Webster Hall hosted G. Love and Special Sauce on Friday night, drawing a moderately large crowd despite initially weak ticket sales. The audience witnessed what many critics have branded "Slacker Rap" and both their response and the performance overall was no better than mediocre.
G. Love fan Doc O'Connor '98 felt that there was "ambience without substance" in Webster Hall on Friday. The incense and candles that adorned the stage were a necessary enhancement to the band at times. "I was just kind of disappointed," O'Connor said.
Lead vocalist and guitarist, G. Love (Garrett Dutton III), won the crowd over with his smooth sexuality and laid back drawl. "I'm an aspiring bluesman," Love said. "Which is what Elvis was, really, before it got blown out of proportion."
His aura undoubtedly upstaged his vocal and instrumental performance. Inarticulate and often incongruent with bassist Jimmy Prescott and drummer Jeffrey "Thunder House" Clemens, Love was not easily convincing.
"He was cheesy but engaging," said Ali Groff '98. "I was not taken aback by his vocal talent, but appreciated his uninhibited stage presence."
The pace of the audience swung with the change in tempo. At times fans could be found vigorously dancing in the balconies and along the crowd's perimeter on the main floor and at one point forging a mosh pit, there were long periods where the crowd merely swayed as if drowsy.
As Love dedicated a song to "all you ladies out there," anticipation of their hit "Baby's Got Sauce" excited fans. Non-listeners were similarly energized. The rendition proved a let-down, however, as the lyrics were incomprehensible and forced, barely keeping pace with the back up acoustics.
A drum solo by Clemens during the drawn out crowd-pleaser, "Cold Beverage," was surprisingly motivational and well received. A nearby fan commented "Now that's some special sauce!" This same fan consistantly grieved over the slow tempo that the band was upholding.
While favorites, "Kiss and Tell," "Blues Music" and "Things I Used To Do" kept the audience happy on Friday, they were not performed until the second half of the show and were therefore unappreciated by many. Unfortunately, approximately half of the crowd had left the concert by that time.
"The concert was so good that I left halfway through to go study," Andy Pennock '99 said.
