I got to see Fruvous for the first time in about 4 years and of course, the 8 bucks at the door was well worth it. The band was as energetic as always, and if the venue wasn't perfect, they certainly turned it into one for themselves. It was at Crowbar, and for those who don't know, State College is in the dead centre of PA, home of Penn State University founded by...ta da!... William Penn, Who believed that at some point it would become a hub of activity just because it was the centre of the state... if you count education and heavy drinking as well as raucous "football weekends" one might consider this to be true. Somwhow, I do not think that this is what the man had in mind. One thing that is true is that even though good venues for great bands to play are few and far between in this area, Moxy Fruvous took full advantage of their show at one of the venues, "Crowbar, located on the main drag of the small city in the middle of nowhere. The bar has hosted other legendary acts such as Joan Jett, Better than Ezra, Archers of Loaf etc.. (or something akin to whatever one might call legendary) and has become a key place for bands to gain new fans in this area of the state which was exactly what happened. There were a few Fruvous fans in the audience, including myself, and mostly folks who had never never experienced Moxy Fruvous live. I havent seen the band perform in something like three years because of my schedule... etc... etc.. but they were as energetic if not more so than I remembered. They began with some songs from the album "Thornhill" which met with mild response, but in a college town familiar with old school college rock... Their version of the talking heads psychi Killer, and of course, their rap-version of green eggs and spam loosened every one up who hadn't heard them and they gained instant applause for every song they performed afterwards. For a town like state college, this was incredibly refreshing... The goofiness and humour done with intelligence is something rare for us here, and add that to four guys who know their musical sh#t you've got a great show. The crowd was receptive, and then enthusiastic which made for a great nite out. Of course, we still aren't sure whether Jian's attempt to pander with a Penn State Soccer t-shirt was it, but given the performance, I seriously doubt he needed it...
Reggie
M.D-101.1 fm State college
Some other tidbits from the performance include:
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