Third-Eye-Blind brought their famous groove-rock out of the 90’s to San Diego’s KAABOO in a way that made it sound fresh and extremely relevant. The band, forming in the early 90’s during that awesome…JUST AWESOME…time when Alternative-Rock was smashing the airwaves across America, was in tip-top shape, showing the passion that must’ve brought them together over two decades ago.
It was an early show at the Sunset Cliffs stage in Del Mar’s KAABOO with the sun still shinning, but the wattage pumping through the bulbs made the light show accompanying the bands rocking performance bright enough for miles around. Beginning with one of their later songs, the hard hitting “Danger” was fast and loud and right on time, letting you know that these guys weren’t sleeping the last decade away, they were still rocking. Stephan Jenkins pays homage to the band they formerly opened for, sliding into U2’s “With Or Without You” during their newest single “Rites of Passage.”
“Everything is Easy,” another track off of their new album Dopamine, showed the rockers still have what it takes to entertain a crowd of thousands at a festival. These guys were at the top of their game, sounding like the band I fell in love with the first time I heard “Semi-Charmed Kind Of Life” which, sadly, I had to wait until the end to wait for that, but at least I had songs like “Never Let You Go,” “Jumper,” and “Till I Graduate” to remind me of the late 90’s I look so fondly upon.
I would be remiss not to mention that their groovy beats and bass lines began to lull the crowd into a comfortable sway during “Motorcycle Driveby” and their cover of Beyoncé’s (Yeah…you read that) “Mine” (which was AWESOME, by the way) until “Jumper” started and everyone in the audience JUMPED UP and started singing along! These guys still know how to capture an audience.
Stephan politely informed us (I hope you smell the sarcasm on that one…he cusses like a sailor on stage) that he was suffering from a bit of Jet-Lag, landing only a few hours before showtime from Vegas…guys, we really couldn’t notice. You owned that stage as though you’d slept a week and were prepared to kill it in front of thousands of Alternative Rock fans wanting to relive their 90’s days! (This writer included) These guys are a must see if you get the chance, they not only take you back with monstrous performances of their hit singles from the decade of “X” radio and CD’s, but they perform some rocking new tracks that make them relevant to the still-alive Rock scene!
Big Jon
