Joe Mac Attack in Indy
By: Abby Alterio
I accidentally heard about this show Friday morning, June 7, by tuning into
the news as they were mentioning weekend concerts! It was totally by chance
that I heard about it which is amazing since I have really been into Joe's
music over the past few years (especially "Meet Joe Mac"). I am
of course a
first generation NKOTB fan and saw them 2 times (once in 1990 here in Indy
with a friend and her mom and then during their "Face The Music"
tour at my
high school) but had never seen any of them by themselves since NKOTB ended.
Unfortunately, my husband (who's name is also Joe) couldn't attend the
concert (and yes, he will definitely listen to the music with me but he
had
other obligations) so, not wanting to go by myself, I asked the only other
person I could think of that would understand the importance of going…my
dad.
He agreed without any questions saying "I wouldn't do this for just
anybody,
you know." That was really cool in itself since he nor my mom would
ever take
me to an NKOTB concert when I was growing up. So, I teased him that I finally
got him to go.
The concert was held on June 9, 2002 at a club called, Birdy's in
Indianapolis. The club, as is the case with most if not all of Joe's current
dates, was 21 and over with a very intimate atmosphere. The main floor was
one room with the bar along the wall and the stage set up with 2 stools
and a
table at the other end of the room. The space between the bar and stage
was
an open area with standing room only since there were few stools to
distribute amongst the crowd. The doors were supposed to open at 7:30 p.m.
but we got there just after 7:00 and people were already 4 rows deep in
front
of the stage. There was no bad place in the entire club. Luckily, my dad
saw
some stairs along the same wall as the stage to the left and he scoped out
2
chairs along a balcony up there, waving me up. It was cool because we
virtually had the whole upstairs to ourselves with our own bar and server
to
tend to us. Most people (who were my age and female) were staying on the
ground floor. It was extremely easy to maneuver back and forth between
upstairs and the main floor when I wanted to though. With no rowdy fans
or
pushing oddly enough.
Joe was 45 minutes late so the show started about 9:15 p.m. It wouldn't
have been so tough if it had been a Friday or Saturday night but many people
there I'm sure had to get up and work the next day. I'm guessing there were
about 200 people or so - definitely not an overwhelming crowd but just right
for the size of the club. A total change from what I remembered in row W
W
(were there any seats further away than mine?) during my first NKOTB concert.
He came out in a black and red Puma shirt and his signature black leather
pants. A fan made a sign that said, "You're late" which he held
up. He didn't
explain why he was late but he went right into song. It was interesting
to
see Joe there with one lone guitarist - his friend, Eman, who until that
night I didn't know much about musically. I'm used to seeing Joe doing dance
moves to music filled with all kinds of instruments and beats so it was
a
very refreshing change to see him this way - raw and uncensored, left to
his
own true musicality. The whole show was an acoustic set. Joe would also
pick
up a guitar every now and then, even playing harmonica on "I Don't
Know Why I
Love You". I know in NY on the LIVE CD he played keyboard but they
didn't
have one set up here. I really wanted to see him play but that's okay. Joe
mentioned right away that he was in a bad mood that night and apologized
ahead of time. He did jest with a few fans rather bluntly at times but they
all laughed and applauded so I'm sure they understood he was just goofing
around. For instance, one fan in the front held up a picture of him to which
he replied in a voice like you would use when speaking to a child, "Yes,
that's a picture of me. Very good - I've seen a few of them. Oh, you want
me
to sign it?" I have only seen this 1 solo show so I'm not totally familiar
with Joe's onstage demeanor with the fans but overall I felt that event
when
he blurted something harsh out it was done in a joking manner and everyone
took it as such.
The most striking part of the evening to me was the strength and power of
his voice. I must admit - it has become richer and fuller since I last saw
him LIVE. I figured that with any LIVE performance especially one done in
such a raw, unplugged manner, there would come a point where he would falter
but he never did. The only noticeable mistake was his voice cracking on
the
high "You" part in "I Don't Know Why I Love You" to
which he laughed and
pounded on his chest looking like he couldn't believe what his voice was
doing. The audience just applauded very loudly, understanding that was tough
to hit every time and not caring in the least. Plus, he got it the next
time
around in the song. Some of the songs done were "Cover Girl" -
a very
interesting slow and mellow version done with an added verse Joe probably
wrote which includes the titles of several NKOTB songs and starts out as
"I
woke up this morning and I was 15 again…." which
brought tears to my eyes
when I listened to the LIVE CD this morning because it brought the nostalgia
back for me and his voice is so hauntingly soft and sweet at that point.
