The Stone  on Mayor Magrath was packed,  March 26 for Mississippi rock band Saving Abel and Toronto’s Desperate Union.

I arrived mid-set as Saving Abel crashed into one of their big hits ‘New Tattoo,’ which they followed with an outstanding version of ‘Stupid Girl (Only In Hollywood),’ which had a lot of the enthusiastic audience singing along.
 They followed that with a  new song called ‘Potatoes.’

Then the grinning lead singer Jared Weeks affably talked about growing up in Mississippi, close to Tupelo where Elvis was born,  listening to classic and southern rock and  thanked the audience  for showing up, supporting them and buying their CD, giving them a career other than working at Wal Mart. 

“Not that there’s anything wrong with Wal Mart,” Weeks said.

 They showed their classic rock roots  by sitting down, grabbing acoustic guitars and playing a upbeat version of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Who Will Stop the Rain.’
 They combined modern rock with classic rock influences, wearing their southern roots on their sleeves especially during several searing guitar solos.

 The fans were impressed with the show.

“Jared Weeks engaged good interaction with the audience and was literally reaching out to us from the stage. Afterwards the band stayed to have a meet and greet which was awesome to get to chat with each one of them and see how friendly they were off stage, just like regular people and not like the rock stars you see on TV with that sort of image. They have a real Southern down-to-earth charm and mannerisms about them that made me appreciate the band even more,” described Amanda Michalezki, one of the many enthusiastic fans in the audience.