Found Out About You: A first-timer's experience at the Green Music Center with the Gin Blossoms.

Last week, Friday July 17,  I had my first concert experience at the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, with Gin Blossoms, Blues Traveler and Spin Doctors. 

I grew up obsessed with MTV in the 90s before discovering punk rock thanks to BMX and skateboarding videos. While I turned my back on most 90s bands at the time, Gin Blossoms always had a hold on me. They’re one of the bands from that era that I just somehow had never caught live.

I’m not the only old punk who loves the Gin Blossoms. The band’s influence has spread beyond the world of alternative rock radio, and their catchy pop rock anthems have influenced generations of other punk rock musicians that includes acts such as The Menzingers, The Ergs! and The Gaslight Anthem all spring to mind. Hell, Jimmy Eat World are from the same Phoenix suburbs that birthed Gin Blossoms. 

When I lived in Napa, I’d glance at the Sonoma State College’s website and try to make heads or tails of the venue: “Is it indoor? Is it outdoors? How the hell does this place work?” 

With this show, I could finally cross Gin Blossoms off my list, and I could finally figure out how the hell the Green Music Center worked. 

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My lady love and life-partner, Claire and I arrived at the Sonoma State campus at about 6:20, thinking that would be enough time to park and get into the venue for the 6:30 start of Spin Doctors. Oh, what a naive fool I had been. 

Parking was a bit confusing. There were many signs indicating cars without the proper tags would get towed. We followed the caravan of cars into the general parking lot and hoped for the best.

Claire and I followed a long line of folks into the venue. We could hear the Spin Doctors spinning into their set and it reminded me of the classic Pied Piper tale as we followed the music into the venue. 

"I've never seen it this packed before," voiced a woman behind us in the line, adding, "So many of my friends had never heard of this place!" 

The lines to get into the venue were huge, but the lines moved quickly and there were a number of helpful staff members to get us where we were going. 

Once we made it into the venue, I was astounded to discover that Green Music Center is both indoors and outdoors! 

The bands would be set up inside the 1,400 seat Weill Hall. The rear wall of the hall is removable and opens up to a huge outdoor garden area for at least an additional 2,000 seats with a video feed of the concert being shown on a gigantic tv screen.

Ultimately the experience is not too different from a huge concert festival or arena show. Our seats were solid, but we were stuck mostly watching the performances on the screen. C'est la vie. 

I was happy to see there was a solid space in the grass in front of the gigantic screen, which allowed people to dance or stand. You could kind of see the bands inside the hall, if you stood on your tippy toes.

The Green Music Hall is not my preferred space to see any kind of concert event.  As an old punk rocker, my preferred way to see a concert is in a dark and dirty music venue where my feet stick thanks to years of spilt beer covering it.  

But I’ll be damned, It’s a great setting and everywhere I looked folks were having a blast! It’s close to downtown Santa Rosa. The parking was free. And they allowed you to bring in your own food and sealed non-alcoholic beverages - I watched as a dad with a wagon brought in dozens of Domino's Pizzas and two liter sodas. 

We arrived just in time for the second half of the Spin Doctors set. We sat down just as they were kicking into “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong, from their 1991 debut album Pocketful of Kryptonite and just a few minutes later they played their gigantic hit, “Two Princes.” 

As their set winded down, the Spin Doctors brought out a surprise guest to join them, John Popper from Blues Traveler’s John Popper! He came out and joined them on their final song and something magical happened. 

I noticed another drummer jumping on stage and jumping in and there before our eyes, the rest of Blues Traveler had joined the Spin Doctors on stage for their final song of their opening set with the song ending in a wild jam and before you know it… Suddenly we’re in the Blues Traveler set!

There were no awkward set breaks. No prolonged goodbyes. The bands switched off right in front of our eyes. They just went right into it. 

I’ve seen this before with an acoustic opener being joined by a full band for their last song(s), before jumping into their own set, but this was the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this at that level of stage show. What a great stage crew they must have to have pulled it off so seamlessly! 

Now, I love the Blues Traveler singles, but I fucking hate jam bands. 

Blues Traveler is a fucking jam band. 

With this not being a headlining set, I wondered how much jam band noodling there would be from their set tonight. Ten minutes into their first song I excused myself to find the men’s room and a bottle of wine. 

The bathrooms had the music piped in, and I thought that was a damned nice touch. 

