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First night of ‘Skyblast’ not well received

By John Mehno For The 3 min read

PITTSBURGH – The Pirates laid an egg so big a brontosaurus could have hatched from it. Thursday’s first of three nights of Skyblast was not well received.

Think about that: The Pirates beat the defending National League champion Houston Astros, staged an expensive and elaborate post-game show and still sent people home grumbling.

Someone actually hustled onto the 10:35 p.m. call-in show that KDKA-TV runs out of its garage with a complaint, and Internet message boards were soon humming with reports of “Skybust”.

The Pirates booked a “punk” band called Me First and the Gimme Gimmes to perform amid the actual sky blasting.

The retail site amazon.com describes the band’s style as a “tongue in cheek sneering delivery” that is “perfect for 13-year-old boys”.

Not so perfect for Pittsburgh. They were doomed the minute they were doing their double time version of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven.” You don’t put your tongue in either cheek and sneer at “Stairway in Pittsburgh.

It wasn’t the band’s fault. There was a major brain cramp somewhere in the Pirates’ bunker when the booking was made.

People booed, and the band was Derek Bell-ed right out of town by the Pirates with two nights left on its contract.

It was the club’s biggest musical debacle since the last day of the 1986 season, when impatient rock legend Chuck Berry skipped out because extra innings delayed his scheduled post-game performance.

Embarrassing though it may be, this may be instructive for some of the precocious kiddies in the Pirates’ overstaffed front office.

Instead of rolling their eyes at Pittsburgh’s quirks and foibles (the narration of the pierogi race is rooted in the sneer principle, too), they’d be smart to understand their customers and serve them.

Once asked to describe the Pittsburgh audience, long-time radio personality Jack Bogut used the word “uncomplicated.”

True. Myron Cope yelling “double yoi” on football broadcasts may not have played so well in urbane San Francisco, but Pittsburgh loves it.

So if you’re in the entertainment business (and the Pirates are, the last 14 seasons notwithstanding) you give people what they want, not what you think they should like if they were only cool enough to share your cutting edge taste.

If that means “Freebird,” so be it. Grit your teeth and count the money.

Somebody over thought the basics, and now Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are right between Pat Meares and “Alejandro Pena” on the Pirates’ long list of unfortunate signings.

By the way, anyone remember when people leaving a ball game would talk about baseball rather than the band?

The most disappointing aspect of the whole fiasco?

Fireworks used to be the one thing the Pirates did well.

John Mehno can be reached at: johnmehno@lycos.com

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