The Baseball Project
On comparatively short notice, I bought a ticket to see The Baseball Project at the Beachland Ballroom on Thursday, August 24. A major part of the appeal was that much like The Beths, a whole bunch of my friends were at the show, including EJ, Lazybones (and her mom), Colleen & Kevin, Brandt & Candy and Ed.
The Baseball Project were touring in support of their fourth album and played two sets around an intermission to an 80% capacity show. This was substantially more time than they played when I caught them free at the Rock Hall as part of the 2019 All-Star game festivities. Musically, this show was much better than that one, although I admit that the 2019 show had a certain je ne sais quoi from having players who were mentioned in the songs at the show.
As I noted to Colleen during the show, there's probably an alternate reality these guys were in some bands in college that never went anywhere and then they became accountants or whatever and then started a dad band singing about baseball. That hypothetical band probably isn't quite as tight as the one we have in reality, but the vibe is probably the same "upper end of middle-aged guys singing dorky songs about baseball with their friends." I, of course, am the target audience for this material. I'd go again in a heartbeat at that price point, even thought I'm not particularly in the larger bucket of "people who love R.E.M. / Dream Syndicate / etc" that most of the audience seemed to be inhabiting.
I bought the new album (it's fine, nothing special) and waited in the extremely long line to get signed by the entire band. I also picked up the first album, mostly for completionist purposes because I used to play The Closer at the end of every regular season. I wore A's gear and chatted about A's fandom baseball with Scott McCaughey, which alas we agreed was a pretty depressing topic this year in particular.
Also, Harvey Haddix continues to be the best sing-along song about baseball that isn't Take Me Out to the Ballpark. Since the show I've been obsessing over how well constructed the chorus is so that they can add new perfect game pitchers to it as needed.
This was my fifth concert of the year, and seventh band.
The Baseball Project were touring in support of their fourth album and played two sets around an intermission to an 80% capacity show. This was substantially more time than they played when I caught them free at the Rock Hall as part of the 2019 All-Star game festivities. Musically, this show was much better than that one, although I admit that the 2019 show had a certain je ne sais quoi from having players who were mentioned in the songs at the show.
As I noted to Colleen during the show, there's probably an alternate reality these guys were in some bands in college that never went anywhere and then they became accountants or whatever and then started a dad band singing about baseball. That hypothetical band probably isn't quite as tight as the one we have in reality, but the vibe is probably the same "upper end of middle-aged guys singing dorky songs about baseball with their friends." I, of course, am the target audience for this material. I'd go again in a heartbeat at that price point, even thought I'm not particularly in the larger bucket of "people who love R.E.M. / Dream Syndicate / etc" that most of the audience seemed to be inhabiting.
I bought the new album (it's fine, nothing special) and waited in the extremely long line to get signed by the entire band. I also picked up the first album, mostly for completionist purposes because I used to play The Closer at the end of every regular season. I wore A's gear and chatted about A's fandom baseball with Scott McCaughey, which alas we agreed was a pretty depressing topic this year in particular.
Also, Harvey Haddix continues to be the best sing-along song about baseball that isn't Take Me Out to the Ballpark. Since the show I've been obsessing over how well constructed the chorus is so that they can add new perfect game pitchers to it as needed.
This was my fifth concert of the year, and seventh band.