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The Ocean Blue played two performances in the NYC area in October.
Here are some of the comments from fans that attended the shows.
Oct 19 - NY
Mark Whitfield had this reaction to the show:
I just wanted to give a critique about last nights show at Mercury
Lounge! TOB went on at 11pm and they totally kicked ass. THey
started off with 3 or 4 songs from the new album which were fantastic
and ended with Denmark. I have to admit they were on the money,
sound wise and here's the goody though they played a few 'old
school tunes' like 'ways and means',slide and past future perfect
from the See album but then David let everyone in the crowd know
that he was going to do some older tunes which made everyone go
wild because hey... it's been a while since they toured and we
like the old tunes as well. Let me tell you that they didn't disappoint
and hit every note and key! I hope March records realizes that
The Ocean BLue isn't some flash in the pan, they are a legitimate
music presence and a force to be reckoned with on the music scene
if they really do things right and mark my words The Ocean BLue
is going to 'Blow Up'! THe old school tunes they played were:
Sublime from BTRS and the quintesential Balerina out of control
and then the quintessential 'I've sung one too many songs for
a crowd that didn't wan't to hear' which I thought was brilliant!!
The show was in a pretty small venue which only added to the atmoshpere
and let me tell you David gave 2 'shout outs' to former tob alum
Steve Lau so it was all good and the vibe at the show was very
pleasant. A swedish band called cinnabon ( they sounded kind of
like the Cardigans) played before and they weren't that bad! If
I had to give this show a rating I would have to give it a 9 out
of 10 only because I thought the show was a bit short also another
note I guess Rob the regular drummer wasn't jamming and they had
a friend filling in from Minneapolis on the skins and he was very
good considering, if David (D-Rock, I love giving people nicknames!)hadn't
mentioned it I would have thought it was Rob. Another point I
wanted to bring up was the guitar playing David in my opinion
is a virtuoso on the guitar, he hit every lick and I have to admit
I underestimated Oed ROnney big time boy was I blown away he is
the shit on guitar! He sort of reminded me of a Johnny Marr! I'm
going to see them again tommorow at Maxwells in Hoboken so I will
make sure I'm there and I will give an update immediately I know
I told some people that I would tape record the shows but I didn't
think of it and I'm so jazzed about todays show, since it's now
4:20am as I type this. Once again please allow me to say that
'The Ocean Blue' is THE BOMB! I will keep everyone updated and
let you know all the details about tommorows show take care and
god bless everyone!!
Steven Leo nabbed a copy of the set list (note that some songs
got cut):
Ayn
Garden Song
My Best Friend
Cukaloris
Denmark
Slide
Ways & Means
Past Future
Cake
Sublime
Ballerina
I've Sung
........
Breezing Up
Btwn
Oct 20 - NJ
"The Big Bad Wolf" provided this extensive review of
the show at Maxwells:
So there I was sitting on a stoop along Washington Street, not
too far from Maxwells, waiting for the doors to open, when along
comes a tall thin man with thick, black glasses, a white turtle
neck, and white denim jacket. If that doesn't seem talented enough,
I will mention that he was also cradling in his hand what appeared
to be a small box of Chinese food.
My eyes then follow him on his way towards Maxwells, where he
paused as if he was looking to see if he was indeed where he needed
to be. I then say to my girlfriend "You know, that looked a lot
like David Schelzel." She replies, "Nah, he looked too thin."
We debate this even as we are standing inside the dim corridor
at Maxwells, waiting that torturous wait to see The Ocean Blue,
a band I have never had the privilege of witnessing live before.
So they finally let us in after having us perform some odd ritual
of having our hands stamped, and then returning back into the
line where we were forced to wait another unnecessarily frustrating
wait.
Wonderful, now were in, and ready to see the Ocean Blue play
live for the very first time, just like they said on the ticket
right?
No.
Now we must wait around three hours to witness two other bands
go through their sets.
