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The B-52’s
fly high at Trustees
By Beth E. Concepción Trustees Theater is normally a sedate arena for plays and concerts during which the audience sits quietly in the seats. That wasn’t the case Jan. 23 when The B-52’s took the stage. As soon as they heard the opening strains of “Planet Claire,” audience members rose to their feet and started dancing. By the second song, “Private Idaho,” most of the sold-out crowd was dancing in front of the stage and in the aisles. Clearly they had come to “shake those honeybuns.” It’s a mark of a band’s success when a concert not only sells out, but attracts an audience that ranges in age from 5 to 65 years old — many in costumes that paid tribute to The B-52’s beehive style. One granny sported a get-up featuring a pink wig and silver go-go boots while a man nearby was resplendent in oversized pearls. Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson, Fred Schneider and Keith Strickland — four of the five founding members of the band (Ricky Wilson died in 1985 from AIDS-related complications) — powered through 25 years of hits including “Love Shack,” “Dance This Mess Around,” “Lava,” “Roam,” “Deadbeat Club,” “Quiche Lorraine,” “Strobe Light.” “Channel Z” — with the lyrics “Space junk, laser bombs, ozone holes … Better put up my umbrella! Giant stacks blowin’ smoke. Politicrits pushin’ dope — prompted Schneider to inject some political commentary: “We wrote this song during King Bush I. Now it’s King Bush II and everything is the same.” “Bushfire” naturally sparked an accompanying joke. The crowd was definitely appreciative, often singing louder than the band. For an encore, The B-52’s treated the audience to “Whammy Kiss” and perennial favorite “Rock Lobster,” their first single. After the concert, the band headed over to Red Gallery where they chatted with fans at a VIP reception for the Georgia Music Hall of Fame exhibition, “We Hear You, Georgia.” One of the highlights of the exhibition was a “Love Shack” created by Savannah College of Art and Design student Dana Cooley. Pierson, Schneider and Strickland mugged for photographers inside the structure. At the Trustees Theater and at Red Gallery, The B-52’s definitely followed their own “Cosmic Thing” suggestion: “Rock the house!” |
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