Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 28, 1994                   TAG: 9403040023
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MARA LEE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                 LENGTH: Medium

'BEE SONG' HAD CROWD BUZZING

While waiting for the night's featured act, Blind Melon, to take the stage they moshed, crowd surfed, squealed and hugged, bounced in place, and walked the loping grunge walk.

The opening acts, Alice Donut and the Meat Puppets -- and rearranging the stage -- took up the first two hours of the three-hour show. And by the

third half-hour wait, some members of the audience started getting restless. The crowd recieved a recorded version of the 1970s song "Very Superstitious" played over the sound system almost as well as any song played by the warm-up bands.

"When the bee comes out I'm going to go crazy," one student said excitedly, as her companion imitated the well-known opening to the Blind Melon hit "No Rain." That song's video, heavily played on MTV, features a tap-dancing little girl in a bee costume.

But the sellout crowd would have to wait.

The audience did not take too well to Alice Donut, which did not introduce itself. Only an instumental with a reverberating trombone drew much response.

The Meat Puppets' half-hour set, almost wholly from its newest album, "Too High To Die," was the most musically innovative of the evening. The musicians mixed speed metal, hard rock, heavy guitar feedback, Celtic, country, Beatlesque harmonies and acoustic music in their performancce.

"Station," with an Irish flavor, twangy "Comin' Down," ("Looking through a pile of garbage/For some worthless piece of paper/That's been hidden there for me/To give meaning to my day"), and acoustic, bluegrass-like "Shine" seemed the biggest hits.

During its set, Blind Melon stayed close to the studio versions of songs from its self-titled first album. Shannon Hoon's voice, with an almost strained tenor on the band's louder songs, showed echoes of Guns N' Roses' Axl Rose. (Hoon once sang a few songs with that band and featured in one of its videos.)

The acoustic songs, with Hoon backed by guitars, mandolins or both, were the crowd's favorites.

Then cam "No Rain." The band's hit was the next-to-last song before an encore, and started slower, louder and sadder than on the album.

The crowd was slow to recognize it until the familiar electric guitar twangs.. Hoon pointed the microphone to the audience and had the students sing the first three verses.

Then he kneeled in front of the acoustic guitarist, ad-libbed a few profanity-laced lines, and jabbed his arm out at the sea of students supporting the crowd surfers as if directing them.

After "No Rain," folks began to leave, and the band recieved a rather lukewarm call to return to stage. But they did, and played a Velvet Underground cover and "Soak the Sin," which pleased the crowd.

"May God bless every each and one of you and may you study hard," Hoon said in his gentle speaking voice, and after an hour of playing, left the stage for the night.