Normally I'm not a fan of acoustic covers. I just don't understand the hype when the Dave Matthews Band comes into town with their acoustic tour and the show gets sold out in the first few hours the tickets come on sale.

But having been to numerous live music events around the area I'm starting to get an idea why. Most bars and venues don't have a whole lot of room, so when the stereos are turned up and the drums start going you've got a lot of loud noise that covers up the vocals. Acoustic, on the other hand, lets you hear every word. So unless you've got a CD of some of the live groups that are non-acoustic, sometimes you'll miss out on some of the music.

Or maybe I'm just standing too close to the stage all the time.

Over at H2O, nearly every Thursday night, Bill Mozingo plays some classic covers on his acoustic guitar (hooked up to an amplifier for the whole bar to hear). This night Carmine Vozza played along on guitar, singing backup vocals for certain songs. Have to say some of these renditions I liked better full instrumental, like Wonderwall by Oasis just isn't the same without drums and Here I Go Again by White Snake sounds odd acoustic. However Mozingo does an awesome version of Dead or Alive by Jon Bon Jovi. Hell, he kind of sounds like Bon Jovi.

The coolest thing Bill did was to take requests (no Freebird). This is where the whole set changed. I don't think I've ever seen someone just blatantly say, "Alright, we're going to be doing some songs, so just yell some out and if we can play them we will." Awesome. Of those song requests the best were Freefalling by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Mozingo does a great job on the 'freeeeeeeeeee' part. No voice cracking, going flat, you know what I'm talking about), Land Down Under by Men at Work, and, the crowd pleaser, Don't Stop Believin' by Journey. Everybody in the place was singing along with that one.

A non-music related compliment I can give to Mozingo and Vozza is that they play a really long set. Fifteen songs before a break and then they continued on after that. Most bands do an hour, maybe two hour set. These guys go the distance with a four hour plus set. You know they've got to love doing this stuff.