At the urging of my good friend V.R., I attended the last night of Siesta Fest 2013 on its heaviest night compiled entirely of popular 1990s hard rock groups Oleander, Filter, and Bush. Since I was added to this nostalgia rock trip last minute, we caught only the tail end of Filter's set, which ended with its most recognizable hit, "Hey Man, Nice Shot" to the delight of the mostly upper 30-something crowd. I was kinda reluctant to go, since even at their most heightened stage of the '90s, Filter and Bush weren't my favorite rock groups of the time. And to add to my frustration is that the local rock station 99.5 Kiss hasn't updated its rock format since the 90s, so to this day most of Bush's hits still play on constant rotation as if in some kind of radio time warp. My rock taste these days has evolved to include The Black Keys, The Flaming Lips, Minus the Bear and Miike Snow, which this crowd would be hard pressed to recognize. Who were my 90s rock heroes? My walkman back in those days was dominated by Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots and The Cure. I didn't catch Filter or Bush back in 90s, so I was seeing them for the first time. But, it was fun to re-visit the some of the radio heavy tunes of my transition from senior year into college, circa 1994-95.. I even caught up with an old friend from high school who I haven't seen in over 20 years. I felt kinda young again last night catching these groups, but then it hit me, these songs are now playing on classic rock stations. By the time Bush took the stage, most of what seemed like 3,000 strong crowd were already lubricated on funnel cakes and with beer in hand. After an extended, Halloween inspired like synth loop, Bush settled into the mild night with a heavy dose of hits from their 1994 album, Sixteen Stone. The crowd followed almost word for word to "Machine Head", "Come Down", "Everything Zen, "Little Things" and "Glycerine". From their "Science of Things" album, Bush roared into "The Chemicals Between Us" and included, "Warm Machine", I'm almost certain, since I didn't jot down the set list. The only relatively new song in their set was "House Is On Fire". Gavin Rossdale and the boys were in great form, sounding exactly note for note as I remembered them. Missing for me, was my favorite song from them, "Letting the Cables Sleep", Aside from the fact that the local rock station burned Sixteen Stone forever for me, I've come to enjoy Bush's latter albums. Last night it sounded as if Rossdale had embraced his rock past with a fervor and didn't apologize for it. It made me appreciate hearing it live for the first time that it almost sounded fresh. Almost. After a good long hour set, Bush returned with one encore covering The Beatles classic, "Come Together" and it turned out to be quite the unlikely highlight of the evening for me. At night's end, I came to the realization that it was good to re-visit my rock past. Groups like Filter and Bush did pave a lot of the purpose driven rock of my youth that questioned a lot of our times, music that still holds up its value.
_Rafael Andrade Garza, (c) 2013.
below is a music clip of Bush covering, 'Come Together"
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=633236643368676
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