Bush, Chevelle and Filter Team Up to Bring the Rock to Boston

The marquee at the House of Blues in Boston on Saturday (Oct. 15)  -- ‘Bush, Chevelle and Filter’ -- read like short trip back in time, yet seemed very current, with all three bands extremely active these days.

If you didn’t get to the venue before the sun went down, you would have missed Filter’s set entirely. The band delivered a hit-filled set, starting the night off on a high note. Although the only mainstay of Filter is frontman Richard Patrick, it’s his voice that defines the band’s gritty, industrial rock sound and his spirit that drives the band’s live set. Patrick imparted a few introductory words on the crowd ‘The party starts now motherf---ers.’ Although it was a short party, it was a party indeed. Patrick spent a large amount of time off of the stage and in the front few rows with the crowd and that was before he sang an entire song, ‘The Best Things,’ while crowd surfing throughout the sold out audience.

Filter played their cover of ZZ Top’s ‘Gimme All Your Lovin’ from the recently released tribute album for the band, ‘A Tribute From Friends.’ (Read our review here.) They closed out their set with a sing-a-long version of ‘Hey Man Nice Shot.’

Up next, rock trio Chevelle were a stark contrast to the party-like atmosphere that Filter had showered the crowd with. However, what they lacked in stage antics they made up for with a meticulously delivered set of flawlessly played rock songs.

Their set list included healthy dose of the hits spawned from 2002’s ‘Wonder What’s Next’ including ‘The Red,’ ‘Family System’ and ‘Send the Pain Below,’ the latter being one of the many highlights of their set. They also played ‘Face to the Floor,’ their brand new song from their upcoming album ‘Hats Off to the Bull’ (due out on Dec. 6), that is, in between exchanging jabs with a mustachioed hater in the audience who frontman Pete Loeffler dismissed with a few jabs of his own.

Of course, all of this was just a precursor to headliner Bush. Recently releasing their first studio album in 10 years, ‘The Sea of Memories’ (read our review here), the band has shaken off the rust to take it to the road mixing up a nostalgic laced concoction of rock.

The current Bush lineup only consists of two original members, Gavin Rossdale and drummer Robin Goodridge. The latest incarnation of the band is rounded out by Chris Traynor on guitar and Corey Britz on bass, but much like Filter, Gavin Rossdale is the face of the band and his distinctive voice is what fans come to hear, and let’s be honest, he’s not too hard on the eyes either.

With a 10-year break between albums, there was a good chance that Bush might not be able to deliver the goods. Granted, Rossdale had kept busy during the downtime but Bush is a different animal, there is a certain energy about them and one that cannot be fabricated. Almost as if plotted as a master plan to cast all doubt aside, Bush started out their show in comfortable place, from the first note of ‘Machinehead’ it seemed to cast a spell on the crowd, taking us back to the time and place that we first heard Bush's debut release ‘Sixteen Stone.’

Then, as if to reel us back into reality with a “Hey, guess what, we’re back,” they followed up the classic hit with a song from the new release titled ‘I Believe in You.’ Rossdale's brooding vocals making many fans fall in love all over again. The set list for the night would follow this sort of pattern, while they played quite a bit of their new material, it was always rounded out by classic Bush tunes for a healthy dose of old Bush meets new Bush meets the face-melting sold out crowd of the House of Blues in Boston.

At this point in his career, Rossdale could easily dial it in every night, and that’s one of the things that seemed to translate loud and clear, his genuine love to be on the stage. By all witness accounts, he’s seemingly getting as much out of it as he’s giving back to his fans. Part of that giving back included diving into the audience for some crowd participation which seemed to be a highlight of the show for many of the screaming fans who managed to cop a friendly feel on his way by.

By the time they made it to the encore, Bush offered up a little something different in the form of a cover of the Beatles ‘Come Together,’ they followed that by the one-two punch of their larger than life hits ‘Glycerine’ followed by ‘Comedown.’

Over the course of one short night, Bush managed to transport us all back to 1994 and then back again, chorus by iconic chorus. While nostalgia may have been the unified theme that brought fans out, it’s the new songs from ‘The Sea of Memories’ fans found themselves signing as they left at the end of the night.

Check Out Photos of Bush, Chevelle and Filter at the House of Blues in Boston