By Rachel Lindsley
October 11, 2001

Rock 'n' roll may be making a comeback in Spokane thanks to local boys and soon-to-be nationwide sensation, The Mayfield Four. Headlining the United We Stand benefit concert sponsored by Rock 94.5, they spared no expense in giving the crowd a good and hard inoculation of rock, straight to the blood stream.

With all of the ticket proceeds from the show going to the Red Cross, the evening g at the Met was filled with sporadic patriotic outbursts and an overwhelming sense of pride. Opened by local band, 13, over a half-hour late the evening was slightly marred by small technical difficulties.

13 provided me with the most welcome surprise of the evening, as their set was amazing. They have perhaps the most talented bassist I've ever heard in Spokane. If anyone knows any member of the band, please pass my name along to the lead guitarist. I would like to date him, or at least sleep with him once or twice. Their almost hour-long set was full of awesome riffs and butt-shaking grooves. They have a CD available in stores now, and will soon begin work on their sophomore effort. I heartily recommend adding 13 to your record collection. The second opening band was an entirely different story.

They are called Honey Ryder and they're from Portland. They automatically won two points for having two females in the band, and another point for the girl not being resigned to the typical role of bassist. [One was the lead singer and the other the lead guitarist.] Of course those three points were instantly lost when they started playing. Yeah, me no like. If the lead singer had taken her clothes off and started swearing, I could have sworn I was listening to Courtney Love that should tell you something. Of course there was one bright moment in their set. All of their microphones cut out, and the singer didn't even know - hee hee. That's mean of me to laugh, you might say. Tough, they gave me a headache and now must pay the price.

Then came one of my new favorite bands. In support of their second CD, Second Skin, The Mayfield Four completely blew the roof off the Met and made up for Honey Ryder, and then some. Fronted by vocalist/guitarist/songwriter/stud Myles Kennedy, they nailed several hits from the album such as Sick and Wrong, Loose Cannon, and the radio-friendly single Eden. Supported by drummer Zia Uddin, bassist Marty Meisner and another guitarist whose name I don't know (sorry), the band blew this reviewer right out of her pants with their back-to-basics rock 'n' roll. In the simplest terms, they just sounded great. They sound even better live than on their CD.

A particularly moving part of the show was Kennedy's solo acoustic rendition of their beautiful song, Carry On, in front of a large unraveled American flag. His ability to hit the upper register, so fluently and with such emotional depth brings an inevitable comparison. Am I the only one who thinks he is Jeff Buckley reincarnated - or maybe just a long-lost brother? Anyone who has ever listened to Grace knows that this comparison is the utmost compliment. Either way, his raw, yet sweet voice could reduce a man to tears and melt me into a puddle o' Rachel.

Then, just when I thought the concert couldn't get any better, it happened. They played it. My absolutely, positively favorite song of all time and anyone who knows me can vouch for my unhealthy obsession with Roger 'sex machine' Daltrey. They played Baba O'Riley. A brave feat as it takes a shitload of skill to master that song. But they did it, and did it well. Rog would have approved, and so did I.

So the evening ended with a chant of 'we're all wasted,' and we left with smiles on our faces and ringing in our ears. The Mayfield Four are going to be huge, mark my words, as soon as the rest of the world catches on to Second Skin, which was one of the best CDs of 2001.

Oh yeah, and don't forget, if anyone knows the guitarist from 13.