August 17, 2001
Sugar Ray at the Movies
Sugar Ray at the Movies
It sounds odd, yes, but there was indeed a Sugar Ray concert
at Point Cinemas last Wednesday, August 15. To explain: Cinema Presents, a large movie
theater company in California, used satellite technology to show a live Sugar Ray concert
in 43 theaters across the country. This event was an experiment to see how much interest
people have in seeing live events on a movie screen. In addition to concerts, they also
plan to show sporting events and Broadway shows. In my opinion, it is a good idea, but
NOT for concerts. Going to a concert is, for me anyway, something that is to be
experienced, not just seen. To feel the music, and see the band in person is why people
enjoy going to concerts. It was with that take on the idea in mind that I went to this
event. All in all, I found it to be OK, but not worth the price of admission. So now
I will tell you about it. Here goes.
It was an interesting night, from the moment we (me and Chris Walker) stepped through
the doors. While buying the tickets, we were approached by a nice woman from Channel 27
News about being interviewed. Naturally, we consented. So we ended up on the 10:00 News.
Cool, eh? Anyway, the show started at 7:00 P.M. After a 6-minute intro, two really ditzy
women came on screen and introduced themselves as the hostesses of the show. After making
some really stupid jokes, one of them took the camera backstage for an exclusive interview
with Sugar Ray. This interview was a source of two absolutely hilarious moments. 1)
After asking Stan (the drummer) three or four shallow, MTV-ish questions about his dogs,
he said, "You know, the music is important, too." She replied, "Of course it is, now
about your dogs..." The other absolutely hilarious moment was when she asked Rodney (the
guitarist) how long he'd been playing bass for Sugar Ray. It was obvious that she knew
nothing about the band, and probably nothing in general.
After the interview, we were treated to a commercial for a
product that we don't even have at our movie theaters here, starring Brian Litrell (of
the Backstreet Boys). We would eventually be treated to this commercial 5 or 6 more
times. We also got to watch the videos "Hey Pretty" by Poe, some stupid video by Craig
David (who the dumb hostess called David Craig), and an animated version of "When It's
Over" by Sugar Ray.
Finally, at 7:30, Uncle Kracker started. And I must say, his
songs are actually pretty cool. I am somewhat tempted to buy his CD (or have it burned
for me). Anyway, he played for about 40 minutes, and the highlight of his set was when
the band started to play "Paradise City."
So, by this time it was about 8:15, and I was finally starting
to enjoy the show. Then the stupid hostess came back. This time, she was interviewing
fans. Fans! Who cares?!? Plus, we got to see the same videos that we saw before. I
probably left to refill my water about 5 times.
But then, at about 8:40, Sugar Ray started. They were pretty
good, but they would've been better if they'd played more songs from their first two CDs.
But their concert was not without its hilarious aspects. First, Mark McGrath (the singer)
told a story before "When It's Over" that explained his odd behavior. Apparantly, his
girlfriend called him during Uncle Kracker's show and broke up with him. As a result, he
was REALLY drunk. And he kept drinking during their set, therefore getting funnier and
funnier. The second really funny part was when he climbed up to the balcony seats during
"Fly" and spent at least 15 minutes hugging ugly fat chicks and giving hot chicks (all 2
of them) backstage passes. Finally, the third funny part of their set was the fake game
show. He picked two people out of the crowd (A fat ugly chick and a marilyn
manson-looking dude) to play the game. The fat chick had to sing "Rollin" and she
completely killed it. That song sucked to begin with, but she actually managed to make
it worse. Then the guy had to do "Butterfly." He opted to freestyle rap instead. So he
did, and ran out of steam after about 5 seconds. I tell ya, sometimes fans are really
weird.
Anyway, that was about it. It ended shortly after 10:30 P.M.
As for the idea of movie theaters showing non-movies, I say it's a good idea for sports,
plays, and other things, but not for concerts. As I stated at the top of the page, I
think concerts are better if you're actually there. I give this event a 5/10. Byebye now.
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