B-Live had a great concept and a good selection of artists, so I was thoroughly surprised when it didn't deliver a memorable night. Ps. Seriously, no one drinks Bacardi anymore.
The artist lineup was a perfect blend of newer fresh acts (Major Lazer), solid indie (Matt & Kim), and slightly dated but still fun last-year freshness (Thunderheist). Although I knew and have (at different times) been into all of the djs spinning between live acts, I can't say that one of them performed anything close to a memorable set. All sets were decent, but not worth showing up for themselves. So although the makings were there, it ended up being a very blah night.
Their kitschy coin/merch giveaway was fun, mostly because we got bags of quarter-sized fake bacardi money, so many of the coins that I'm still messing with people by leaving them laying around.
The gross drink offerings (2 choices: mixed rum or mojitos) didn't help the vibe even though they were cheaper ($6.50). To their credit, they did have a fresh fruit smoothie drink bar as well, but there's pretty much no way waiting in an hour long line for a single drink seems like fun.
Sidetrack: remember the 80s style commericals they had a few years ago that were awesome?
To back me up on this, we'll turn to the Thunderheist: when Isis asked for a drink, and almost choked on stage - because Bacardi is Gross (notice the capital G).
It was nice seeing the House of Blues return to it's Avalon/superclub roots hosting a night of music & hopefully this happens more in the future.
