Havin’ A Bad Time: Girl Talk Opens For Panic
In a pairing reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix opening up for The Monkees, Girl Talk attempted to open up for Widespread Panic in Boston on Wednesday. Girl Talk’s Greg Gillis didn’t even make it through his 45-minute set opening for Panic before having the plug pulled. Gillis vented about the experience on his MySpace blog:
On Wednesday, I had a show in Boston opening up for Widespread Panic. I had never heard this band before, but I knew they were in genre of “jam band.” I don’t know anything about the jam scene really, which is part of the reason why I wanted to do the show. I knew it was going to be weird, which I guess was also part of the allure of doing it. My shows from 2000 to 2005 were oftentimes like this, playing with an unrelated band whose audience could a damn about me and I get it up there and try to have a party.
A few people emailed me prior to the show, wanting to attend but not wanting to pay the ticket price for an abbreviated set. I arranged for some of these people and some friends to join me on stage during the performance. When I arrived at the show, the organizers were completely against having dancers on stage with me, even though there was a ton of space. We agreed to have them jam out in the space between the stage and the audience the barricade.
They wanted me to do two sets, one opening the show and one in between Widespread Panic sets. I always play one extended set so I wasn’t too into this idea, but they said it was the only way I could perform. I agreed to do it. My first set was scheduled to be from 6:30 PM to 7:15 PM. My back-up dancers were pre-gaming pretty hard in the backstage trailer prior to the show, starting at 6:00 PM. The venue could probably fit 5000 people, and when I took the stage, there were about 50 in attendance. I was into the show, on a “this is ridiculous but kind of amazing” level. One of the girls who initially contacted me through Myspace ended up passing out drunk in front of the stage at 7:00 PM. Security tried to help, and she ended up pissing herself. Then, her friend was trying to explain what happened and barfed all over the place. 7:00 PM, so insane! Security then kicked all of my friends out. My set was cut short, and then, they told me that I wasn’t allowed to perform another set.
I wanted to apologize to anyone who was ready to jam out to another set. Thanks for anyone who came out to the show; that was hardcore to pay that over-priced ticket and party at 6:30 PM. I’ll be back in Boston for a real show in September.
Even Spreadheads have to be impressed by the girl who passed out in front of the stage during the opener. That kind of behavior is usually reserved for Drums.
It appears Widespread had a tough time at the box office this weekend. The Bank of America Pavilion in Boston and Bethel Woods on the site of the original Woodstock were both virtually empty, and extras for Radio City could be found for $10. Perhaps Gillis has a fair point about overpriced tickets.
WSP’s music wasn’t suffering, though, as I witnessed four heavy sets on Saturday and Sunday. The energy in Radio City seemed to build with each set before the band climaxed with a Chilly Water sandwich that had a blistering Maggot Brain and Imitation Leather Shoes stuffing. Widespread’s tour continues tonight in Wallingford, CT where Sunny Ortiz will rejoin the band after having attended funeral services for his father. Break out those tallboys, folks.
This is genius. Seriously though where does WSP get off charging $60 /ticket in New York?
It is my belief that Widespead believes (erroneously) that they now own the Jam scene. The $60 tickets only strengthen that belief. I’ve seen em a couple times, including twice down at Bonnaroo and usually come away thinking that they’re definitely in the running, but probably not gonna win.
Wait, he recruits girls from myspace to serve as dancers, they pre-party too much and get wasted (in 30 minutes!), end up passing out, pissing themselves and vomiting in the security-barrier area, and get kicked out by 7pm. Not the best way to get more opening-act gigs.
That sucks.
I was hoping for a west coast Widespread Girl tour.
perhaps he would have more success opening for bisco. Oops did I say that out loud?
Your claim that Boston was virtually empty is misleading. Maybe it was “virtually” empty, but in reality is was actually quite full. Not a sell out, but on a Wednesday night in Boston I would’nt expect much. That said, tickets are overpriced, but how much of that is panic and how much of that is clearchannel?
The Girl Talk opener was completely mishandled, there was just no reason for it to start so early. How can anyone get to a show at 630 on a weekday?
[...] - Hidden Track has a funny recap at the Widespread Panic and Girl Talk show this past Wednesday in Boston. When they announced the show, I def. scratched my and now doubt it seems to the few in attendance. Spread the Word: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
Liffy - You don’t think Widespread Panic has control over ticket prices at their concerts?
Last night Panic (reportedly) only sold 1,500 tickets out of 5,000 seats at the Chevrolet Theater. :(
DJ Logic played in between sets at the Red Rocks Panic shows and the crowd loved it. We danced the entire time. I wouldn’t usually go to a DJ Logic show, but had a great time and was very happy he was there to entertain us!
Why is Widespread allowing 8th tier DJs to open for them? When I goto see Panic the last thing I’m lookin for is to get blasted with low end samplings from miscelleneous one hit wonders etc while a DJ makes scratchy scratchy noise. I was puzzled at three nights of DJ Logic at Red Rocks playing a set during the intermission. WHAT HAPPENNED TO INTERMISSION? the fans in Boston caught a break (a real one) when Girlie Talk got 86′d.
Note to people who aspire to be in the music business: when your idea to place your MySpace dancers on the headliner’s stage is denied, don’t feed them gallons of Pure Grain Alcohol and then make them dance and mosh in the photographer’s pit. You had to know how that was going to end. right?
[...] on HT: Havin’ A Bad Time: Girl Talk Opens For Panic and Hot Carl Sees The Music Widespread 09/27/07 Paramount Theatre, Oakland, CA 1: Going Out West, [...]
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