Dave Hopkins posted on February 28, 2011 13:49
After years of separations, Blinded Black joined back up for a reunion at Pop’s. Blinded Black enlisted the help of some of their Metro St. Louis friends, Last Night's Vice, Wild Tiger, Breakdances With Wolves and Clayton Jones to join in on their celebration.
The night started off with the Clayton Jones Band. Unfortunately for Clayton, the band kicked out their electric guitar player, for good, prior to the concert. As the lone cheese, Clayton and his acoustic guitar held their own. To my chagrin I didn’t get any song name from Clayton’s set. He did perform a song which seemed to be about internet pimping. The song almost sounded autobiographical. Mr. Jones, are you an internet pimp? Just kidding. He also covered, Marc Cohn’s biggest hit, “Walking in Memphis.”
Next reunion participant was a group that called themselves Gateway Getaway, which rhymes. Gateway Giveaway enjoyed their time on stage, interacting and having fun with the crowd. Songs like “Crazy, Crazy and Three Cheers for Facing Fears,” gave the kids something to rock to. GG also performed a very very new song. Matter of fact they wrote the song the previous evening. That’s gangsta right there. I’m not even sure they had time to practice the song, but GG performed it well. By-the-way, the song is still untitled, though one of the guitar players wanted it to be named “Grenade Whistle.”
Next up to the stage was Breakdances with Wolves, such an awesome band name. Though there wasn’t any breakdancing on stage, what a letdown, BWW still entertained the masses. They played their awesome song, “Calm Before the Storm.” The song had a nice break down. I also will have to say that they ended their set an upbeat rock fashion.
Wild Tiger, yes this was the same group from the Story of the Year concert, graced the stage next. This group is very interesting because they hold tight to the past. Wild Tiger gives you that 70’s classic rock feel. To solidify my point, WT even covered Metallica’s song “Fuel.” Of course they played “Alligator Sex,” the song's name still boggles the mind. We, the crowd, even had a chance to hear their new joint called “Home.”
Last Night Vice was next up to bat on the big stage. These cats popped out on stage wearing mostly white and the lead singer wore black. LNV has an interesting fresh energy about them. All of the songs, performed, came from their “Perfect Little Noise” album. So if you liked what you heard, go check out the album. What made their set very different was that, LNV decided to film the “Perfect Little Noise” video on the spot. So hopefully I get my video debut...LNV knows how to keep the crowd moving and jumping.
And let the reunion begin.
Maybe you heard Blinded Black for the first on the “Warped Tour 2007 Tour Compilation” album. Maybe you’ve seen them play around town. This was my first time seeing BB, I wasn’t let down at all. Chuck Kraus, the cop, whose instrument of choice is the synthesizer, leaped all over the stage. Their music has a teenage-angst feel to it. Screaming drums, guitars and a synthesizer brings this group full circle. Check out songs like “Razorblades and Hand grenades,” to get a good feel of what Blinded Black is capable of. You can check out th video below to listen to BB's song "Set in Stone."
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