Reviews by Mike Hume

I just saw Fuel twice in the early fall of 98. I saw them once at Radio 104's Big Day Off, in like late Sept. and then again when the opened for Aerosmith on Oct. 11. Both shows were at the Meadows in Hartford.

I have been a Fuel fan for a long time, since before they released Sunburn. When I saw them live for the BDO, they totally blew me away. They were amazing!!!!! They played a great set...opened with the Samuel L. Jackson Pulp Fiction intro and then they broke into Untitled. From there they played Jesus or a Gun, Song for You, and then Bittersweet. I thought it was pretty cool how they all sort of acted like statues before they started Sunburn, my personal fav. After Sunburn, they played Shimmer and they women went nuts. I was fortunate enough to be right up next to the stage for the performance and when they blasted into Mary Pretends and Ozone, the moshing got going full force. I think that its incredible that a band can move you with songs like Sunburn and Shimmer, and then completely rock you to your core one song later. They ended with Ozone and everyone was dissapointed. I marvelled at the respect they got from the fans even later when they were walking around in plain clothes. Jeff Abercrombie just mingled with people and was completely normal. When I went up to him and asked him for his autograph he obliged and signed my program. Now that's the bassist of a band being recognized by people. Travis Meeks of Days of the New walked right past a line of people that were waiting for DOTN to make their appearance at the autograph booth. No one had a clue who he was until I told them. Mark my words. FUEL will be huge in another year. This much was proven at Aerosmith, when the fans cheered them wholeheartedly, even though they had the nerve to boo Ben Harper when he opened for Pearl Jam. To me this says something. Oh, yeah. The Aerosmith setlist and performance were exactly the same except they didn't play Song for You and there was much better lighting. OK thanks for listening to my 2 cents!