Puddle of Mudd – Show Review – September 27th, 2019 – Portland, Oregon

 

I’m a metal girl, and I really wanted this show.  There are few bands in the genre of Puddle of Mudd that I like.  Tantric, Saliva, Fuel, Seether and Chevelle are the ones I’d name…but Puddle of Mudd has always stood out to me as my favorite.

I arrived slightly early to find no parking.  Hey, it was a Saturday night in Portland, Oregon, in the hipster area of Portland, and apparently Puddle of Mudd fans drove independently.

I arrived early to make sure I saw my friends in The Loyal Order for their debut performance.  Founders Brandon Cook of Black and Blue, Jeff Buehner most recently of Ruff Cutt, are joined by Kyle Baltus of 36 Crazyfists, and two other really good musicians.  The place was packed.  I sauntered over to the wall stage left and soon found myself immersed in a crowd of drunk and obnoxious 40 somethings.  I gave it a lot of thought and decided to buck up and deal with it because possibly Puddle of Mudd fans are not as sober as Wes Scantlin; I think they don’t get out much so go to extremes and forget all manners.  I had a beer dumped down my side, an elbow to my breast three times, stepped on, and blocked from view.  At one point an older gentleman asked me the time, and I pulled out my phone.  He reached out his hand to grab my phone to see better, took off his glasses to read it and just after he started to hand me the phone back, his girl came up, snatched his hand almost dropping the phone, got in front of my face and said something to me that I’m pretty sure wasn’t nice.  Don’t worry lady…I don’t want your man.

The Loyal Order has the stage presence of a seasoned rock band.  From Brandon’s luxurious blonde hair and excellent guitaring skills to Jeff Buehner’s commanding stage presence, The Loyal Order will no doubt become a favorite Portland rock band.  Not metal…rock; well executed Rock.  The low end felt almost dangerous.  The volume was loud and I felt it in my nose and chest.   Somewhat alarmed, I put in my trusty earplugs, but soon took them back out.

You couldn’t move due to slipping on the beer stream that was the floor, and the 40 somethings that forgot that they weren’t at a high school kegger.  I moved upstairs at this point.

Supporting the band’s Sixth studio album Welcome to Galvania that was released just two weeks earlier, Wes and his band took the stage.  From my vantage point he looked exactly as he had in the past.  Hat on backwards, Black Les Paul positioned nice and low on his body, he started the show with “Control.”  Black pants, button up flannel-esque shirt, Wes looked and sounded good.

With more phones than Verizon and AT&T combined, the house floor was lit up with little images of Wes in front of the backdrop of real Wes.    Word for Word, the crowd sang back to fan favorites such as “Control,” “Psycho,” “She Hates Me,” “Away from Me,” “Uh Oh,” and my personal favorite, “Blurry.”

Throwing in some no doubt idols, Puddle of Mudd paid tribute to bands such as Black Sabbath and ACDC, although their catalogue was vast enough and popular enough to not have to have done that.

But hey, perhaps Wes was having fun.  It looked like it.

Being sober looks good on Wes.  His music has been our friend and often the soundtrack to our experience.  Here is hoping his new album gets him back on top.  I think he deserves it.