Camper van Beethoven

Middle East Downstairs: January 11, 2003

This was one tight show! CVB started early and played two one-hour sets, plus a 3 song encore in front of this sold-out Cambridge crowd. In between sets, David Lowery played computer generated announcements from his digital toy base including a dj set up, keyboards and racks of other gadgets. The announcements ranged from requesting a "little company after the show" because it gets "lonely on the road" to thanking the "Cambridge crowd for coming to the show." An impish Lowery watches the crowd as they react to the announcements and additional commentary is provided by the bass player.

The band was in a good spirits and all members of the band were able to stretch out. The evening was full of thick jams incorporating digital sounds from the two lap tops on stage (Lowery & Segal), as well as anthemic tunes and strong hooks which dominated the evening (I could have handled more of the thick jams like Tusk, but there were a more than a few glazed faces at that one). Lowery shined when he wanted to, vocals and guitar playing strong and he seemed to be in pure joy when playing with all his toys. However, he often stepped back to let the rest of the band shine. And shine they did. Most notably, multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Segal. His fiddle playing led the gypsy caravan that weaved throughout the evening as well as intense guitar playing and whatever he was doing on his lap top. I couldn't really see/hear what he was contributing as lap tops aren't as animated as instruments, but I don't think he was upgrading his operation system.

One last note: I really enjoyed the thrify use of the Cracker drum head. Taped over "rack" in Cracker, was taped a white piece of paper "amp" So it reads Camper.

So the debate starts... amp and rack... deliberate genius, calculated nerdiness and or accidental serendipity?

Maybe there's something on the Cracker (and family) web site, Crackersoul that discusses this, but I got a chuckle out of it. And speaking of Cracker, check out some pictures from their Albany show last summer here and on Three Ring Circus here.