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This past week was the World’s Largest Office Party in La Crosse.  It was full of events this year, include some good music acts.  The Remainders headed the main room from the start of the party.  They, of course, are never a disappointment.  The Remainders are mostly a classic rock cover band, with a few originals mixed in their sets.  I remember that the first time I heard them was at Riverfest last year on the fourth of July.  However, I was far away from the stage.  I heard them just after the fireworks show and I honestly thought that they were blasting classic rock from CD’s on the speakers.  But after hearing cheers, I made my way over there to check it out.  The 5-member band had a great stage presence and pulled off the classics very smoothly.  I’ve been a fan ever since.  I don’t know if it’s just me, but I think their lead singer, Andy Temte, sounds like Geddy Lee, lead singer of Rush.  They do play some Rush in their sets too.  Anyways, they sounded great again, indoors this time.  They had a pretty cool light show going on too.

The next band, or guy, who played was the good ole Pat McCurdy.  I was going to say old there, but he always puts on a good show, so I’ll give him credit.  He has a big following in La Crosse wherever he plays and always makes the crowd get involved.  I say ‘makes’ because he’ll pretty much make you look like a downer to the rest of the crowd if you don’t feel like participating.  Those of you who have seen him know what I mean.  His songs are so catchy, he even got picked up by Target to release music cards, you know, the ones that play music when you open them up.  Pat also has some die hard fans who know all the words to every one of his songs.  Some people are even invited to come up on stage to sing along and dance.  However, this past Thursday, there were some people who got up on stage to sing and dance with him during his first set, and one of the girls didn’t know the lyrics and was improving the dance moves.  I’m sorry, but if you want to embarrass yourself by getting up on stage and doing those dance moves, at least know what you’re doing so you don’t insult all the other people who think dancing to that song in front of hundreds of people is cool.  One bad execution from the Center was the background music that started to blend with Pat’s set.  I think there was a Rock Band competition going on the other side of the arena.  Pat joked about it, but they should do something about that for next year.  “I’m gonna go talk to some people and straighten this out.” …Black Sheep quote.

I only stayed for Pat’s first set because we had to make our way over to The Johnny Holm Band on the main stage. I probably don’t need to explain The Johnny Holm Band, since they’re well known across the country, especially in the Midwest.  They played a good collection of cover songs, including some mainstream rap songs that you can hear on Z93.  I wasn’t much a fan of that, but they played a lot of songs I liked too, so they equaled out.  I was surprised on the quality of talent by everyone in the band.  I mean, I expected them to be good, but the bass player and guitar player sang lead on some songs that were really good.  The violin player was awesome too.  Not to mention Johnny Holm’s daughter had some pipes on her.  They played a couple sets, around a disappointing American Idol singer.  A WKBT employee even made an appearance on stage with The Johnny Holm Band!

All in all, it was a pretty good night.  Too bad it was on a Thursday and a lot of people had to work bright and early the next day.

Concert Note: Music as a Weapon tour is coming to the La Crosse Center on Tuesday, May 12th.  The concert includes two stages, along with other events around the Center.  The main stage hosts Disturbed, Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil and Chimaira.  The second stage has Suicide Silence, Spineshank, Bury Your Dead and Crooked X.  Tickets are $39.75 and are all general admission.

-BC