Dreaming is Free (Save CBGB’s Rally, Washington Square Park)

Nothing got saved.  But no one died, either. 

Did you know that Bush played its first U.S. gig at CBGB's?  Gavin Rossdale came back with his new band Institute; they played a single Bush song -- "Machinehead" -- and he started reciting "Howl" in the middle of it.  Below, Gavin breathes in.  Or out.

The Charms.  They're from Boston.  When I saw 'em last month at CBGB's, I thought the best thing about them was their organ player.  Guess what:  They got a new organ player.  Oh, well.

There had been rumors that Henry Rollins would be performing with Bad Brains, and other rumors that Rollins would be performing with Bouncing Souls.  It was a different "H.R." -- THE H.R. of Bad Brains -- that showed up.  He sang with some reggae outfit called (I think) Dub-8 (one of his intros went, "Here's a nice song about people who don't want to die in hell"); later, he joined the Souls for a BB song.  Gavin Rossdale really dug the reggae, by the way.

The Sic Fucks!  No, seriously, that's their name.  Huge chunk of awesomeness, here.  One of the back-up singers was dressed like a punk nun, and when they sang "Chop Up Your Mother," she whipped a giant rubber meat cleaver around.  The lead singer was a combination of Rodney Dangerfield in Natural Born Killers and every wedding band singer ever.

Ah, the Chesterfield Kings.  Lead singer here was almost a parody of a Mick Jagger-wannabe, knocking shit over while desperately trying to look cool.  Look out, that sign might be a bit slick...

Now, see, I warned you 'bout that.

Big respect for the Bouncing Souls.  Their music didn't blow me away, but the Jersey band really got the audience going.  Their singer made a quick foray into the crowd only to discover that the people up front were all press/VIPs; so he went back on stage, regrouped, and a couple songs later gathered up enough cord so he could get out to the REAL crowd.  Way to go, kid.

Everyone has been craving a Talking Heads reunion, and when Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz came out to introduce Blondie, it looked like it might actually happen.  But no, just a few quick words from them.  Not even a Tom Tom Club song.

Debbie Harry wore Ramones boxer shorts and played rockstar grandma.  Here, the look in her eye tells you that she'll gitchoo-gitchoo-gitchoo.  They only played 20 minutes, and barely scratched the surface of their catalog.  A bit of a shame.

Public Enemy was the big, bad surprise guest.  No, they never played CB's, but it never hurts to pull out "Fight the Power" at a rally.  All my PE pics suck, but YOU try to keep Flavor Flav in focus.

Flav had us make signs for peace, togetherness and power.  Then he thanked us for supporting his television shows.  Peace out, y'all.

More of my pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/heartonastick/sets/865624/.

Brooklyn Vegan has broken his down into 1 - 2 - 3 (Everlast?  What the hell?) - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 pages, and others' Flickr photos are here.

tags: gavin rossdale  bush  cbgbs  concert photos  blondie  institute  talking heads  bouncing souls  public enemy  

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