Monday, March 30, 2009

SCOPE Drops The Ball


I hate to say it but...
SCOPE, or the Student Committee On Popular Entertainment,  really dropped the ball with this year's concerts. I had a bad feeling when the homecoming weekend comedian was Jimmy Fallon. I refused to go. Let's compare this to last year's comedian, Demetri Martin, who played at UMAINE this year. First of all Jimmy Fallon is not funny. At all. He sucked on SNL, sucked harder in any movie he has been in and is the worst Late Night host ever. He made a game of Beirut with Anna Kornikova boring! I mean could watch Anna Kornikova give this lecture and I would be entertained for hours! Demetri Martin on the other hand, has a new hilarious show on comedy central and to put it simply he is a comic genius. 
Then came the Brand New concert, which I also declined to attend, because I wasn't really into them. I heard that it was a very show good, and even people who did not know them enjoyed it. The problem I had with this was that such a small majority of the campus even knew who they were prior to the announcement. There are so other bands that are not well known that would have had a better appeal then Brand New. To put it into more simpler terms, Brand New is nowhere close to the Dropkick Murphys, who played at UNH last year. 
The next concert announced was the Lupe Fiasco show. I can understand this because so many college students like him. I declined to buy a ticket because I actually like music. Last year the big rap show was Snoop Dogg, a true legend. I am not a big fan of rap, but I do like some and had I the opportunity I would have definitely gone to see Snoop.
The next show is Guster.  This is the only show that I bought a ticket for and that is because it was only 5 bucks. I wouldn't have paid $6. Guster has a history of playing at UNH, so this show is understandable but again, not really my taste of music. 
I like how SCOPE went after three different genres, I guess my taste of music would come closest to Brand New. I enjoy rock music, and I honestly can't remember that last time UNH had a real rock show. I do enjoy a lot of alternative stuff too, which most people would probably complain about if some of my favorite bands came to UNH. But they didn't come, so I get to bitch about how SCOPE blew it compared to last year. 
The best concert in the area this year was hands down The Machine, a Pink Floyd cover band, who played at the Portsmouth City Music Hall on March 6th. The Machine sounded so much like the real Pink Floyd it was scary. It was one of the better concerts I have ever been to.
Well thats all I have to say about the UNH music scene. Let me know what you think by clicking the comment link thing. 

Until next time,

The New Hampshirite

2 comments:

  1. Stating that one of the greatest concerts you ever went to was a cover band disqualifies you from commenting on anything relating to live music. SCOPE appealed to the lowest common denominator as usual, you can really only count on one decent show a year from them. We got one in Lupe.

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  2. I appreciate your thoughts, but in all honesty The Machine was unbelievable. Especially for a big Pink Floyd fan from my generation who never had the opportunity to see the original. Because of that I may be a slight bias. They had the lights, lasers and video projections going just like the real Floyd and they really connected well with the crowd. To put this simpler, Roger Waters, the bassist and singer of Floyd actually hired The Machine to play at his 50th birthday party. Obviously, they know what they are doing. I have seen a wide variety of performers and The Machine had it all from the musical talent, stage presence to the visual aspects. I think that their ability to do this with music that isn't their own takes a lot of skill that goes unnoticed.
    Thanks again for the comment, I really do appreciate it.

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