Badflower was Best

This is how far behind in blog posts I am: I left off before I got a chance to post about our concert in Montana. That concert was on July 23.

Ok, so Pedro and I drove my nephew home back in July, and we timed it to coincide with a concert outside of Missoula, Montana that all of us wanted to go to. Some of us were more Badflower fans (I’ve mentioned them before), and some of us were more fans of the headline band, Incubus. We had no idea what to expect from the opening act to the opening band: Paris Jackson.

It was our first time to the KettleHouse Amphitheater, which was small but new and nicely situated between mountains and rising above the Clark Fork River in Bonner, MT. If you happen to catch a big name at this venue, you’re in luck because all seats are close to the stage with great acoustics.

Paris said, “I was given that name. I didn’t choose it,” and left it at that. It was so hot that evening, Jackson had much more to say about the heat. She was sweltering, and stopped between songs to gasp, drink water, and pull her hair off her neck.

Having never heard her music or anything about it, wondering if she was relying on a gimmick due to a famous father, I put it all aside after a few songs. Paris Jackson rocks for real. She is honest, and approachable on stage. She connected with us even while miserable and complaining of the heat. I honestly don’t blame her for the griping, because it was oppressively hot, and her job was to jump around and yell into the microphone with enthusiasm and I’m sure that made it so much worse. I’m glad this was my introduction to her, and now I can say with confidence that she’s a talented musician. Also – stunningly beautiful. She didn’t fall back on that either.

At the end of her set, I wandered around the venue. See the people in the top left of the photo above, sitting at chairs behind the railing above the stage? I went up there.

I grabbed a couple of beers (one for my man), and moseyed back for the group we most wanted to see: Badflower.

Badflower is Pedro’s favourite group right now. I have listened to their songs often enough that I have learned to like them too. We saw a concert with them in Portland in which they were the headliners. This time they were opening for Incubus.

Badflower’s songs are sometimes hard to listen to, because the lyrics are about hard things. When you’re a young person, life can be hard. I imagine kids struggling probably appreciate listening to lyrics that talk about things that they relate to. And then, well, problems plague older people too. In the video above, the song is “30,” where singer and guitarist Josh Katz says:

Despite the morose lyrics, the band members were smiling and having a good time. They seemed to have the most fun of the other acts, and their message came through to the audience most directly. As the sun set it was not as hot anymore, so they had that advantage. The set was long and our whole group – and the audience – really loved Badflower. Other band members were guitarist Joey Morrow and drummer Anthony Sonetti. We got a big kick out of their bassist, Alex Espiritu, a man with long curly hair, wildly hopping around and grinning gleefully as he played. Pedro proudly claimed him as a fellow Mexican.

When they were done, I again roamed the place, discovered the merchandise stand, and purchased a hoodie, a T-shirt, and an album signed by all the members. The salesperson got greedy and tried to sell me a handbag too – but who needs one of those?

Finally the sun was down. Instead of blazing heat, we were down to uncomfortably warm, which was better. Incubus took the stage. I didn’t know what songs were Incubus until we began pulling up hits on YouTube prior to this concert, to figure out who the band was. Then I felt silly. I knew the lyrics to several songs, just didn’t realize it was this band.

I could tell they were the headliner band, because the production was outstanding. Huge screens with a thousand coloured lights and smoke and effects and drunk Montana ladies singing along at the top of their lungs. But meh, they didn’t connect at all. They were just going through the motions. I kept waiting for the wow, but was left wishing for more Badflower.

Incubus songs are good. The theme was sort of hippie-like, which is fine. Some crazy psychedelic video effects during the concert were certainly entertaining.

Afterward everyone walked back to their cars in the warm night. We passed a woman with a little ice-cream cart parked outside, doing a whopping business. There’s a good idea, as it was still at least 80 degrees at 10 pm when it was over.