POP MUSIC

Monday, September 25, 2006

Roger Waters

A lot of the visuals during Roger Waters's concert Saturday at Nissan Pavilion would have been perfect accompaniments to an acid trip. Instead, light beer seemed to be the intoxicant of choice among the mostly middle-aged (and beyond) Pink Floyd fans who came to see Waters, 63, run through his former band's hits. Among them, "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)," "Comfortably Numb" and the dorm room favorite "Dark Side of the Moon."

The concert brought back the grandiose arena atmospherics of days gone by, and Waters, as usual, did an expert job of pairing evocative images with his music. Grim war scenes and trippy space shots made up the core of the backdrop, but it was particularly touching to see films and photos of Syd Barrett, the recently deceased leader behind Pink Floyd's first incarnation, during "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and "Shine On, You Crazy Diamond."

The set included nothing from Waters's solo albums, though it did feature the horrible new song "Leaving Beirut." In that rotten blues-based number inspired by Waters's hitchhiking through Lebanon in 1961 as well as the recent turmoil there, the artless, didactic lyrics attacked war and President Bush in particular.

It was hard to tell if the crowd was booing the song's lame lyrics or its tunelessness. Still, the wild cheers during "Sheep" for a slogan-laden inflatable pig ("Impeach Bush Now" was scrawled on its fanny) and for the line "Mother, should I trust the government?" in "Mother" seemed to indicate many in the audience had their own political sentiments. Or maybe it was just the light beer talking.

-- Christopher Porter

A Tribe Called Quest

What fans of A Tribe Called Quest want more than anything is a new album from the Native Tongue hip-hop gods. For now, a reunion tour will have to satisfy their jones. Tons of ever-loyal Quest followers, who've been cruelly deprived since the group disbanded in 1998, crowded into Love nightclub on Friday night to see Tribe, along with the Procussions, Consequence and Rhymefest, as part of the 2K Sports Bounce Tour.

As the instrumental intro to 1993's "Midnight Marauders" played, Q-Tip, Phife and Ali Shaheed Muhammad walked onstage and shared a group hug.

When the huddle broke, they dug right into kinetic renditions of "Buggin' Out" and "Oh My God," quickly showing that they had no intention of coasting on nostalgia.

Group members also kept between-songs chatter to a minimum and achieved an incredible level of sound quality. Q-Tip and Phife delivered lyrics without having to yell over the boom, and Shaheed made sure that none of his delicate jazz samples were muddied, even if it meant chopping and cutting them, as in the iconic horn loop that envelops "Jazz (We've Got)."

Jarobi, the Tribe's fourth member, joined in for the second half of the show, which included "Find a Way," "Bonita Applebum," "Electric Relaxation" and "Check the Rhime," which was to be the last song of the night. After Tribe left the stage, the crowd called for them to return, but it was a futile effort. But hopefully the group's devotees will receive the encore they're hungry for in the near future, preferably packaged in a shrink-wrapped jewel box.

-- Sarah Godfrey

Dan Bern

Dan Bern has been stuck in the bins marked "folk," but he's a rocker at heart -- or at least that's what he tried to be at Jammin' Java on Saturday.

He and fellow musicians Paul Kuhn and Garrin Benfield were amped up to a beer-bottle-shaking volume in the small, packed club. The arrangement didn't always serve them well; Benfield, in particular, seemed to have trouble hearing his own bass. And too often the incisive lyrics that distinguish Bern's songs -- the very lyrics that the folk community prizes -- became indistinguishable.

That said, the material from his just-released "Breathe" stood out, particularly the song "Suicide Room," about perseverance in a place primed for sadness. "Tongue-Tied" revealed his self-conscious side, as he sang, "Trust has been a little frazzled / With a song that might be sold in 20 years to sell beer" and also "Sorry if my song's a little shy."

Only the former statement seemed like the truth: Bern's intensely but never overbearingly rhythmic acoustic guitar underscored the passion with which he leaned into the microphone and unleashed his songs.

Benfield and Kuhn -- who played an intriguing six-string electric violin he called the Cellocaster -- proved great foils for Bern, whose stage presence is another of his many gifts. He revealed why he'd changed his tuning from G to E: It made it easier to lean over and pick up his beer. And he took time to praise the kitchen/bar staff. "We almost rock," he said. "Those guys rock."

-- Pamela Murray Winters