A beautiful warm Saturday afternoon was the setting for Disorientation 2003. Presented by the alternative radio station WFNX and the Boston Phoenix, this free concert featured the bands Dear Leader (including Aaron Perrino of the Sheila Divines) and Bleu. Never having heard of the first band and only knowing one song by the second, I decided to trek down to the Hatch Shell in downtown Boston to give it a shot.In contrast to the free Less Than Jake concert that occurred the Saturday before in the same location, the crowd this concert drew was sparse. That wasn't much of a shocker considering the relative obscurity of the bands. Most of the attendees were older teenagers, but there were some adults and a few families as well. There was even enough room for beach ball, Frisbee and soccer-ball tossing to go on before and during the concert. Lining the periphery of the lawn were about 20 kiosks that were giving away free stuff, such as sampler CDs, key chains, candy and magnets. It was fun to collect lots of useless junk that I'll probably never use: all part of the atmosphere.

The first band, Dear Leader, took the stage around 3 p.m. There was nothing all that special about them. They were not bad, but had no recognizable songs or any really catchy or addictive ones. The band also did not seem to have a lot of energy. I am sure that this was in part due to the fact that the crowd was so spread out and was pretty small. The last two songs, whose titles were not announced, were the best of the set. Overall, they were enjoyable to listen to for free but I wouldn't run out to buy their disk.

After quite a long break and various technical difficulties, Bleu took the stage. The band is lead by William James McAuley III, who started performing in December 1999. Their first album came out in January 2000. One of their ballads, "Somebody Else," appears on the "Spider-Man (Music From and Inspired By)" album.

I enjoyed them much more than the previous band. They played a mixture of upbeat songs and ballads. The only song I recognized, "Get Up," was performed as the finale, and the crowd seemed quite into it. There were a few more people around when Bleu played as opposed to Dear Leader, and a throng of people went up close to the stage, which was pretty cool. Bleu also definitely had more energy than the other band and, despite the lead singer's attempt at humor, the music was enjoyable to listen to.

Overall, for a free concert, I can't complain. Granted, for much of it I was more interested in watching the teenage boys in front of us chase each other around in the attempt to get the shirt off one of them, but that is the side effect of a non-heavily populated crowd. For a show so small and so sparsely advertised, it was an enjoyable and free afternoon.