Third Eye Blind
Blossom Music Center
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
July 05, 2024
Friday night, Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls was home to about fifteen thousand music fans spreading across more than three generations. Third Eye Blind, headliners of the Summer Gods tour, were supported by Yellow Card and Arizona. This tour was described by lead singer, Stephen Jenkins, as ‘the largest tour yet’ for the band, beating such tours as Red Summer Sun tour in summer of 2000 when the band was consistently topping the charts and had music videos in heavy rotation on MTV and VH1.
Third Eye Blind rocked the amphitheater for a solid 90+ minute set, taking minimal time out of the set for banter between songs. Instead, Jenkins and the rest of his band jumped from one song right into the other, only taking moments to receive the cheers and adoration from the crowd. The setlist consisted of songs from the band’s first two hit albums, their self-titled debut and its follow up, Blue.
The band opened up the set with the fan favorite Motorcycle Drive By, an iconic live song and favorite of any diehard fan. It was quickly followed up by Dust Storm, incorporating a small taste of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” in the concluding seconds.
Stephen announced to the crowd before the next song, to “say hello to a new friend near you,” and in a perfect manner, the band broke into the opening high energy guitar riffs of “Never Let You Go.” This not only energized the crowd for the show that was yet to come, but was the first of multiple crowd sing-alongs that nostalgically could transport Millenials and GenXers back to a simpler time, the summer of 2000, when the song flooded airwaves.
The band continued this energy by playing favorites such as Narcolepsy, Graduate and Wounded. It was during this time that Jenkins checked in with the crowd, especially the thousands on the lawn, citing that when he goes to shows he is “always on the lawn because he isn’t that organized to get tickets when they go on sale to be up close, but always has the best f*cking time.”
Slowing the vibes, the band traded the vast stage to an intimate soft set, trading electric guitars for acoustics and bongos for four songs. The stripped down versions allowed the crowd, at points, to sing louder than lead vocals on favorites including “Crystal Baller ” and “Blind.”
The regular set concluded with two of the band’s biggest hits, “Jumper” and breakthrough single “Semi Charmed Life.” A highlight of the show included a five minute drum solo performed by drummer Brad Hargreaves as part of the outro of “Jumper” that allowed the rest of the band to leave the stage, recharge for a moment and finish the set with a bang performing “Semi-Charmed Life.”
The band quickly came back for an encore, “How’s It Going to Be.” As the band began the opening of the song, Jenkins in a cheeky, semi-sarcastic fashion commented on many of the concert goers getting up and beginning the mile trek uphill back to their vehicles saying it was “ok if you have to go and have other places to be.” Nonetheless, thousands remained through the final minutes of the show singing lyric after lyric of the encore, closing out a performance that would feed any fan and music lover’s hunger, but yet, leave an appetite unquenched in anticipation for a future show.
Setlist
Motorcycle Drive By
Dust Storm
Never Let You Go
Narcolepsy
The Kids Are Coming (To Take You Down)
|Wolf Like Me / Company of Strangers
Graduate
Wounded
Weightless / Faster / Water Landing
Shipboard Cook
The Background- acoustic
Crystal Baller – acoustic
Blinded (When I See You) – acoustic
Slow Motion – acoustic
Jumper
Semi-Charmed Life
Encore
How’s It Going to Be
Words by Tracy Tedrow-Pinter
Photos by Steffi Wegewitz // Concert Scene Photography
