It has been a beautiful Memorial Day Weekend and I wanted to use this time real quick to remind my readers that Memorial Weekend is more than parties and having barbecues, it’s about the men and women who have made sacrifices, and if you’re a veteran or currently serving and happen to be reading this, I just want to say thank you, and would shake your hand if you were physically there. Fuel and Marcywalla(Marcy Playground with Dishwalla’s bassist) took the stage and it was a great night of music.
There were several hundred people in the Surf Ballroom, and they both rocked the house! Marcy Playground primarily played cuts from their 1998 debut album, which was their critically acclaimed album that included “Poppies”, “Sherry Fraser”, and their staple “Sex And Candy”, which definitely got the crowd warmed up for Fuel.
Fuel, led by Brett Scallions, absolutely is back with a vengeance. It was a night of nostalgia that brought the audience through their high school and college days, while Brett Scallions is the only remaining original member of Fuel today, they still sounded tight in their musicianship and they brought a lot of energy to the Surf Ballroom crowd. They primarily played cuts off of their critically acclaimed albums entitled “Sunburn” and “Something Like Human”. The concert-opener entitled “Untitled”, was still a great way to open up the show, it’s a heavy hitter that gets the crowd drawn into what Fuel has to offer. I was a bit surprised that Fuel didn’t play “Last Time” or “Falls On Me”, however, they played cuts that are the crowd pleasers such as “Bad Day”, “Empty Spaces”, “Bittersweet”, “Shimmer”, and the closer “Hemorrhage(In My Hands)”. Fuel also threw in a couple of covers, including “Fly Like An Eagle”, originally done by Steve Miller Band and “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”, originally done by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. I was impressed with Brett Scallions as a frontman and how tight of musicianship the other three members brought to the stage. Their mission was to make sure that the Surf Ballroom audience had a good time, and Fuel definitely accomplished that mission.
Overall, the Surf Ballroom is a very cool and historic place to see a concert. They have a cool area where you can see who all has performed there in the past, and it includes memorabilia of ZZTop, B.B. King, Charlie Daniels Band, Little Big Town, and also historical artifacts from Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Richie Valens. It is definitely one of the coolest places to come to a concert. Thank you to the Surf Ballroom for putting on this concert and to Fuel and Marcy Playground for putting on a great night of music!
