Logan Baren, lead singer with The Redwalls, up close and personal on stage at the Big Fish Pub, Sept. 10
Photo by Temple A. Stark
Total length of show, including transitions, about 3 hours, 30 minutes.
THE VENUE - Big Fish Pub.
The line starts outside the Big Fish Pub Saturday night, Sept. 10. The four-band show started at 8:15 p.m. and ended around 11:45 p.m.
Photo by Temple A. Stark
I know with absolute certainty that I have never been as underwhelmed by a venue as I was looking at the Big Fish Pub. It's at the end of a strip mall and a monochrome beige one at that. All windows but one painted or covered over.
Wyatt Hull, the lead singer of the The Colour told me after their set that it was "The dirtiest place he had ever played." The Redwalls had been to the Big Fish Pub just a couple of months back. but from the stage Baren called it a "shithole" and said he would never play there again.
Joseph, the daytime bartender, said the pub used to play death metal and straight edge metal there until just a few months back, but had to stop because the cost of security was too high.
"These straight edge concerts, they don't drink, don't smoke," he said. "Some of them are vegans. And they have all this built-up energy. They just come to the shows and they're violent. They just hit each other. That's their only purpose."
The Big Fish Pub, less than a mile from the center of the Arizona State University district, still have live music every night of the week.
It's no longer a violent place and I liked the rawness and the sparseness, with the band stickers-covering-the-bathroom-mirror-and-walls decor. Some places just aren't meant to be slick.
Movies played silently on a projector and above the bar throughout the concert, including a John Wayne flick, The Three Stooges and Goodfellas.
More photos were taken but they don't fit here. TempleStark.com is my personal Web site.
An interview with the OK GO will be up soon, in audio and text.
Article comments
1 - Bob A. Booey
That looks like one hot, sweaty club.
The Redwalls are nice, really young kids (all in their early 20s) from a wealthy Chicago sburb who've been a band since their high school days, but I don't really think this band is worth the hype.
They're clearly doing retro Beatles and British invasion style rock, but it's not what's going to make them the next big thing in rock. I caught their set at Lollapalooza this year and people didn't seem to be that enthused, from the relatively small crowd and its reaction.
The Redwalls, I think, have to find their own sound and voice and I'm sure they will since they're very young guys. Hopefully, they'll still have the attention of the public and be able to profit from it as well rather than being on a small label when they find their voice.
That is all.
2 - Eric Olsen
Super, super job on this Temple - great pics, thanks! This is the sort of direct, you-are-there coverage that shows us to our best advantage.
3 - Jones Violet
That's a really great write up, Temple. I've never been to the Big Fish Pub, but it looks like my kind of place!
Wonderful photos, as well.
4 - Temple Stark
Thanks. I'm in love with the camera I had (but don't myself own). I was very pleasantly suprised. It lit up the room, this flash, no doubt helped by the sheets on the walls at the back.
5 - Connie Phillips
I really enjoyed reading this, Temple, and I loved the pictures. I know first hand just how hard concerts can be to photograph and these are great!