VAST
Nude Tour
May 19, 2004
Davenport, IA
Quad City Live

Wow.  I was very impressed with VAST's performance.  There weren't very many people there, which was cool in a way because there was no one standing in my way or anything, but I really want VAST to be successful and so I was disappointed with the turnout.  I guess Davenport isn't exactly on the cutting edge of music.  Promotion wasn't all that great either, I suspect.  I hope the next time through, Jon and Co. are selling out venues.

Let me first start off with a review of the opening acts.  The first band was called "Still Picture" or something like that.  They couldn't have been older than 20, but they were decent.  They were all pretty talented musicians and had technical skills not usually seen in punk bands.  They only played a few songs, but they did a good job and I wouldn't mind seeing them again some time.  The second band wasn't as good.  They were also a young, punk band.  I think they were called "Waiting for Yesterday."  The lead guitar player was doing too much jumping around and not enough playing.  They had the volume turned up way too loud, so everything was heavily distorted.  I think they actually may have messed up some of the sound equipment becuase VAST had a little trouble with an annoying buzzing noise.  The singer was off-key for most of the performance.  To their credit, the lead singer/rhythm guitarist had some trouble with his guitar and ended up using a guitar from Still Picture.  They handled the problem well.  I was actually quite glad when the singer had to switch guitars, because he was using a Les Paul and it sounded really nasaly and whiny.  He switched to a Fender Stratocaster, which sounded better, though I may just be partial to Strats being a Strat owner, myself.  Both bands had a lot of energy on stage, which always helps things.

Now on to VAST....The band came out onstage to the music from the website, which was kind of cool.  I am a bit sick of hearing the same several chords over and over again from hanging out at the VAST site, but it was fine.  I don't remember the exact setlist very well, but they opened with Turquoise.  The song sounded much heavier live.  Jon's voice sounded very good.  I like it when the live singing is similar to the cd version and this was definitely the case with Jon.  He keeps things honest, so to speak.  I would just like to point out that when I saw New Kids on the Block when I was 8, that they sounded nothing like what was recorded and I was very disappointed...but I digress...It was quite the lengthy set and they even played "Punish Me," which, according to Patrick McGuire, will be on the new album.  It's hard to think about a new VAST album coming out when Nude is still relatively new and there are new downloads available like every other day.  It is exciting, though.  The band didn't really interact with the crowd much, but I suppose they were a little disappointed with the turnout.  Patrick sang on "Last One Alive" and "I'm Dying."  That man can sing and it was fun to hear a slightly different version with him on vocals.  After the show, the band stuck around for a while to talk to fans.  I got to meet all 4 guys and they signed my copy of Nude.  I got to talk to Michael, the bass player, quite a bit.  He seems like a really sweet guy and a very interesting person.  Before deciding to pursue a music career, he did website stuff and computer programming, which I thought was very cool.  I showed him my "I Woke Up LA" ringtone and he got a kick out of that.  The venue allowed camers, so I should have some live pictures to post eventually.  I am very glad I drove 6 hours to see this show.  Can't wait for Friday when they play Minneapolis.

Set List (not necessarily in this order)
Website intro
Turquoise
Here
Thrown Away
Be With Me
(order gets fuzzy here)
Punish Me
Touched
Pretty When You Cry
Free
I Don't Have Anything
Lost
I Need to Say Goodbye
Last One Alive
I'm Dying
Temptation
Desert Garden
Dirty Hole