tracks from its new album down the throats of an audience that just wants to hear the classics?
Alternative-rockers Live, who performed Sunday for a small but lively crowd at the Bryce Jordan Center, have succumbed to both the above cliches but somehow managed to rise above the mantle of irrelevancy that is often the case with rock bands.
Known for their 15-year-old album "Throwing Copper," Live gave the crowd an equal dose of new material and the band's hits and made it all seem exciting and heartfelt.
Returning from a European tour for this one U.S. show in State College, Live seemed energetic, polished and excited to be performing for the young audience.
Lead singer Ed Kowalczyk sounded better than expected, his trademark whine in perfect pitch.
The band opened the show relying on songs from its extremely popular "Copper" album, giving the audience a burst of grunge-rock energy. Of course, the group's members then unveiled their real reason for the show: promoting songs from their new album, "Songs from Black Mountain." Sounding almost identical in style and subject, the new material left the audience members twiddling their thumbs while waiting for some mid-'90s classics.
Highlights included a haunting and beautiful cover of Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line." It was a strange departure for the rockers, but their interpretation was one of the night's only surprises.
The audience was kept waiting for more than 50 minutes between opener Ari Hest and Live's performance. The wait was worth it, though.
By some miracle of the rock gods, the members of Live -- who haven't put out an artistically relevant album in more than a decade -- were in a rock groove; they sounded, looked and performed great, dishing out song after song of harmonious and hard-hitting modern rock.
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