Candlebox and Live.

The two bands combined have sold over 25 million albums.

Candlebox's eponymous debut went platinum four times following its release in 1993, and peaked at #7 on the US Billboard Charts.

Live's sophomore effort, "Throwing Copper," released the following year, sold over 8 million copies, reached #1 on the US Billboard Charts, and included four Top 10 singles, two of which ("Selling the Drama" and "Lightning Crashes") reached #1.  (I'm pretty sure that "Lightning Crashes" is – and will continue to be – the only number one hit in American history featuring "placenta" as a prominent lyric.)

At the peak of its fame, Live was among the biggest rock bands in the country, if not the world.

Hell, both bands played in front of well over a hundred thousand fans on the main stage at Woodstock ('94). Remember that cluster-show?

It was the one with the rain, mud and Green Day; not the one with fire, rape, and Limp Bizkit (Woodstock '99)

At any rate, three members of Live and two members of Candlebox, have collaborated to form The Gracious Few.

What would have been a rock supergroup 16 years ago, is today a small club headliner, and they came to Sacramento to play a gig at Harlow’s on Monday night.

Out of curiosity (morbid?) and a deep nostalgia for all things 1994, I decided to check it out.

I arrived around 8:30 p.m. to find Harlow’s about a third full and Crowded House’s "Don't Dream it's Over" playing on the sound system. 

The trappings of the headliners’ former fame could be found in the copious equipment at the sides of the stage and by the soundboard, as well as the very impressive tour bus parked out front.

While the bus and the rigs would have been fitting during their mid '90's heyday, the crowd (or lack thereof) was a not so subtle reminder that we are a LONG way removed from 1994.

The opening act, Danielle Barbe, a young singer-songwriter out of Pittsburgh, took the stage with her backing band at around 8:40 p.m.

She cuts a striking figure on stage – a petite brunette beauty with a big booming voice. She probably is likened a lot to Alanis Morissette, and she should embrace the comparison. She has a charisma under the lights that lends one to believe that if she landed with the right producer/ collaborator she could certainly become a star.

On this night, however, the deck was stacked against her.

At no time during the nearly hour-long performance did anyone, save for a few cameramen and women, so much as venture onto the dance floor.

Her backing band soldiered on, but didn't really seem like they particularly wanted to be there. Even the comically over-emotive, heavily mascara-ed blonde spiky faux-hawked drummer with the red-checkered pocket square didn't seem to have his heart totally in it.

My suspicions were confirmed when I ventured outside between sets to overhear the following exchange between The Gracious Few's lead guitarist Sean Hennesy, who was on his way in, and the lead guitarist for Danielle Barbe, who was on his way out:

Sean Hennesy: "Hey man, how was your set?"

Barbe's guitarist: " It sucked."

He said it, not me. But I get it, it can't be easy to play to an unresponsive audience.

Probably the biggest response that they did get was when they played a 10 second tease of the first few bars of the Candlebox smash hit "Far Behind."

They did finish with a relatively inspired cover of Spacehog's "In the Meantime" that got some people banging their heads in the crowd.

The Gracious Few took the stage at 10:03 p.m., and looked every bit the rockstars that they had once been (still are?).

Guitarist Chad Tayler and bassist Patrick Dahlheimer turned their backs to the audience, and, facing their stacks, stroked the first crushing chords of the opening track, "Appetite," also the first single off their self-titled debut album.

The two former members of Live bracketed the third former member, drummer Chad Gracey, who battered away at his drum kit between them. Lead singer Kevin Martin took the stage wearing sunglasses and prowling from side to side like a caged animal. Lead guitarist Hennesy let fly some searing licks in the face of the crowd that had gathered in front of the stage. The throng was small, but agitated, and it was easy to see how these men had become such big stars in the first place.

After "Appetite," Martin began an easy dialogue with the crowd, one that would continue throughout the evening and belied his skill as a lead showman.

"We walked in today and said, ‘Fuck, this place is cool as shit,’" he said, before asking us rhetorically "Is this Sacramento?“

"You will hear the entirety of the new album, and some other stuff" he went on to announce, and he proved prophetic. They played every song on their self-titled debut album, recorded just up the road in Sausalito at Studio D. They also played one original that wasn't on their album called "Great Houses" and a cover of the Depeche Mode classic "It's No Good," which I found to be one of the evening’s highlights.

They had a dueling slide guitar solo going face to face during the Depeche Mode cover, and they actually slid seamlessly into about 45 seconds of the Rolling Stones classic "Gimme Shelter" before finishing it up.

I enjoyed "Guilty Fever," a bass driven bluesy rocker that once again featured one of those dueling guitar solo/ interludes that get me every time. (At one point Hennessy went into a riff off Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" – always a crowd favorite.)

There was also a heartfelt rendition of "Crying Time," a tribute to a fallen friend, Wendell Green, who used to manage the Whiskey Bar in LA. (K.Mart introduced the song with a nod to David Alan Grier on “In Living Color” : "Wanna hear it? Here it goes." My mid '90's nostalgia meter went through the roof )

It was interesting to see these artists who had once been such big stars, reinventing themselves 15 years later as a club band and not looking back.

It would be very easy for the guys from Live to recruit a new singer and go on tour playing their old hits. Or Martin and Hennesy to just keep playing with Candlebox. Or, even better, for The Gracious Few to change their name to CandleLivebox and play all the greatest hits of both bands.

They could hit up the county fair circuit, and play in front of much bigger crowds than they saw Monday night. I mean, I saw Foghat at the California State Fair this summer and they had exactly ZERO original members in the band, but they still played in front of 1,200 folks.

It's laudable – what they’re doing – but I don't know if I necessarily agree with it. What I saw was an OK, but ultimately forgettable show. Now a CandleLivebox show? That I'd remember.

all images are the superlative work of the lovely and talented Steven Chea.