311 UNITY TOUR REVIEW

with Matisyahu & Dirty Heads

Edgefield (Portland)

28 August 2007

As 311’s Nick Hexum said, ‘What a great place to hold a concert’, there is no doubting the Edgefield Amphitheatre in Portland is a beautiful spot. Regardless, that’s the exact same thing Hexum said the following night in Seattle at Marymoor Park, but he would have been right there too.

Opening proceedings on the warm day was Huntington Beach’s hip hop/reggae crew the Dirty Heads. It was a shame the crowd was not more familiar with them, as the band’s sound and vibe complimented 311 perfectly. It was hard not to bob the old head along to the likes of Taint, Ring The Alarm and the Beastie Boys-esque Morning Light.

During it short 30 min set, the Dirty Heads biggest cheer of the day came from the song Stand Tall which is featured on the Surf’s Up Soundtrack. This is probably because 311 is also featured on the album and so most of the crowd I am sure would have heard it before. The band closed with Got No Time for Y’all, which was a pretty accurate assessment of things as it was time for Matisyahu.

After a couple of hippies came up and babbled on about something important called the 'environment', Matisyahu and his band took to the stage. On this particular day I was actually kind of impressed with his performance. Sometimes I find his whole delivery is a bit too much, but his vocals sat nicely in the mix. Playing his more upbeat songs, of course including King Without Crown, his band (including percussionist and keys) got more than ample opportunity to demonstrate that they were not just there for show and that Matis has surrounded himself with the very best. Overall, it was an enjoyable set leading up to the main event.

It had been close to 10 years since I had last seen 311. Living in Australia will do that for you. As far as the band’s live show goes not much has changed: incredibly professional; masters of their individual talents and still can bang out a monster groove like no other.

In some ways it’s almost a weakness too, as the live show comes across as well… safe. The guys try their best to mix things up with an ever changing set list (311 has played over 90 different songs across this tour), but a lot of the time they just seemed to be going through the motions. That’s not to say it’s still not a hell of a lot of fun for us in the crowd, nothing beats the stop-start grooves of Full Ride or the classic Down live.

After playing songs stretching from all the band’s albums, with From Chaos scoring the most plays on this particular night (no complaints here as it is my fav 311 album), it inevitably led to the drum breakdown during Applied Science.

Now I can appreciate the guys need a break during their 20 song set list, but the whole choreographed drum circle thing is kind of getting a little overplayed, especially after doing it more than enough times on previous tours and is featured on the band's 311 Day DVD. I think it’s time for 311 to come up with something new, but what do I know as the crowd loved it!

The Portland crowd was extremely receptive throughout the night, but by the time 311 finished with the explosive Creatures and the encore one-two punch of Amber and Feel So Good, it was a satisfying time to end the festivities for the day.

Reviewed by Pilipo

Side Note: people from Portland love their beer. There was three beer tents at the venue and long lines at all of them through the whole night. It put Seattle to shame the following night I can tell you.

Check out more photos of the Dirty Heads from the show in the video below.