I went to the phoenix show last night. Let me just say I am a huge TMBG fan, have been for 11 years or so. I've seen TMBG 4 times now, and loved every show. I heard Haggis was going to open, and being a pop/rock fan (among other things) in Arizona, I had heard good things about them, and even saw them once many years ago. BUT, I was in for one GREAT surprize when I saw that Haggis wouldn't be opening. Nothing against them, but I just loved Common Rotation.
Their music is right up my alley, I LOVE LOVE that folk/pop thing (check out Hector on Stilts if you are in the NE USA area, very similar I think their website is www.hectoronstilts.com). I had them play at my wedding, and when they were a young band in the Tucson area (I don't live in the phx area, I live in Tucson but drove up for the show) I would go to all of their shows. Common Rotation reminded me so much of them, it was really cool. I guess, they are a lot different, but I guess there is something very similar as well.
ANYWAY, I loved the witty banter, much of it completely spontaneous and a reaction to the crowd. It was so awesome. I was one of the lucky "fans first" people, so I was in the very front row and it was so cool to watch everything from so close and listen to the music without needing the speakers when the mics were quiet or far away from their mouths. It was awesome.
I spoke to I think Adam after the show and let him know how much I enjoyed the set. I told him that I've only been so impressed with an opening band once before and that was the Push Stars. I've found a lot of bands that I ended up buying their CD etc after seeing them open for another band I was there to see, but I think Common Rotation went above and beyond that. This is a duo that I can really really get excited about.
I nabbed the setlist off the stage, and they seemed to stick to it almost exactly, except the last song that was sort of thrown in there. Anyone know what that was? I was stupid and totally forgot to get the setlist signed. Maybe they'll come back to Arizona! They should play in Tucson next time though.
Oh, and the whole camera thing, thats just BS. The venue has never not allowed cameras. I didn't even sneak mine in, and I've taken pics at multiple concerts there. My camera was in my HAND when I came in, and I was in the front row near plenty of staff people and no one asked me to put mine away. I only brought one roll of film which I used on TMBG, so I'm bummed that I didn't think ahead to bring more film. Oh well. If there are other TMBG fans, maybe I'll put the TMBG photos on my webpage at least. I'll definately scan the setlist of CR though and put that on my webpage when I get a chance.
I'm paranoid about spam,so I won't put my email address here, but you can reply and I'll either email back privatly or post my webpage up (is that kosher?) when I get the CR setlist and TMBG photos up.
Stacy