Concert Season Opens At Verizon Amphitheater

The sun was still shining brightly on half the seats at  on Saturday night when Ed Roland's Sweet Tea Project took to the stage, which might explain why many ticket holders hadn't arrived yet. They missed a great debut performance by the Collective Soul leader's latest project.

"We're so new we don't even know who is going to start the song out," Roland told the audience in Alpharetta.

Once the band members got started, though, it didn't seem as if this was their first concert performance together.

Roland's voice remained strong throughout the approximately 25-minute show.

The Sweet Tea Project was the opening act for dave-fm's second annual Earth Day Birthday concert. The Atlanta radio station invited organizations such as Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area; the Nike ReUse-A-Shoe program; Green Grease, a full service recycling company;Georgia Conservancy; EarthShare Georgia, a nonprofit that raises funds through employee giving for more than 60 environmental member organizations; Chattahoochee Riverkeeper; Larabar andCascadian Farm, both of which gave out free samples of their food products.

But the crowd was there to listen to a couple of their favorite bands performing.

The Jayhawks have been around since the mid-1980s, and the crowd they brought in was a little older, but no less appreciative.

"We are the appetizer here," said Gary Louris, but it was a pretty good appetizer.

Fellow Jayhawks founder Mark Olson promised a new album by the band in August, and suggested they'd be back to Atlanta when it's released.

Visit the band's Web site to listen to Two Hearts, one of the songs performed in Alpharetta Saturday night.

Most of the crowd finally settled down about two hours into the show, long after Ed Roland's Sweet Tea Project had performed and not long after The Jayhawks finished their performance. They missed some fine performances as a result.

It seems that audiences attending concerts at the amphitheater still don't get it after three years–concerts start on time in a city that has a noise ordinance putting a "curfew" on performances. No concert will ever go past midnight here. Start on time or have your show cut for you.

Band of Horses went on stage shortly after 9 p.m., getting a loud response from the crowd. It was the second night of eight straight days of concerts on the road, starting in Alabama and working their way to Oklahoma. Sunday night they perform in Tallahassee. But they'll be back in Georgia on Monday night if you missed the Alpharetta concert. They'll be onstage at the Savannah Civic Center.

Most of the crowd in the orchestra pit area in front of the soundboard and box seats stayed on their feet during the band's entire set, perhaps fortified by the free granola bars given out.

Tunes from the band's Grammy nominated album, Infinite Arms, were highlights of the set list.

Despite gusting winds that didn't die down until after 8 p.m., and a less than full house, Saturday was a successful opening to the concert season at the amphitheater.