Rock Show

I took Gamble and Random to see Justin Roberts yesterday. It's not the first time we've taken Random to the theater, but it was her first rock show.

It was the best show we've seen from him. Kids shows are notoriously short, and like any concert you go to where the artist has six albums full of great material, you never hear everything you want. Even when we were doing the post-concert wind-down with some CDs in the car, Gamble kept saying, "Hey! That's my favorite song, and he didn't play it!"

The show was chock full of references for the adults in the audience, or parts of the show that only adults would appreciate. As a ferinstance, during the last song, the second encore, a ten-minute extended dance remix of "Yellow Bus" that was simply a blast to be part of. Somewhere in the middle, Big Dave, a member of the "Not Ready for Naptime Players" went over to the drums and took over seamlessly from the regular drummer. It's something that the adults have seen at concerts for years, but the kids probably don't really appreciate.

There was also a freakout breakdown, an audience reponse section, references to other songs, talking parts, etc. If you've ever been to a Metallica show and seen the 20 minute "Seek and Destroy" section, you have an idea what it's like.

They also had a puppet named "Little Dave" that Big Dave voiced with a high-pitched falsetto. Liam Davis, another guitarist with the band that plays with Justin in more capacities than the NR4NP, in the middle of a song that seemed to be a stay at home dad, started rocking out with the opening riff from "Back in Black" by ACDC. Then out came little Dave to sing a high-pitched version of the song with lyrics about going to school, riding the bus, coming home, etc. It was hilarious for Gamble, who laughed so hard that he was rocking back and forth in his seat, and just cool to see for the adults.

Random was entranced. We listen to Justin Roberts in the car every day I take her to day care. Anytime she heard a song she knew, she'd stand up on her seat and watch carefully. As the concert rolled on, she did more and more of the hand motions, and by the time they did "Meltdown", she was standing up in her seat, flapping her arms and shaking her head side to side and screaming along with the other kids.

He's really come a long way from when we first saw him at the Wheeling 4th of July festival. The venue was the biggest one I've seen him in yet, and it was almost full. Kids... everywhere! He's also traveling more around the country, getting to all sorts of places, so if he gets close to where you live, check him out!