[?7h@@descript="Ugly Kid Joe Review"

Ugly Kid Joe Review by - Jack Flack

  There are ways to tell when you've made it big as a band as a whole.  Big
record contracts, $25 t-shirts, video's, airplay, etc. etc.  There are also
things that are a dead giveaway that you are past your prime.  One of these
dead giveaways would be getting booked at Fritzies, playing a free show, with
no cover to get into the club, and giving away 100 minutes of free beer to
anyone who comes in (the show was sponsored by Rock 100.5, the KATT).
  This was the scenario when The Stranger and I showed up to see UKJ in concert
the other night.  There two words that I can drop to get the Stranger attend
something with me.  One is 'tits' and the other is 'free', and since the boys
were fully clothed, you know which word I used.
  The show started off with a local band, Waffled.  These guys were at most,
average.  They played some tunes that sounded like they came from the "Generic
rock song" album that they play in the background of beer commercials. Not that
they lacked talent; just originality.
  The best thing about the band, as anyone there will tell you, was the MAGIC
Bass player. I call him that because when he would hit certain chords, he would
move his hands around just like a magician who just made a rabbit appear or a
flower disappear, waving them around wildly around his instrument like we didn'tknow where the noise was coming from!  The Stranger said he had an all new
appreciation for local musicians, and I thought if the guy had a little bit
longer hair, he could have fit into Iron Maiden pretty well.
  Shortly after we got 'Waffled', we got 'Nailed' by the Fritzies house band,
Nailed.  They were pretty damn good for a cover band.  I mean, they didn't
sound like someone doing a shitty cover of a Nirvana song; they SOUNDED like
Nirvana.  Some people don't think that a cover band should copy the sound of
a group as well as their song, but I think they did an excellent job of
covering all the songs they attempted, everything from old Alice in Chains
to new Toadies, they did it all.
  And then, it was the Kid's turn. UKJ came on stage with such a fury, that
they kicked the circuit breakers for the club a total of 3 times during the
first song.  When that would happen, the club lights would go out, all the
sound would cut off, and the band would be up onstage playing with no sound
coming out.  Fun, fun, fun.
  There were so many people stage diving at this point in the concert, it was
difficult to see who was in the band and who wasn't.  One guitar got
unplugged, the mic stand got knocked over several times ... chaos ensued.
Ugly Kid Joe lead singer (Whitfield Crane) took the microphone and shouted
things at the crowd like "fuck off" and "can you all do me a favor and stay
off of the fucking stage?"  The lead singer was not happy with the rowdy and
drunk Oklahoma crowd.
  Around the 5th song, a security guard attacked a kid in the front row;
Since I was in the back row, I couldn't see what for, but the lead singer
of UKJ wasted no time in jumping off the stage and attacking the security
guards.
  Needless to say, the show was less than impressive at this point. The
Stranger and I had already decided to leave and were near the door when the
lead singer announced on the mike he was "out of here" and walked off stage,
passing within inches of both of us.  He was pissed, the crowd was pissed,
the promotor thought he was "taking a break" (which he asked Crane as we were
standing next to him), and all in all the kids put on a terrible show.
  BUT - as all things go, you get what you pay for. The show was free, the
beer was free; I'd go again if someone asked me to.