Greetings from Asbury Park

For the second time in just a couple of months, I got to check out Fountains of Wayne in concert -- this time at the legendary Stone Pony in Asbury Park. Unfortunately, Bruce did not show up, but I did see a handful of acts beforehand, as this was part of a daylong festival -- including Mike Doughty, April Smith and Drive-By Truckers. It was definitely a nice bonus to get to see DBT beforehand.

However, with a short turnaround on a small stage between DBT and FOW, there were plenty of sound problems during the Fountains of Wayne set. (Most of the time, acts alternated between the indoor and outdoor stages, giving some time for a sound check.) Bad feedback on a couple of the guitars, the lead singer's microphone deathly quiet on the first song, etc. Getting a spot about four feet in front of the stage made that much more obvious.

Otherwise, the set was nearly identical to the one at Webster Hall, except that they did "Red Dragon Tattoo" during an encore. Also, Smith came on stage to do some guest percussion work on "Hey Julie." (Actually, she crept in right in front of me during a song to get into position later, and I originally mistook her for one of the teenager-types milling in front of the stage before realizing who she was.) The band did as well as they could in spite of the errors, but obviously it wasn't as crisp as it could've been.

Another regret was not bringing my camera into the club (I'd been to too many shows lately where the no-camera things was strictly enforced.) to show exactly how simple the club was and how close I was to the stage for the final show.

Since the journey to the show involved a trip down the shore, I had to make sure to stop by Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash along the way in Red Bank to pick up a couple of trinkets. Actually, Red Bank is a very nice town, but for pop culture tourists like me, as well as a couple of girls I met who were on a concert road trip (the Police, John Mayer/Ben Folds were the other shows on the docket), the Stash is the main thing to see. That sorta irked another person I met who actually was from the town.

But at least I didn't ask the clerk there for directions to the Quick Stop, as a couple of people in the store were doing when I was there. That's another geek trip for another day.