BETHLEHEM, Pa. — In its biggest song, 1995’s “Lightning Crashes,” the band Live considers reincarnation, or at least the idea a spirit continues on, with lyrics saying a dying old mother’s confusion “belongs now to the baby down the hall.”
But in Live’s case, the question is whether a rock band gets a second life after its original lineup dies, and whether its spirit continues when only one original member – in Live’s case, singer Ed Kowalczyk – remains.
- The band Live played a show at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks in Bethlehem on Thursday
- The band is touring with a largely new lineup, except for vocalist Ed Kowalczyk
- The band played a 19-song, hour-and-40-minute show
Live’s concert Thursday in the summer’s first paid-ticket show at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks left that question not totally answered, but – as in the lyrics of “Lightning Crashes” – a listener might say, “I can see it coming back again.”
Over a 19-song, hour-and-40-minute show, Live’s performance ranged from acceptably perfunctory to positively stunning, but not with the consistency the band had with its former members.
The show surprisingly spanned the band’s career, with songs from its 1991 major-label debut album “Mental Jewelry” to its 2003 disc “Birds of Pray,” though it understandably leaned heaviest on its 1994 eight-times-platinum album “Throwing Copper,” with eight songs from that disc.
It opened with a harder-rock offering of “Hold Me Up” and for the second song performed a lighter version of its Top-4 Alt hit “All Over You.”
During “Freaks,” Kowalczyk twice forgot the lyrics, but laughed it off by noting the song was from 1997 – and the audience, which appeared to be close to 3,000, gave the band the benefit of the doubt.
The show front-loaded hits, with the 1994 No. 1 hit “Selling the Drama” coming early and performed well – the crowd seemed to love it. The 1999 No. 3 hit “The Dolphin’s Cry” was also good, mostly because Kowalczyk sang it at his most emphatic, with a growly voice and falsetto.
But songs in the middle of the show were less consistent. “Pain Lies on the Riverside” was just OK, as were “Run to the Water” and “Brothers Unaware,” before which Kowalczyk spoke of growing up amid racial strife in York, Pa.
There seemed a lack of precision – or perhaps passion – that Live had in its previous Bethlehem appearances: a sold-out 2002 show at Musikfest, a return to the festival in 2017 and at the Great Allentown Fair in 2019.
Even some songs from “Throwing Copper” – “Stage” and “Sh-t Towne” – were underwhelming, as was the No. 3 Alt hit “Turn My Head.”
Conversely, the lesser song “Mother Earth is a Viscious Crowd” was surprisingly effective, and the minor 2000 hit “They Stood Up for Love” was saved by Kowalczyk’s passion.
The 1995 minor hit “White, Discussion” also was passionate — and powerful.
The mid-section of the show also pointed out, for all of Live’s success, how relatively short its time at the top was: Eight Top 10 Alternative hits off three albums in eight years. The band has had no new music with Kowalczyk on vocals since 2006’s “Songs from the Black Mountain” and no Top 10 hit since 1999’s “The Dolphin’s Cry.”
The encore, which also leaned on bigger songs, regained momentum. Ironically, it was the encore’s opening song, “Heaven” – a minor hit from 2003’s “Birds of Pray” – that was best: slower and full of passion.
The 1995 No. 1 alt hit “Lankini’s Juice” was perfunctory, but successful because it’s a good song, and the same was true for the disappointedly ragged “I Alone,” which stretched to seven minutes with band introductions.
Of course, the show closed with a six-minute version of “Lightning Crashes,” and every band should hope for such a great song with which to close.
Perhaps the short time the new Live lineup has been together means there’s still room for it to come back to life again and achieve a full reincarnation.
It would be great to feel the forces pulling from the center of the earth again.
