Bush!

 Damn I still love "grunge". The style of hard rocking music from the 90's that put the hair metal bands out of business and thank gawd for that. Bush appeared at the new venue in Omaha called the Steelhouse last night and they still have it going on.

Opening act was something called Bad Wolves, a generic screeching metal band that was fine if you're into that cookie monster growling style of rock. I am not thus it was me looking at their setlist hoping for the end. 

And now a pet peeve of mine. Lead singers who call the crowd "motherfuckers" constantly. I know its schtick and its part of the identity, but I really don't like being called that from a stage because the crowd isn't making enough noise for the singer's taste. I first heard a lead singer calling us that during a Rob Zombie concert and it made me hate the guy forever. The lead singer of Bad Wolves even apologized for his constant motherfucker talk but then he kept going. LOL..I'm "offended" by stupid shit, indeed, and what does he care what a geriatric grunge fan thinks, but hey dude there was only one "motherfucker" in that venue, and it wasn't the crowd.

Bush took the stage and launched right into Everything's Zen sending the crowd into an immediate frenzy, Machine Head was the 2nd song and quite frankly they had gotten the songs I definitely wanted to hear out there immediately and for that I was happy. Newer songs then began to dominate the show as they were obviously saving the Sixteen Stone songs for the end. Their new stuff was good, much like the 90's grungy stuff but they lost the crowd as most people were not familiar with it. Lots of us olds were leaving early. It picked back up and the crowd came back. 

Gavin Rossdale is 58 years old, looks like he's in his 30's, and still has it going on. In fact, after he told the audience "Omaha you look great" a guy in his 50's next to me exclaimed "you look great too, Gavin, you son of a bitch". Classic old guy envy. Rossdales's voice is deeper, growlier,  and seasoned to the point he sounds better than ever. His stage demeanor is very English and very subdued. It was a great show.

I first saw Bush in 1995 with Toadies (how's that for grunge) at the old Omaha Music Hall, an old dump with horrid sound mercifully torn down in the 2000's. The new venue, the Steelhouse in downtown is rather new (opened in July of 2023) and it is wonderful. The sound is crisp, you can understand the performers, the "motherfuckers" were crisp and clear and the lyrics of the songs were understandable. It's the best arena for rock I've been to maybe anywhere. I plan to return.

My Fair Lady and Bush all in two days. Yes, I am very diverse.