By Greg Maki
Aaron Lewis always has had a soft side. Rearing its head on songs such as “Outside” and “It’s Been Awhile,” it’s a big part of what has made Staind a multi-platinum rock act and kept the band relevant after nearly 15 years on the national scene. For several years, he has spent much of Staind’s downtime touring as a solo act—just Aaron and an acoustic guitar, and sometimes a pal to help him out with a little extra guitar work—playing Staind songs, covers and some original tunes you could hear only at those shows. But that hardly prepared us for the full-on country music he has recorded and released in the past couple years, starting with the “Town Line” EP in 2011 and last year’s full-length, “The Road.” Now touring with a full backing band, he’s embracing his “Country Boy” status, and judging from the crowd that packed Rams Head Live, a lot of fans are, too.
Obviously, this was very different from the shows we usually cover at Live Metal, but it’s fun to expose yourself to something new from time to time. The set list consisted of many of the songs from Lewis’s two solo releases, along with a handful of covers—at least one was originally by Jamey Johnson, though I couldn’t tell you what it was—and a few from the Staind catalog, including a reworked, countrified version of “It’s Been Awhile.” Lewis appeared to be much looser onstage than he is with Staind, interacting with the audience more, joking between songs—he might even have cracked a smile or two. (“So I fucked up and wrote a happy song,” he said, introducing “Endless Summer,” a hit single from “The Road.” “I don’t know what happened.” Then after the song: “OK, now back to my comfort zone, which is emptiness and loneliness, despair, self-doubt.”)
The highlight of the show came about halfway through, when the band left the stage and Lewis, who showed what an underrated vocalist he is, performed solo, starting with the Staind favorite “So Far Away,” including snippets of various covers (“Wanted Dead or Alive,” “I Remember You”) and closing with Pearl Jam’s “Black” and “Rooster” by Alice in Chains. Lewis also took the stage by himself at the start of the encore to play Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page” and the Staind classic “Outside” while telling the story of how he essentially made up the lyrics on the spot onstage in front of 14,000 people in Biloxi, Mississippi. The band returned to close out the night with, appropriately, “Country Boy” (after Lewis took off his hat and recited the Pledge of Allegiance). Overall, though it was a different sound and vibe than I’m used to, the Aaron Lewis solo show was an entertaining night of live music.
LINKS
www.aaronlewismusic.com
www.facebook.com/aaronlewismusic
www.twitter.com/aaronlewismusic
www.youtube.com/aaronlewistv