Live fan show review by "Miss Eva" - found in the digital archive. [-AArtVark]
November 9, 1996 - Sacred Grounds, San Pedro, CA
The Sacred
Grounds show offered Babyland as the 7th of 8 bands to play at a show starting
at 3 in the afternoon. My friend and I, however, did not arrive at the show
until 9pm, so I was only able to catch E. Coli and Babyland. E-Coli wasn't at
all bad... They had an interesting take on the too-often stagnant guitar
pop-rock genre... nothing mind-blowing but the band members seemed honest and
kept the music interesting. Their set was noticeably short, whether for lack of
time or for lack of interest by the audience (most of the people at Sacred
Grounds were outside smoking) I can't be sure.
Babyland took
longer than usual to set up, Sacred Grounds being so small all of their
equipment had to be stored outside until they went on. They opened with the
crowd rousing 'A Slow News Day', and even more crowd rousing came from Smith's
shower of small toys and whistles to "bribe" the crowd out of sitting
on the chairs. The climate was good, Babyland being well-received; though they
weren't headlining it seemed most of the crowd came to see the band, or at
least knew who they were. We were offered the oft-played single Omaha, a
spark-inducing Dismissal, the dance-urging Begin Again, and two new songs;
appreciation was shown with bouncing and interactive audience drumming.
Unfortunately the
evening took a bad turn and the set was abruptly ended after only 6 songs. More
of the crowd toy fare were cans of fake snow, which ended up being sprayed in
Dan's face by a small boy and caused great pain and the set's close. All in
all, though short, the show was great. Yet another Babyland satisfied evening.
