Atlanta, Georgia 90’s rockers Collective Soul pulled into the Pearl at The Palms on January 14th, celebrating their 30th anniversary tour. Yes, you read that right. It’s been 30 years since the brainchild of Ed Roland released Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid on a small indie label in Georgia. While it took until 1994 for Atlantic Records to pick up the album and the re-released single “Shine” became a worldwide smash. Since then, the band, featuring Ed’s brother Dean and a sometimes-revolving cast of others (although the current lineup featuring Will Turpin on bass, drummer Johnny Rabb and lead guitarist Jesse Triplett has been together over a decade) have had numerous hits and platinum selling records.
Wearing a green suit with an imprint of banana leaves and white boots, Ed Roland seems to have channeled his inner Bono these days. Once a reluctant rockstar, he seems to now cherish it. He sings in a reserved tenor, slipping into falsetto on songs like “Run” and “Where the River Flows”, and moves like a Thin White Duke era Bowie. And while that may seem a bit odd to a longtime fan, (I first saw Ed and the band at Woodstock ’94) Ed has certainly earned that right. Many 90’s era bands were forced to basically pretend their rock star status wasn’t real, but, after 30 years of hits, these guys can get a pass.
With a set heavy on their classics hits like “December”, “The World I Know” and “Gel” along with some newer classics such as “All Our Pieces” and “She Said”, it was balanced nicely so that even if you weren’t familiar with the real new stuff, you were never a song or two away from a hard rock radio staple. The band even extended some of the songs with some pretty tasty jams, with Triplett laying down some scorching leads. The band was having fun, even pulling out a cover of the R.E.M classic ” The One I Love”, in which Roland told a story of REM being responsible for him deciding to be a musician after seeing that band in Athens back in 1982.
There was no real light show, no theatrics, no pyro- just a a real good rock band playing some songs that you have sung along to for years, In the end, once again taking a page from Bono and U2- Ed led the band off stage while strumming an acoustic guitar while the crowd sang the ending chorus to their 1999 hit “Run” off of the Dosage album. No tease, no artificial encore. Just the end of a great show, by a band that has managed to survive for thirty years. And still rock.
Gallery.
ALL PHOTOS BY STEPHY MUZIO FOR ZROCKR MAGAZINE – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.