(This show review comes a little late due to the Easter holiday, but I wanted to write it because the show was worth remembering.)

My wife and I and a bunch of our friends caught Third Eye Blind at the Ted Constant Convocation Center at ODU (03/20/08). In case you aren’t aware, 3EB is promoting a best-of album, called “A Collection.”

We were pretty fired up going into the show. After a $40 cab ride (5 passengers) from V.B. to Norfolk we pregramed at a little spot across the back street called “The Boar’s Nest.” It’s a BBQ joint by day and a college bar by night. Pretty good place, definitely convenient.

When we walked over to the show we found make-shift signs on the doors announcing that the opener, Graham Colton, would not be playing. Oh well. But when we got inside it was clear that they had set up the arena for a small audience. Was this forshadowing? A friend at concessions told us only about 1200 people came out of an expected 4000+. Come to think of it, I couldn’t shake a distinct thirty-something feeling whenever I thought about the show in the weeks prior. I wondered if 3EB fans in Virginia Beach amounted mostly to listeners of “adult contemporary” radio (ironic given the subject matter of their lyrics) who are less likely to go out on a school night as their kids.

But regardless of the circumstances surrounding this show, I’m here to tell you that 3EB put on a helluva good one. Given it was a greatest hits tour it won’t surprise anyone to know they pretty much played all of them. I’m not a dedicated-enough fan to have recognized everything I heard, though. My notables were Semi-Charmed and Slow Motion. Semi-Charmed was just super-pumped. Our whole crew was rocking out in a big sing along. Slow Motion was the encore with only Jenkins on guitar and Fredianelli on piano. It actually wasn’t the best sounding rendition but the mood was right and I’ve always been captured by the intensity and tragedy in that song. I wasn’t going to be disappointed.

I hope these guys will continue to record and keep touring for many years to come. And if that’s the case I certainly hope the low turnout won’t keep them away from our area. They are definitely entertaining and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to see them locally. (Sure as hell wouldn’t mind seeing them in San Fran, either.) The Ted is a solid venue, but perhaps not the best venue for this band at this point. They’d be a great fit for The Norva.

Speaking of The Norva…anyone up for moe. on April 6?