Live rocks State crowd with spiritual performance By Gautam Baksi Daily Arts Writer After six weeks of suppressing himself to hardly a whisper, Ed Kowalczyk finally decided to purge his heart, soul, body and voice in front of a highly charged crowd at the State Theatre Friday night. Sporting a t-shirt with an image of the Hindu god Krishna, the bald front man of Live entered the stage with a glass of red wine in hand, perhaps hoping the wisdom brought forth by the drink would help him come closer to attaining nirvana. Although the show could hardly be considered as having transcended the human experience, it was nevertheless filled with a bright spiritual and emotional tone. The Detroit concert was originally scheduled for November 10th, but members of the band came down with serious illnesses, sidelining the tour for several months. The new, revised itinerary began with the Detroit concert, which marked the first of 18 make-up shows in as many cities. Without great fanfare, the members of Live came on at 9 p.m. wearing various shades of sunglasses. Once Kowalczyk removed the dark specs from his eyes, he wasted no time in beginning the relatively obscure "Where Fishes Go," the first song of a long set filled with a very uneven mix of music from the band's entire catalog. Early in the evening, the crowd's animation reached a sharp crescendo during the chorus of the bitter song from "Throwing Copper," "Shit Town." As Kowalczyk furiously shook his head back and forth chanting, "Gotta live, gotta live, gotta live ... In shit town!" the crowd broke into an excitable frenzy of mild moshing and crowd surfing. Though Live is known to rarely play cover songs in concert, the surprise of the night was an honorable performance of John Lennon's immortal "Imagine." Hastily, Kowalczyk picked up his guitar and appeared to close his eyes in concentration as he started the song (accidentally?) on its second verse. The careful observer could see that he was actually reading words off a lyric sheet taped to the ground. During a break between songs, Kowalczyk informed the audience of a gig earlier in the day at Howard Stern's birthday party. As a thank-you present from Stern, Live was given two female dancers to entertain the band. These brightly dressed women entered the stage and gyrated their hips through one or two songs, but overall did little to add interest in the show. Live finished their first set with a solid rendition of "The Dolphin's Cry." It was immediately followed by an intensely emotional yet bizarre "Lakini's Juice," throughout which Kowalczyk wrenched his vocals in controlled, yet powerful screams of the chorus. After a brief pause, the band returned for the first of two encores. The first marked a great culmination of Live's energy. After playing their latest single "Run to the Water," lead guitarist Chad Taylor quietly began strumming the all-too familiar F-Cm-G chord progression of "Lightning Crashes." The captivated crowd screamed through the chorus and even fans in the balconies stood up and sang along. The song ended somewhat quickly amidst more bodysurfing and a barrage of lights. However, Kowalczyk and Taylor whispered orders to each other, and soon the familiar tune was resurrected, but with a new beat and pattern to it. The ploy was highly effective in marinating the attention of the largely young audience. During "I Alone," a smiling Kowalczyk pulled one of the miscreants who was body surfing on stage. Once this blonde, leather suited female joined the band, another group attempted to rush the stage. Security was taken off-guard and over half a dozen other females joined in. A sarcastically happy Taylor was hugged and kissed by all the ladies. Not surprisingly, his smile remained with him throughout the remainder of the night. Overall, faults in the concert were somewhat few and far between. The audience was not overly energetic or too mild. This gray zone provided for a solid show that was kept alive by Kowalczyk's uncompromising vocals. However, Live's second encore was rather lackluster and unnecessary. Kowalczyk could sense the waning interest of the crowd during the more mellow tracks as he repeatedly urged the audience to dance. Ironically, the band ended the night with the very soft ballad, "Dance with Me." By then, most fans were staring in disbelief that the show was ending on such an anti-climatic song. In a surprise move, Kowalczyk teased the audience with the chorus of The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony," but took it away by saying "No way! We're not gonna play that song!" Overall, the show was well-performed and delivered solidly. Several weeks of rest did wonders for the band, as energy levels were especially high throughout the night. Nearly six years after their huge national tour for "Throwing Copper," these youngsters have matured and learned to play a powerful show. DAVID KATZ/Daily Live lead singer Ed Kowalczyk brought a stellar make-up performance to the State Theater last Friday night. Originally on page 8A in the 1-24-2000 issue of the Daily.