By Seth A. McConnell

I attempted to cover the Flo Rida concert tonight.

I showed up at the alloted time, which was 9:00 p.m., to catch opening act Chingy who was supposed to take the stage at 9:15. When I got near the Rushmore Room I was informed that the second act had just taken the stage so the timing would be a little off. How far off I wasn’t sure and neither were they.

“It’s a rap concert” I told myself “They don’t have any instruments to set up or tear down, the switch over time between performers should be short.” Heck all they need is a laptop with the songs programmed in or two turntables and a microphone. Pretty simple, right?

When I walked I noticed they had the equipment already on the stage back lined -back lining is when the artists equipment is already setup on stage all you should have to do is hit the power switch, make sure everything is working and bam, rock n’ roll- and the second act was performing to a cd. The artist, who I’m not sure to be honest I wasn’t planning on writing a review when I knew I had a photo deadline to meet, wrapped up nearly on time it was just a couple of minutes past 9:15. The lights went down and Chingy’s DJ walked up to his equipment, my thoughts were sweet he’ll take the road cases off the turntables, hit the power switches and rock n’ roll were ready to go. Much to my dismay they apparently set the equipment up but didn’t plug a single thing in. 15 minutes later the turntables are set up and roughly 15 minutes after that Chingy finally takes the stage.

It’s rock n’ roll (I know its rap but the term works) and I’ve never expected any concert to start on time but this, to me, was blatantly disrespectful on the part of both the artists and the promoter. To leave your audience waiting for over a half an hour is unacceptable in a professional production. I’ve been going to shows for over a decade and I’m used to Punk Rock 7 o’clock -which means a show will start anytime between 7:45 and 8:15- but I’ve never been to a concert that has not started on time or with in 10 minutes of the advertised time. Anymore with big concerts that have more than two artists on the bill, the first band starts playing right as the door opens. Any contract I’ve signed has a stated start time for the headliner and often there are clauses that include fines if you stray to far from that time.

I made a couple of photos of chingy during my allotted first two songs, that were both about a minute long.

Chingy left the stage at roughly 10:10. Flo Rida was supposed to hit the stage at approximately 10:15. My deadline 10:30. With the blazing speed it took them to set up Chingy’s tables I knew there was no way that Flo Rida would be hitting the stage any earlier than 10:30 if I was lucky and a more realistic time of 10:45. I wasn’t willing to gamble and the copy desk already told me if it came down to it an image of Chingy would be fine.

So if you picked up the paper today expecting to see an image of Flo Rida or wondered why there was a picture of Chingy instead, this is your long winded answer.

I’m a little annoyed that I didn’t get to make photos of the headliner but that happens with deadlines and events not staying on track.

This is NOT a review, just an explanation.

-S

By Seth A. McConnell

Mr. Mraz has freakishly long fingernails

There is a lot of room out there tonight, so if you guys want to just back up, spread out and dance feel free to Mr. Mraz told the small crowd.

I was positive I had lost these images when I left for vacation merely minutes after I finished shooting the concert -well at least the first three songs- and reformatting my cards on my way to Yellowstone. Luckily though I apparently dumped the full take on my laptop and so I present to you Mr. Jason Mraz.

This was an interesting show to shoot. While Mr. Mraz is an incredible musician he doesn’t have a lot of stage presence and he doesn’t move around a lot which makes it slightly difficult to make a bevy of interesting images. Normally I would shoot the rest of the band but since this was the Jason Mraz show I just stuck to making images of Mr. Mraz. What Jason lacks in stage presence he makes up for in charisma with plenty of great facial expressions and hand gestures that make it at least worth while to make photos of.

-S

By Eric Lochridge

Erin Lester, a recent journalism graduate of South Dakota State University, attended the Jason Mraz concert last week on her birthday and submitted these photos.

By Eric Lochridge

You’ll be able to read an excellent preview story about Jason Mraz’s Gratitude Café tour in Friday’s Journal. But if you haven’t bought tickets yet, check this out: On Wednesday, Sept. 16, ONLY, tickets to Mraz’s show on Tuesday, Sept. 22, will be discounted to $25 for either floor or reserved-seat balcony.

The regular price for those tickets — which I imagine some of you have already bought — is $39.50.

By Eric Lochridge

A never-before-released Nirvana concert is coming to CD and DVD on Nov. 17.

The band’s set at the 1992 Reading Festival has become legendary and is among the most-bootlegged concerts in rock. Press release follows:

Ranked #1 in Kerrang Magazine’s “100 Gigs That Shook The World” and voted as “Nirvana’s #1 Greatest Moment” by fans in an NME poll, Nirvana’s historic August 30, 1992, headlining appearance at the UK’s Reading Festival is one of the most bootlegged concerts in the annals of rock ’n’ roll. Now, fans will have an opportunity to own a pristine copy of that entire performance — color-corrected video from the original film with audio sourced from the original multi-track masters. Nirvana Live At Reading will be issued in a limited edition CD+DVD Deluxe Edition as well as DVD-only, CD-only configurations on November 3, 2009, followed by a 2 LP version on November 17, 2009.

While the show’s centerpiece was a performance of nearly the entire “Nevermind” tracklist, also noteworthy were early performances of three as yet unrecorded songs which wouldn’t be released until two years later on “In Utero:” “All Apologies,” “Dumb,” and in its first ever public performance, “Tourette’s.” The career-spanning setlist also reached back to the band’s 1989 Sub Pop debut album, “Bleach,” for “Blew,” “About A Girl,” “School,” “Negative Creep” and first single “Love Buzz,” and even further back to the mid-‘80s for “Spank Thru.” Other songs from the Reading set would appear in studio form on the “Incesticide” compilation later in the year: “Aneurysm,” “Been A Son” and “Sliver.” Additionally, the band played a pair of beloved covers by two bands that helped shape the formative Nirvana sound – “The Money Will Roll Right In” by Fang and “D-7” by The Wipers.

Only two of the 25 performances on the DVD have ever been released before.

Nirvana Live At Reading DVD:
1. Breed
2. Drain You
3. Aneurysm
4. School
5. Sliver
6. In Bloom
7. Come As You Are
8. Lithium
9. About A Girl
10. tourette’s
11. Polly
12. Lounge Act
13. Smells Like Teen Spirit
14. On A Plain
15. Negative Creep
16. Been A Son
17. All Apologies
18. Blew
19. Dumb
20. Stay Away
21. Spank Thru
22. Love Buzz*
23. The Money Will Roll Right In
24. D-7
25. Territorial Pissings