*Intermission*
So finally the stage is clear and ready for The Ocean Blue. Up
comes Oed Ronne sporting some snazzy superman like specs, and
dressed as if he was ready for his shoot in some European Fashion
Catalog.
At first I'm wondering if Oed is going to set up the entire stage
himself, as he placed wait appeared to be three different pedals
in front of him, as well as a small keyboard atop the amp. I was
truly expecting us to witness a space ship launch that night,
as he had so many gadgets, and wires running around him.
There was also another strange man lurking on the stage, who
I later recognized as the extremely enthusiastic drummer. There
were two other guys working the stage setup as well, one who looked
eerily similar to Rob Mining (Well, maybe an older version). Then
there was another guy toying with the bass, who I also thought
could have passed for Bobby Mitton's sibling.
I'm now looking for David. I'm still wondering if the man I saw
passing along Washington Street was indeed David Schelzel, or
just someone who stole his glasses.
Finally David arrives on stage, and they begin with Ayn. I have
to tell you David seemed very confident performing, and the band
appeared to be very tight and in-synch. I was somewhat surprised
by his seeming confidence on stage, as he bounced around strumming
on the acoustic guitar. For some reason I always perceived him
as a very shy performer, but nevertheless he seemed very outgoing
and enthusiastic throughout the entire show.
Oed too seemed very confident with his playing. Although, I have
to admit it was funny watching Bobby standing in the corner, just
casually plucking along on bass, looking unaffected by the whole
thing.
At some point David announced the drummer as being a friend from
Minneapolis, and stated that he was filling in for Rob who was
unable to make the show.
Near the end of "Ways & Means," there grew a moment when it seemed
as if the guys were going to start trashing their gear, as it
became very intense, especially in the drummer's case, for he
seemed rather intent on murdering his drum set.
After the song David spoke into the microphone, and said "Wow,
that was scary. I was getting scared there for a second."
He then went on to talk about how he must have written "Ways
& Means" around this time of year because it always reminds him
of a very dim and melancholy mood, to which someone in the audience
replied, "Yeah, whatever."
To which David then responded "Well, there you go, and due to
that comment I will go on to the next song."
The band played on sampling what I felt was a nice selection
from their catalog. Every song was played extremely well, and
the band seemed very much interwoven.
Finally the gig was coming to an end, and David walked over to
what I assume was the roadie (aka a version of Rob Mining's older
brother), and asked how much time they had left. The roadie said
one more song.
David then talks about the next song being one that the drummer's
girlfriend likes, and states that if we like it then we have her
to thank.
They them kick into the final song "Between something and Nothing."
And they pinned it down with absolute beauty.
The set list for the show at Maxwells went as follows:
1. Ayn
2. Garden Song
3. My Best Friend
4. Cukaloris
5. Denmark
6. Slide
7. Ways & Means
8. Past Future Perfect
9. Cake
10. Sublime
11. Ballerina Out of Control
12. I've Sung One Too Many Songs For A Crowd That Didn't Want
To Hear
13. Between Something and Nothing
*Breezin' Up ( Printed on the set-list, but never played)
*Do You Still Remember Me? (Written on Oed Ronne's note sheet,
but never played)
P.S. I spoke to David after the show, and asked him if they had
any more dates planned, and he said yes, but not until the new
year. This might be obvious information, but I posted it just
in case the caves haven't cleared out yet.
He also added this about the band's gear:
David for all of the Maxwells gig used an acoustic, and Oed played
a red Telecaster that Dave later used for the final song "Between
Something and Nothing."
David also said that he had given the red Telecaster to Oed,
and jokingly remarked how happy he was to be playing it once again.
Oed used a 12 string Rickenbacher on Denmark, but stuck to the
Telecaster for the most part.
Maybe during the National tour the Gretsch will make an appearrance.
As for the amps, I don't quite remember what was being used,
but I think it was just a Fender amp.
