CRACKER

IRVING PLAZA, 8/26/98

NEW YORK, NY

Cracker, the rock group who hit it big in 1993 with their single "Low", have a new album out entitled 'Gentleman's Blues'. In support of it, they played a surprisingly amazing show at Irving Plaza in NYC on Aug. 26. The show started up w/ a fueled version of '7 days' w/ a little help from the singer of 'Lionfish' a folk type band that opened up for them. What followed was a surprisingly eclectic assortment of styles, with everything from organ-fueled waltzes (I Want Out Of The Circus), to Bluegrass (Lonesome Johnny Blues), to good ol' Rock n' Roll (Been Around The World). But the real highlights were the two songs that made the crowd sound like a really bad karaoke bar: "Eurotrash Girl" (A hidden track from 'Kerosene Hat'), And "Low", the latter which really made this concert really special. This band certainly does not deserve to be called a one-hit wonder. Judging by this performance, and by their new album, this band deserves another chance to make to make it on the radio and especially MTV.

-Patrick Singerman

I admit, I went with a somewhat negative attitude, certain that I was going to see a mediocre show, of course David Lowery, lead singer of Cracker, had no trouble proving me wrong.

The opening acts, in my opinion, were not very good. Each one played about 6 songs which, to me, all sounded the same. Apparently some people would beg to differ, there were a handful of people at the show that were obviously there for the opening act. Garrison Star, the second act, continued until about 10:15.

At 10:30, Cracker was welcomed to the stage by a recently filled Irving Plaza. They began by cycling through highlights of their recent release, "Gentleman's Blues," beginning with "Seven Days," and periodically took us back in time with songs from "Kerosene Hat." Later in the performance, they began to experiment with their songs, often by adding long guitar solos.

There was an obvious surge of excitement flowing through the crowd, which was impressive considering Cracker has been so quiet for these past few years.

"Gentleman's Blues," which is now available at all major record retailers, has some promising songs on it that were played quite well, such as "The Good Life" and "Seven Days." From what I saw, with the right amount of publicity, Cracker could become famous again.

-Chris Kelly