Claire had mentioned to me earlier in the evening, "The drink line was bonkers!" I had hoped that halfway through the show, the crowd would have waned, but as I exited the bathroom I was pretty sure it was actually longer than it had been when we entered. Sigh. 

"They’ll probably still be playing this song by the time you get back,” texted my lady love as I let her know of my situation. 

I got in line for drinks at 7:42pm and got my bottle of wine at about 8:12. There were probably a good 150-200 people in front of me. It took a long while, but it felt like the line moved fast. 

As I stood in line, I watched as a woman who must have been ten years older than me, dancing and skipping as she made her way into the venue. While I watched her dancing, something about her melted and I could see a little bit of who she might have been in the 90s. Her aura felt 40 years younger and I wondered if I accidentally ingested more than beers at dinner. 

It wasn’t drugs, (Okay, some of those folks were definitely on drugs, but not me) it was the magic of all of us in this one place and time reaching out and touching that energy we remember from our youth. 

While I might have been bored of the jam band antics, I sang my heart out to the singles, like “Runaround,” and “Hook.” They’re set ended and I was a little disappointed there wouldn’t be another on-stage switchover like we witnessed between Spin Doctors and Blues Traveler. 

The temperature had dropped pretty hard. It had been a warm day in the 80’s, but once the sun had gone down the temperature dropped to the low 60’s and it felt downright chilly. I was so very thankful that I not only convinced myself not to wear shorts, I also brought along a flannel. Next time I’ll bring a hoodie. 

Claire and I literally huddled together for warmth, but after a 20 minute interlude Gin Blossoms took the stage and the band kicked into their first song of the night, “Follow you Down.”  

Suddenly I wasn’t cold any longer. My spirit was on fire. I was finally seeing the fucking Gin Blossoms! 

While I had a blast and loved the set, I guess it wasn’t a hit with everyone? 

I watched the Gin Blossoms and they sounded fucking great, but they looked bored. They were just up there doing their job. I didn’t mind. They do great jobs, but so many in the audience expected them to be the dancing monkeys. 

Later on in the bathroom I’d hear some boomers talking shit about the Gin Blossoms and how they sounded better in the bathroom. The next afternoon at my bartending job a customer told me he felt like Gin Blossoms phoned it in. 

Blues Traveler and Spin Doctors are jam bands at heart and lean into the jam-iness of it all. That works for them, but I don’t want a Gin Blossoms jam band. I want a tight band with killer melodies and that’s what I got. There’s no punk or rock n roll antics. It’s just straight rock n roll with no spectacle and that’s fine by me.

A note from during their performance reads: “They're tight. Great melodies. Great vocals. Great harmonies. There's a reason why so many young bands are aping this style whether they know it or not. God damn I fucking love his voice.” 

Before ripping into the final four songs of the night, Wilson made a quip about finally playing the hits. They know what the audience wants. The band knows what they are here to do. They give it to them in spades with, “Found Out About You,” “Alison Road,”and “Hey Jealousy” before ending it with “Til I Hear It From You.” 

I just don’t think Gin Blossoms work on a gigantic stage show style venue. I’d really like to see them kick out the jams!  Put me in a room with 500 to 1,000 folks crammed in there sweating and screaming their hearts out and I think the band would take on a life of their own. I think you’d see the band come alive in ways you don’t expect. 

But that’s not the band that we have. We have a band that had a number of blockbuster singles that are still played on continuous loops on radio stations and streaming playlists daily. They have an audience that wants a different thing than what I want, and what the band may want.

That’s the fun of these kinds of events, with three very different but similar style bands from the same era. You’re getting a solid cross section of Gen Xers, Boomers, Millennials along with the Gen Z kiddos. These bands are not one size fits all and appeal to a wide array of folks looking to tap into that time before their hairs turned grey. 

Ever since that night, I’ve had Gin Blossoms stuck in a permanent loop in my brain. I’ve been listening to them every single day since, and I’ll be damned. I always liked the band but now I think I might love them? 

I’ll hold out hope that one day in the near future I’ll get a chance to see them in a club room style show, rather than a lawn with a festival style experience. 

Claire and I had a lovely, cold evening at the Green Music Center. It’s a special treat to have such an unusual, yet welcoming venue so close to where we live. No driving to the City. No tolls. No real traffic. We’ll be back. Next time we’ll bring warmer clothing and picnic baskets full of treats.

More information about the Green Music Center, please visit their website at: https://gmc.sonoma.edu/