I'm not too familiar with pedals yet, but Oed used two foot pedals,
and what looked to be a red, digital filter of some sort between
the two pedals.
David had one pedal going on the acoustic.
Again, I'm not too familiar with foot pedals so this is a clumsy
attempt at descritpion.
Here is Mark Whitfield again, one night later:
I checked out the Maxwells show and once again the Ocean Blue
didn't disappoint they were actually better than last night. They
followed the same set for the most part and added another 'old
school song'. They played live between something and nothing from
their first album and let me tell you the crowd went crazy. I
actually tried to record the show or at least I thought I did
but I was using a microcassette recorder and missed the first
part of the show, I'm very disappointed because I wanted to share
the show with people on the list who perhaps weren't able to come
to the show. I was able to get about 4 or 5 of the last songs
mostly older tunes so it wasn't a complete wash but man I would
have wanted to have the whole show, so I'm a actually a bit embarassed
and quite a few people saw me at the show recording, but hey I
wanted to share my dilemma with everyone just so you know the
scoop. Kudo's to the two young ladies that helped me look for
my batteries when I was grooving, I dropped my recorder (as if
anything else could go wrong!) I met a few people and everyone
was really nice and friendly, I'm done with midterms so if anyone
can tell me like the next 5 shows and where they will be playing
I may try to get out and travel. Have a cool day everyone
Mark
PS I tried to get close to the stage to see if dave and Oed were
using pedals they were definately using something, I saw what
looked like a kind of drum machine, it was a computer thing and
then something (and I know this sounds vague) something with buttons
that I noticed while playing guitar they could be pressed with
the foot.
Here is Nima Emgushov's take:
I, too, was at the Hoboken show, and met Mark right after he
dropped his recorder.
I have to agree, they were extremely tight. Unfortunately due
to the venue, there was a constant low hum, since the band did
not have a chance to do a sound check. But the sound was only
recognizable between songs.
They played about 5 songs off the new album, and then went into
older songs across the inventory. Most of the fans knew most of
the songs, which was cool, and Between Something and Nothing almost
turned into a sing along. Afterwards, I congratulated the entire
band on a great show since they mingled a bit with the crowd afterwards.
Can't wait for the full blown tour. I have seen them every time
they have played in Phila, and hopefully they will tour the Eastern
seaboard.
Garry Warble filed this report:
I drove up from Baltimore and arrived about 10:00. There were
two other bands on before them. There were maybe only about 40
people in the club side when the first band hit. So getting a
great spot would have been easy. After about a 20-30 minute sound
check, the band finally took the stage about 12:40. Rob was not
on drums last night, David said he could not make it but you would
not have known the difference. He had a friend from Minnasota
filling in but I missed his name. He sounded great though. There
were about 125-150 people in the club when the started playing.
The opened with 5 new songs, all sounding very good. Denmark I
think was like the 4th song played. Then David announced they
they were going to play some old stuff, and it felt like the roof
was going to blow off the place. The played a great version of
BOOC, and Sublime could not of sounded better. Ways & means sounded
just as good. All and all they played about 15 songs and they
closed with I've sung one too many songs for a crowd that didn't
want to hear. Which both times I've have seen them play, they
did not play. It sounded great nevertheless. Some foot notes:
They did not play an encore, which I think the should have. There
were people just waiting around for one and it seemed weird for
them to not play one. David and Oed were very intense and it showed,
I don't know if it was me but Bobby seemed like he would have
rather been somewhere else. Maybe I just read it wrong. The dude
on drums was flawless, he never missed a beat, it was like Rob
was playing through him. The dude controling the sound board could
not get the levels right, one time not enough vocals, another
time too much guitar. You could tell David was getting pissed.
At one point between songs David asked the guy "Is there anything
I can do to help to fix the sound problems ?" You could feel his
frustration. I still really miss the sax, even though its a new
sound, there is no doubt that would complete the picture. All
and all it was still a good show and one I would not have missed.
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