We couldn’t find an icepick to jam in our ears, so we decided to go to a concert in McDonough. Despite the fact that sound quality in the gym is traditionally crappy, (see Wyclef Jean and A Tribe Called Quest), Ben Harper’s sound guys did a pretty good job. His light guy did a damn good job. Before the show, Light Guy pulled out three unopened packs of Parliaments and laid them neatly next to his instrument panel. By the end of the concert, all 60 cigarrettes had vanished. One must wonder how much longer Light Guy will live.
Oh yeah, Ben Harper also played some music. He started with some harder numbers and eased into the funky “Mama’s Got a Girlfriend Now,” off his first album Welcome to the Cruel World (our pick for his best album). But the highlight of the show was the accoustic set after the first encore. It began with “Waiting on an Angel” and finished with the sensitive “I Shall Not Walk Alone.” This set would have been perfect had it not been for the annoying drunken people talking and showing off their tube tops and Adidas visors (Where the hell did that trend come from?). And why is it that drunk people always feel as though they need to talk so loud?
Harper finished up the evening with a cover of Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing,” not to be confused with Georgetown’s own Father Heelan, who as far as we know, has not met Marvin Gaye. The crowd seemed to really get into this song, likely because more than a few of them were already having their own sexual healing right there in the gym. To the people standing in front of us: Get a room.
Despite and because of all this, the concert was fun. It began on time and delivered. If you’ve stayed away from GPB events because of past failures, you might give them another try because this one suggests a turn in the right direction.
