“Howie Day wows Redstone Room crowd.” - Concert Review.

By Jason Tanamor

4 Stars:

Howie Day, whose hit song “Collide” topped the Billboard Top 100 at number 20, stopped by the Redstone Room in Davenport, IA on March 12th for a one night show that brought in nearly 200 people. The venue, a quaint non-smoking room that sits above the River Music Experience in the city’s downtown, was the perfect place for Day’s music. His one man band consists of himself and his guitar, but throughout the performance the musician used backing vocals, an array of effects (some worked, some didn’t), and at least once, Day even admitted that he was singing along with the CD.



The crowd, mostly college aged kids, was 2/3rd into it and 1/3rd casually hanging out as if Day was performing at a kegger in which a local fraternity was hosting. Half of the room was open for people to sit and enjoy the show while conversing with those at their table while the other half of the Redstone Room was mainly like a general admission concert, with people standing in front of the stage and some even right next to the stage. What I liked about the venue was that there wasn’t a bad seat in the house, no matter where you were. At one point of the night, I was standing on the floor in front of the stage, while at other points I was sitting at a table just a few feet from the stage and even walked right up to the stage to check out Day’s fancy arrange of pedals and effects.



Day came out and performed his first song with the accompaniment of some backing vocals and music. Toward the end of the song, Day stopped playing and singing and let the CD finish the song out. At first I didn’t know if he was even singing, and at one point even made a comment about him doing a dance jig ala Ashley Simpson on SNL. But he didn’t, and when the song finished, the crowd went nuts. Day then went into his next song, with it being just him and his guitar, and when he did the songs like this, Day was awesome. His voice, his playing, and his presence were perfect, and the sound in the Redstone Room was right on.

The only song I have heard from Day, prior to the concert, was “Collide.” And although this was the highlight of the night, mainly because the crowd got the most into it during this song, I quickly became a fan of his music.

Only three times did Day use these weird effects, some of which were ones you used to tinker with on a Casio keyboard that had lasers, echoes, and even reverbs. If Day had only performed the entire set with his voice and his guitar, the show would’ve been even more spectacular. However, the crowd, some of which who were hardcore Howie Day fans, was treated with a majestic evening with Day and his music, and the Redstone Room had a big part to do with it. Any other venue in town would’ve made the performance less regal.



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Jason Tanamor is the Editor of Zoiks! Online. He is also the author of the novels, "Hello Lesbian!" and "Anonymous."