A Bittersweet Reunion

Way back in 1998 as a junior in high school I was in a little play called "Our Town" by Thorton Wilder. We had great times in those days. My best friend Andrew Beard and I were the troublemakers on the set, though we weren't too much trouble in the scope of things. We had our own scene together and since the scene only consisted of about 60 lines, most of our time was spent roaming the halls of River Hill high school talking for hours on end about the rising British music scene and our favorite bands. We were different from the other drama kids. We were pretentious and felt we had a sense of the world and art and music. We were... little wankers.

Though I was only a junior I was a complete Anglophile. I had returned from England the year before obsessed with all things British. Oasis were my favorite band in the world followed by Blur. Of course being an 11th grade kid in a rich, pompous school in the suburbs about 10 people knew who Blur even were, and any jock can tell you those who listened to Blur were "fucking faggots."

My assumption was that they had no clue as to what they were talking about and they could go back and listen to their Creed CDs. There was, however, one other band I was obsessed with and that was a little known band called 'The Verve.'

The Verve were led by Richard Ashcroft and just by looking at his heroin sunken face you knew he was for real. By 1997 The Verve had made their splash in the United States mainstream with their single 'Bittersweet Symphony.' By this point in the story you may be wondering what this has to do with the play 'Our Town?'

Well, one November night as the play rehearsals neared their end it was announced that The Verve would be playing at the 9:30 Club in DC. Drew and I were ecstatic and could not wait to drive down there and see our new favorite band. I had already seen Blur earlier in the summer and was well aware that Oasis would be arriving shortly. Instead, Mrs. Land our director decided to hold a second rehearsal that evening, leaving Drew and me shattered and heartbroken. "It's OK," Drew said. "They'll come back again."

Three weeks later the Verve split and Richard Ashcroft went on to make some of the shittiest solo records I have ever heard in my life.

Today it was announced that The Verve are in the studio, reunited and recording a brand new album followed by a tour in the fall. Those three weeks may have just turned into a measly 10 years, but hopefully it will be worth the wait.