I love hard rock music.  The angrier the better.  Bands like Godsmack, Chevelle, Systematic, Alice in Chains, Rise Against, etc.  The Wife does not enjoy her music with an extra helping of anger.  She likes her music (like her movies) happy.  She has been a long-term fan of a band called Guster, and even though I very rarely ever listen to music that's not rock music, you can't help but like Guster.  They're happy.  They're catchy.  They also happen to be one of the best live acts I've seen which would probably surprise a lot of people who know me. South Florida rarely gets decent bands visiting.  I believe the reasons are mostly geographical as bands swing down the Eastern seaboard, play a show at Orlando, then have a choice to head towards Gainesville or Tallahassee, or travel down to Miami/Fort Lauderdale.  After their South Florida show, it's five hours to Gainesville, seven to Tallahassee, or more to other destinations.  This means they'll have to take the next night off for travel which is usually not a good deal for most bands.  We also lack a good mid-size venue in South Florida for rock shows, with the only reasonable option being Revolution in Fort Lauderdale, but they haven't done a very good job each time I've seen a show there. House of Blues in Orlando does a fantastic job, however.  Both that location and their Chicago venue have phenomenal sound quality which leads me to think this is a chain-wide priority and if so, it's a smart way to ensure that both fans AND bands enjoy coming.  The production quality at both locations is superb and I've seen this happen several times watching the same band on back-to-back nights with one of them being at a House of Blues. Anyway, seeing Guster perform at the House of Blues was an incredible treat.  Each member switches instruments almost every song, rotating through lead guitar, keyboards, bass guitar, mandolin, and rhythm guitar.  A trumpet makes a guest appearance, along with a harmonica.  Their singer and the backing vocals are never off pitch.  They don't talk very much at all and when they do pause between their songs to say something, it's always extremely funny.  Did I mention their drummer plays a lot of their songs with just his hands?  They typically make up a song just for the town they're in that's clearly ad-libbed and hilarious, and they usually finish with an acoustic only encore that's performed with no amplification at all - fans sush everyone until you can hear a pin drop and then the band sings and plays with no mics, no amps, nothing. Their songs are incredibly catchy, their live performance is unbelievably spot-on, and they've played for over two hours each time I've seen them.  It's not my style of music but Guster is certainly on my Top 5 Performing Bands list.  If you can catch them at a House of Blues, even better.

Last night The Wife and I went to see Johnny Lang perform in Fort Lauderdale for the second time.  Lang is an amazing performer and I really enjoyed it, just like the first time.  Unlike the first time we saw him (same venue, a year earlier), he had an opening act: Alex Band from the Calling. I have never seen a more arrogant performer in my life.  This includes performances by Creed, Slayer, Trapt, Godsmack, and pretty much a whole host of hard rock/heavy metal/etc. with stratospheric egos.  The bands I just listed were my previous top 4, but Band is now spots 1-5 on the arrogant chart.

• Before every song that was remotely popular, he would list the awards, Billboard charting, and any other radio charting statistics that the song had garnered.
• He repeatedly threw how his age when describing when he wrote the songs: "I wrote this when I was 15".
• He spent significant time whining about his label and how they screwed him on his record deal and how everyone else screwed him by stealing music (downloading).
• He then played a cover song which I'm sure he paid no royalties for (stealing, in his terms).
• He went on and on about a bracelet music purchase system he's invented, where you could buy it, how much more convenient and better it was than downloading the songs or buying the single, then confessed you have to take a code from a the bracelet, enter it on his website, and uhhh, download the song!

I just sat there cringing and wishing he would get off the stage.  He also had this horrible opera-like deep vocal tendency and the entire thing was a shame because he was obviously talented and had a good voice. Johnny Lang got out on stage later, an infinitely more talented and creative musician and mentioned "Give it up for Alex Band" to anemic applause.  Then reminded everyone "Hope you enjoyed all those number 1 hits.  We have no number one hits.  But we have people who love us." Words to live by.