"NYC
Girls" was a great rendition, done well with Eman on guitar. It was
neat
because at the end they changed the lyrics to "Indy Girls" which
was a wise
move considering where they were. J He also did "If I Run Into You"
and
"Rain". "I Love You Came Too Late" included audience
participation singing
the "I love you" part. "Time After Time", "One
Night" which lead into "Wild
Night" and an Eman song which I can't recall at the moment which is
on the
LIVE CD (lovely harmonizing too). Surprisingly, Joe did "Please Don't
Go
Girl" which is not on the LIVE CD so I felt very privileged to get
to hear
him sing it as he put it "about 8 octaves lower than normal".
I know he did
several covers through the night like the Stevie Nicks song, one from U2
and
"Dead or Alive" because Eman started playing it and Joe mentioned
how Eman
will start playing songs he can't sing which upsets the crowd because they
want to hear it if Eman starts playing it. The crowd starting singing along
with Eman's playing and finally at the end Joe sang a verse. One nice point
during the evening was Eman singing a medley while Joe danced. It started
with "Jailhouse Rock" with Joe doing an Elvis bit and led into
"Jesse's Girl"
with lyrics changed to "Joey's Girls". I can't remember if there
was another
song thrown into that medley or not. Joe and Eman complimented each other
nicely. When Eman was performing Joe graciously and proudly took a back
seat,
out of his spotlight. I could tell that their friendship blends nicely with
their professionalism and respect towards each other as artists.
During "We Don't Wanna Come Down", Joe told a "true"
story about Lance
Bass on the space flight. He mentioned being invited to fly with Lance and
N'Sync on the space shuttle and imitated each of the members of the group.
He
interwove a story about flying with them, Pink and Aaron Carter (who he
claimed said he owed his career to Joe) with the lyrics of the song which
is
of course about someone flying in a space ship above the earth and looking
down at all of the bad stuff on the earth. It was strange but amusing. He
made the song last about 2-3 times longer that way. At one point he did
Sinatra's "All The Way" which was neat since I know he's a big
fan and I
remember seeing him with NKOTB on "Oprah" all those years ago
singing a few
lines of "Strangers In The Night". He ended with "Stay The
Same" which was
absolutely lovely (I remember hearing the song for the first time when he
was
on "Rosie O'Donnell Show"). After about 2 hours of a concert his
voice was
still just as beautiful and fresh as if he had just gotten there. I must
admit, I was most star struck by him when I walked downstairs for a closer
look because I could see his blue eyes and so many memories came back. From
up on my perch in the balcony I could see Joe but I could tell it was really
him when I was that close and saw those eyes. So many memories came back.
It
was funny because I looked around at the other girls my age standing there
and if someone could have stars in her eyes, we would've been in space that
night with the amount of stars in that room. I'm sure I would've been
swooning more had I not been married but I've grown up a lot since the NKOTB
days and it's easy for me to separate my real life from that fantasy. I've
come a long way since screaming through the entire concert and fainting
at
the end. I must stress that if you have not seen one of his shows at a 21
and
over club, the language can be a bit hard at times but I figured it was
because of the type of place he was performing at and if he had been at
a
regular venue it would've been more family friendly. At least is wasn't
up to
"The Osbournes" level at any rate!
They were selling tour T-shirts with Joe's picture for $25 and Eman's CD.
I bought the LIVE CD for $15.00 which is an excellent example of the shows
he's doing, however, he chatted a lot more during songs last night than
at
the NY concert on the CD. Several people in front of me purchased more than
1
copy for friends who couldn't make the show. From what I can tell after
reading other reviews from shows, he did almost everything he has done at
shows recently. The only noticeable original song missing was "Easier"
(I
love that one) but since it's on the LIVE CD I can listen to it there.
I was disappointed he didn't stay to sign stuff but it was around 11:15
p.m. on a Sunday night when he finished and I knew my dad and I had to get
up
early to go to work Monday morning. If anyone got some good pictures of
Joe
and Eman, please let me know! I didn't have a zoom lens so I know mine aren't
going to be that great. Again, I just wanted to say how strong and powerful
his voice was and that he and Eman even impressed my dad. Thanks so much
for
coming to Indy, Joe! |
