Getting A Vibe

Chevelle- The Hippodrome in Springfield, Massachusetts on Sunday, March 16, 2008
The energy was already pulsing and the lights hadn’t even dimmed. A low roar of excitement and chatter shuddered through the crowd, the balcony and floor united in a cacophony of drunken laughter and fan girl giggles. Down in the pit, personal space was still being honored. Nervous feet shuffled back and forth to reposition weight and to get amped for the oncoming show. The sickly scent of alcohol already filtered the air with a slight tinge of vomit and long since extinguished cigarettes. This show was different. The lighting gave off a soft yellow glow, reflecting off the dark wood of the stage giving the room a red tint. The stage was the generic box shape with a floor, bar at the back, and balcony looming overhead. Everyone chattered about their favorite Chevelle song or member or their anticipation for the show to finally get started. Almost everyone around me was donning some form of Chevelle propaganda or another. Hats. Shirts. I even brought myself to wonder about the underwear. This show… was different.

It had almost been a year ago last time I had seen Chevelle. They were an opening act for the multi-platinum hit Evanescence (performers of radio friendly singles such as “Call Me When You’re Sober” and “Bring Me to Life”). Finger Eleven, just as this time, was also on the bill, but the mass of the crowd was there to feast their eyes upon the ever popular Amy Lee (Evanescence’s lead). Throughout most of the show, the crowd seemed mainly non-reactive. It was only when Evanescence had made their way to the stage that the crowd found the show cheering worthy. A bands performance is somewhat lackluster without the audience to sing along. So, for the most part, people were awfully quiet during Chevelle’s set, only jumping every now and again during songs such as “The Red” and “Send the Pain Below”. But the show nearly a year later in Springfield, Massachusetts was definitely something else.

The one thing that ruins a show is reserved seating and a boring crowd. Standing for three hours or more with mosh pits throwing bodies all around you may not seem ideal, but its well worth the aching legs and occasional injuries that follow. Big stadiums and venues keep everyone sectioned off from each other and with everyone sitting, excitement is lacking. When a band has to constantly tell people to stand up, the show can get pretty monotonous. Although, at the Hippodrome (Springfield club at which we attended the show) there was a choice between both standing and sitting. And because all of the seats were on the balcony, if you chose to sit, you had to sit due to venue policies. The club owners can’t deal with the liability issues that come along with rough crowds standing at high altitudes. Several times during the show, I had to let myself laugh at the irony as Pete Loeffler (lead singer and guitarist of Chevelle) unknowingly and repeatedly telling the crowd to “stand up and sing along”.

This time around, Chevelle was the main act, paired up with chart climbing, Canadian alt-rock group Finger Eleven (“Paralyzer”, “Good Times”, “One Thing”) and hard rock group God or Julie (“Nothing Further From the Truth”). God or Julie was up first and despite their inaudible words, brain shaking (in a bad way) beats and riffs, excessively tight pants, and set artwork displaying creepy little creatures you’d only see in a child’s nightmares, they rocked the house. The crowd was unenthusiastic, but I had to give credit to God or Julie for getting up their and putting on the show.

Second round brought Finger Eleven to the table. After seeing them once before, I was excited to see them again. Their humor and over all ecstatic performance gets you ready for the third and final lap. I must admit, for weeks before the show, I worried about how this act would pull through after news of Scott Anderson (Finger Eleven’s lead singer) falling ill with mono, causing the cancelation of the first 11 shows. But Anderson proved any doubts I had wrong by making it through the set with mostly in tune vocals and the epic final song of “Paralyzer” which included a medley of “Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand, “Trampled Under Foot” by Led Zeppelin, and “Another Brick In The Wall” by Pink Floyd.

At this point in time the audience was buzzing with energy and colorful lights. People were beginning to close in the gaps between personal space and claustrophobia with jittery, sharp movements. We were close up front (maybe two or three people in front of us give or take) and the cold front was finally hitting. People were twitching with the music in them and staring intently at the stage. More than once I caught onto the end of conversations between girls getting excited to see Chevelle “flaunt their stuff” in front of the crowd. I didn’t ask any questions.

As the room darkened, everything but the stage came to a complete halt. People gave a booming opening cheer and quickly fell silent. Ominous yet magical music was floating through the club from the giant on-stage speakers. A backdrop of a luminous purple light covered the crowd. For five minutes the music chimed with the occasional sound of Pete striking a chord, all the sounds sifting into the crowd. The mass of people was teetering on chaos, waiting for the moment they came out. I had expected a sudden outburst of rhythms and riffs from the band, but was surprised when they casually walked onto stage. Our world was teeming on claustrophobia. Fans were crowding in and pressing in everywhere. Then, the world exploded with color and noise when the first beats of the drum caved in on us. They opened with “Antisaint” and evidence of a close cult following surfaced as the crowd sang each and every word. It wasn’t until they played their third song in the set, “Vitamin R (Leading Us Along)”, that the crowd finally took the plunge into complete and utter mayhem. All hell had broken loose. Crowd surfers toppled over the sea of people and mosh pits surged across the floor. Things were finally starting up. Personal space was a thing of the past and the crowd was vibrating with overjoyed panic. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crowd so in tune with each other, with the music. Pink, red, blue, colorful lights flitted and shaded the room, the bass and speakers shook the floor and bodies standing on it. This show… was vibrant, lively, and incredibly out of line and I loved every bit of it.

The set list on this go around included the never before played on-stage song “An Evening With El Diablo” and new set list addition “Prove To You” (from debut Steve Albini produced 1999 album Point #1). Years back, Chevelle had said they would never again play material from Point #1, but on the previous tour the song SMA made an appearance on the set list. And played at every show since its release in 2004, “Another Know It All” came to be the final frontier. The crowd went wild, echoing the lyrics with voice and movement. It all ended almost as quickly as it had started. The microphone stand was triumphantly pushed over by Pete and the guitar put to the ground with a final kick. Drum sticks and guitar picks were raining from the stage. The screaming was thunderous and invigorating. People wanted more.

This Chicagoan rock trio (Sam Loeffler-drums, Peter Loeffler-vocals/guitar, and brother in-law Dean Bernardini-bass) do an exceptionally good job for a group with a multi-tasking lead singer. No pre-recorded audio is used and no extra musicians are thrown into the mix. All of it is purely Chevelle and their talents. At times, Pete’s voice gets shaky and out of tune, but his screaming stays straight and his overall attentiveness does not fail to impress. It is obvious throughout the whole show that these boys purely enjoyed performing for their fans, the smiles on their faces giving away something maybe even more; a love for the music possibly. And at the end, when the show had ended and the floor had stopped shaking, the band held up their drinks with a final “cheers”. They are left with experience and another successful night. We are left with an eternal memory of something most of us had been waiting and wishing for, the concert of our lives. The band not only delivered with personality and enthusiasm, but produced a tune that brought with it the ability to attract our love and devotion. Leaving the warmth of the club and into the late night spring chill we all knew that one thing was true: It wouldn’t be our last encounter with a stellar show like this.


Rating: 4/5

*Set list: Antisaint/Brainiac/Vitamin R/Closure/Prove To You /The Red/Comfortable Liar/Straight Jacket Fashion/Forfeit/Get Some/The Fad/The Clincher/Well Enough Alone/I Get It/An Evening with El Diablo/Send the Pain Below/Another Know It All*