Bedouin Soundclash

Marymoor Park Amphitheater, Redmond, WA

June 22, 2007

Every time an outdoor concert is held near Seattle the promoters, bands and ticket holders take a chance. Over the vast majority of the year the weather doesn’t seem to want to cooperate with anyone’s outdoor plans. Looking out the window at work on June 22 all I could see was the grayness of the monsoon raining down from the sky. What a great start to the outdoor amphitheater season. 

After work it seemed to have cleared a little and I was off to go catch the Bedouin Soundclash and O.A.R. show at the Marymoor Park Amphitheater. The venue is located in Redmond, Washington, a suburb of Seattle and the home of Microsoft. The drive down was horrible with the roads still wet from the recent rain and traffic backed up because Ken Griffey Jr. was back in town with the Cincinnati Reds. Finally I arrived at the venue. 

The Marymoor Park Amphitheater isn’t as much an amphitheater as a field with two small elevated grass mounds towards the back. That’s why you have to get as close to the speakers and stage as you can, that way the acoustics don’t matter. There are a few pros to Marymoor Park. First of all, the beer garden doesn’t settle for cheap domestic beer. They go for the micro-brews and imports, everything from New Belgium Beer to Newcastle Brown Ale. Along with the beer they also serve wine. The amphitheater is also the closest to Seattle, with the White River Amphitheater about 25 miles south and the Gorge about 2 and a half hours east. Also, the parking lot was organized so well it provided for easy stress-free entry and exit from the venue. Even at the best concerts, waiting for hours in traffic to leave the parking lot can sour the experience.  

Bedouin Soundclash took the stage shortly after seven o’clock opening with “Until We Burn In The Sun”, the opening track off their forthcoming album, Street Gospels. Bedouin’s set was made up largely of tracks off of their stellar second album “Sounding A Mosiac.” Songs such as “Shelter,” “Criminal,” “Gyasi Went Home,” and “Rude Boy Don’t Cry” set the mood for the evening with their laid back dub-reggae music. The highlight of the evening belonged to the new track “12:59 Lullaby.” This is the most beautiful song in Bedouin’s catalog and caught the crowd by surprise. Everyone just kind of stopped where they were and listened. Vocalist/guitarist Jay Malinowski would have made Brad Nowell proud, bassist Eon Sinclair effortlessly provided the groove and drummer Pat Pengelly brought the beats which, at times went from manic to subdued in a fraction of a second.  To give you an idea of the band’s sound think Sublime, the softer side of the Clash and Paul Simon’s laid back African and Reggae influenced solo work. Nowhere was the Simon influence felt more than on “When the Night Feels My Song,” their closing number of the night. 

The band put on a great show that, in my opinion, overshadowed the generic sound of the headlining band, O.A.R. They deserve to achieve even greater success and they definitely deserve greater respect than some audience members displayed.  

After Bedouin, I stayed for most of O.A.R.’s set but I just couldn’t get into their music. To me, O.A.R. is to jam/reggae rock bands as Nickelback is to grunge rock bands. They have a huge following, but they sacrifice the music to make it corporate radio friendly. It’s a shame too, because they seem to be talented musicians but you can tell they’re holding back, probably at the record company’s request. Their set sounded like the same never ending song because all of their songs were so much alike. I had to leave before their set was done. I hope they inject more originality into their music because they certainly have the talent to do it, they just need to grow some cajones, step up to the record company and insist on doing it their way. 

Final Outcome:

Bedouin Soundclash: 10 out of 10

O.A.R.: 5 out of 10

The Audience: 2 out of 10