Okay, I've never written a review before but I figure I kind of have to being the "one lonely woman" who was at Bryn Mawr...
So to start off, let me say some bits about May Day itself. It was TOTALLY awesome! As was stated at the Allentown show almost all students were dressed in "virginal white." Early on I was dubbed Carrier of Shit and Filmer of Processeions, Maypoles and Mayholes. So I spent much time with a video camera glued to my eye and carrying my sister's and her friends' shit... which was fine since at one point I was carrying a large sword which amused me :)
Maypoles most of you probably know a little bit about so I'm going to describe the Bryn Mawr tradition of the Mayhole. As we all know maypoles are rather phallic, so Bryn Mawr, being a womens college has supplemented it with a mayhole: a large pink parachute covered with flower petals. The Mawrters (Bryn Mawr students) make a large circle around the mayhole and link arms. The mistress of the mayhole (or some such title... I can never keep them all straight) then binds the arms of the women with toilet paper representing the patriarchy. A chant begins... "Hey hey! Ho ho! The patriarchy has GOT to GO!" and goes on until the mistress frees one person from the bonds of the patriarchy. That person then goes and frees another and so on until all are free of the patriarchy and run to the mayhole and fling it about sending petals flying into the air. The lesbians and their girlfriends run under and kiss while Dar Williams' "As Cool As I Am" blasts over the loudspeakers. It's a lovely tradition. I love this school.
Okay, on to the the concert on the green.
My sister came to get me from a play (Macbeth with Star Wars characters) at the Moon bench and told me that she'd staked out blanket space. I asked if it was right up at the stage and she said no, it's a little way back, you don't want to be right in front of the stage. I said like hell I don't want to be right in front of the stage! So she let me inch the blanket forward a bit but wouldn't let me pull it less than about 4 yards from the front of the stage. No one else was up that close though so it left room for dancing. One of Adina's (my sister's) friends came over to us and told us that before the lads even got there the techies had set up the playstation for them. Adina and I fell over laughing.
Here is where I insert Mike's setlist:
Substitute 1/2 Horse Boss Moon Pisco Early Booty Michy Tureen Sauce Hold King Green Splat Potion ------------ video.... (not listed) Brown Eyed Girl!
So the lads came on to uproarious cheers and opened with Substitute. People started to jump up and dance, many of us doing horas and circle/line dances. So Murray commented that judging from the quality of the dancing thus far the rest of the set will be nothing but midieval hymns... Featuring Dave as the Maypole! I don't remember when exactly, but Jian said it was great to be near one of their favorite cities, Pittsburgh is just great... to which Murray said actually, we're near Boston. Dave said he was glad we'd all followed the Pennsylvania regulation which required that we all stay at least 10 yards from the stage 'cause they just get terrified when people get too close. :) The went into half as much followed by horseshoes. No one wanted to stop dancing, they were trying to get into the groove of horseshoes and dance to it.
So Jian starts talking about the campus and how most college brochures have pictures of their campuses, but they're so obviously doctored... Mike chimed in that they actually send pictures of this campus. "We look a lot like Bryn Mawr College!" The comment was made that they couldn't tell if it was a gender exclusive school or if you just needed a really high GPA. Jian was saying that he looked out on the crowd and saw a sea of potential Fidel Castros... which somehow led into I love my Boss, then Pisco. Someone commented on the cherry trees calling them violet.... then getting confused asking what color that was... to which everyone shouted Cherry! Jian said No! That's not cherry! This led to Mike starting a little improv with a nice little beat "Hangin' out on the tarps... on the blankets and the afghans..."
So they went into Early Morning Rain and I was happy... but the same story as with Horseshoes, no one wanted to stop dancing.
Boo Time notes:
May Day Frenzy Mercedes Benzy Brin Marr (sic) Festin' Amazing Kreskin Blooms in Blossom Playin Possom Fail Ya!
So Jian(?) called a young woman over and asked her name... "This one is for Claire!" And went into Michy. on to Turreen and Saucep'n which went out to the dining hall staff.
At this point Jian said "so I guess we shouldn't do a slow song?" to which everyone shouted No! Adina and I shouted which one? Jian said "I guess we could do a slow song really fast... so they go into I Will Hold On to a sort of upbeat country tempo which nearly made me cry. :( Dave and Jian got about 1/4 of the way through and started cracking up.
So Elian led into KoS... while Dave was asking who was curious about his epilogue one woman came up to the stage and indicated for Dave to come over... Jian said Dave, this woman is paging you. She thinks this is an appropriate time to speak to you. Dave steps over to her and hands her the mic and she proudly declares "In two weeks I will have a degree from Bryn Mawr College and I DON'T HAVE A JOB!" and everyone started cheering. Jian then said that of course the King of Spain is offering jobs, despite his working for minimum wage. So KoS led to GE&H which no one but Adina and I seemed to know or expect so we were yelling out all the crazy "woo woo!" (on a train) and NO SPOUSES! and such things and I think she felt very sort of "in the know" for having been to 2 shows and having a crazy fruhead sister. Splatter^2, and Potion which everyone got into immensely. The lads left the stage and shouts of Encore! Encore! filled the green. They came back and went into Disco Bargainville... "I wave a college pal wo says we can pay one price for..." and a really lame callback of "two!" to which I, being really hyper and out of my mind screamed back to the crowd "That sucked!" Someone looked at me curiously and turned to Adina... "Is that your sister?" That amused me for some reason. They finished off with Brown Eyed girl which I'd never heard them do live before. The crowd loved it.
Overall a pretty great concert. I then went around giving goodbye hugs and
kisses telling people I had to go... "where are you going?" "To the Allentown
concert." They looked at me with complete disbelief and awe at how crazy I am.
:) Then Amanda picked me up and drove me to Allentown. Hee!
Some other tidbits from the performance include:
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