Whitney Beyer
The Broadside
If you felt slightly stupid at the end of last week, it was probably because you were at the Slightly Stoopid show at the Midtown Ballroom on Wednesday night – whether you remember it or not.
Bendites – who are all too familiar with inconvenient concert nights – had no problem filling up the downtown venue. The punk/ska band was well received by the Bend community and attracted a diverse and enthusiastic crowd.
The doors opened at eight, but the line snaked down the sidewalk and around the corner well past the start of the show at nine. Standing outside in the cold did little to dampen the attitudes of the excited ticket holders who were all in good spirits.
For those who were stuck outside waiting to get in while the openers were playing: don’t worry, you didn’t miss anything worth seeing. The Aggrolites and ABLAZE, who opened the show before the much-anticipated headliner, were just noise – obnoxious noise, to be more precise.
After suffering through the first two bands, the members of the crowd were able to have their cerebellums repaired by the soothing sounds of Slightly Stoopid.
The band played an awesome set late into the night, the vibe was chill, and the beer garden was packed, all of which made for a very enjoyable show – well, except for the sporadic rowdiness.
For the most part, attendees seemed respectful of their neighbor’s standing room, settling for a mellow sway or bob to the baseline. There was, however, the occasional push-and-shove dance circle that would open up during one of the band’s rowdier songs – leaving all who were not involved wondering: What the … ?
If you were unfortunate enough to get caught in the crossfire of one of those push-and-shove dance circles – but hopefully lucky enough to escape unscathed – you were left questioning what could possibly be enjoyable about running in a circle and ramming into fellow dancers at full speed. Then again, not everyone was fully capable of reasonable thought. After all, it was a Slightly Stoopid show, man.
You may contact Whitney Beyer at wbeyer@cocc.edu
Photos by Derek Oldham/The Broadside
About Author
They never let down!….Slightly Stoopid keeps the party going!
Strongly disagree with the comment about the Aggrolites. That rocksteady dirty reggae sound rules! Truest to the original sounds. That’s why Slightly Stoopid has been taking them on tour and the were recently signed to Stoopid’s management.