west coast micro-mini tour
Kerry
this weekend:
The HoB show in Anaheim was really great. I wish I could remember the
set lists from the shows, but my mind is a pile of soggy Cheerios.
I'm sure someone else will post it.
I remember this: They played XTC vs. Adam Ant, Drink, Older,and Clap
Your Hands at all three shows. They never played James K. Polk. They
only played Wicked Little Critta, The Guitar and Cyclops Rock once.
like I said, soggy Cheerios. Not having Hickey there was kinda sad,
but I grew to appreciate Marty Beller by the third day. He's a really
good drummer, and he doesn't look as angry as Hickey when he plays.
I'm not sure he's as tuned in to the other guys, though.
Spin the Dial worked pretty well at HoB. They nailed Oye Como Va --
except for Flans not knowing the words. Then they played it a few
times throughout the rest of the show and incorporated it into
Particle Man. They played Stalk of Wheat once at the normal tempo,
then immediately played it again about twice as fast. I think I
prefer the super-fast version.
Flans said the Spine would be out maybe in July, but he didn't want to
commit to a date because he didn't want people to call him a liar.
And to the people who call him a liar "fuck all y'all" was his exact
message. They played the Spine, and the Spine Surfs Alone. Also Damn
Good Times, MemoTHR, Wearing a Raincoat, and Kickin' In (Is that the
right title?) all of which I have already grown to Love. A lot. They
also have a new ending to Fingertips that is very Monsters of Rock. I
don't know why they changed it, but I like the Smith-y version better.
And speaking of changes, in the song Wearing a Raincoat, the lyric
"turning to drugs to help you sleep will only lead to sleep..." "lead
to" is now "make you". Linnell sung it that way all three nights.
Uh, that bit of info is for the obsessives.
At UCLA, Flans offended the Guitar Center gods and they proceeded to
break his strings a few times and fuck with Miller's guitar as well.
Miller's acoustic was still possessed in Santa Barbara. I hope he
sacrifices a goat or a virgin or something before the next tour,
because Guitar Center is not to be trifled with, apparently.
The crowds varied wildly between the three venues. The people at the
HoB were bigger, drunker and more into class participation. I think
they were pretty receptive to the new stuff. The show lasted a really
long time. The UCLA crowd was slightly more subdued, with a higher
rate of families and older folks. Also a few celebrities (who knew
David Schwimmer had such good taste in music?) and lots of
bespectacled white people. The goth contingent was also there. The
audience was definitely into it. As to the Santa Barbara crowd: they
sucked. There weren't a lot of people there, and aside from the
die-hards, it was mostly sullen teens, uninspired middle-agers, and
people who chatted on their cell phones through the whole show. And a
couple obnoxious heckler chicks. I missed it, but my friend said that
her favorite part was when Wienkauf held his finger to his lips and
shushed some chatty girl. I also didn't see the setlist, but I think
they cut the show short. They did one encore (two songs) and headed
out. Of course, They still rocked, and the fans still dug it. There
wasn't a whole lot of banter. Flans addressed some girl who yelled
"turn the bass up!" and there were a few self-deprecating remarks.
And Flans suggested that Miller was going to destroy his acoustic
guitar, but that was pretty much it. Spin the Dial was not so good
because Santa Barbara has, like, two radio stations. Flans sang the
Shitty Shitty Blues.
Oh, I should probably mention that Corn Mo, the opening guy, was
incredibly talented and very funny. The crowds loved him and he sold
out of CD's at UCLA. Someone at HoB yelled "Freebird" so Corn Mo
played it all the way through. He also played "We are the Champions"
as well original songs about making out at the mall, a boy who cried
because another boy peed on him, and a song about his 8th grade
girlfriend.
Okay, that's all I remember off the top of my mushy head, unless you
want to know what everyone was wearing (good visual memory) or if They
played specific songs.
Oh, they said they'd be back in LA in August, but they didn't know
when or what venue, except that it would be air-conditioned.
-Kerry
Asa Pillsbury
> Not having Hickey there was kinda sad,
> but I grew to appreciate Marty Beller by the third day. He's a really
> good drummer, and he doesn't look as angry as Hickey when he plays.
> I'm not sure he's as tuned in to the other guys, though.
Hickey seems to have left TMBG. It sucks, but I'm sure we'll get used to
Marty soon enough.
> And speaking of changes, in the song Wearing a Raincoat, the lyric
> "turning to drugs to help you sleep will only lead to sleep..." "lead
> to" is now "make you". Linnell sung it that way all three nights.
> Uh, that bit of info is for the obsessives.
Well, I don't like that at all. "Lead to" is much more clever. Maybe it's
just easier to sing the other way.
--
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