This review is done in my usual style. Looking for a travelogue? Check FDC for my NoHo 98 review.

This show was very '97-98. They opened with Sahara, no doumbek, but Sahara nonetheless.... oh wait.

For those of you who were wondering how Fruvous were going to get up at 4:00 am Mountain Time, for a flight at 6 am MT to Toronto, load up the bus and get to Glenwood NY by 5pm Eastern.... I think Dave Tobey must just be some kind of god. They arrived ten minutes before their set was to start, to applause from those of us who saw them draw up, and the relief of confused techs... ever watched techs try and set up Jian's drum kit mics? Imagine them doing it... WITHOUT the drums. They hit the stage about 5:40 pm. All things considered that's fuckin' great.

Murray claimed the band hadn't showered or shaved in 48 hours. Jian protested, pointing out that due to his heritage he would have developed a goatee if he hadn't shaved in that long. Murray modified his claim to "All right, I haven't showered or shaved in 36 hours". Apparently Mike decided to party all night, 'cause what's the point of sleep when you have to get up at 4 am? (Coincidentally that was my philosophy last night when I got home at 4 am and needed to get up at 7.. I did crash for about an hour right around 6 am though)

And Murphy's Law? I actually went to this show just to see how Murphy's Law would manifest itself. Murphy's Law says, when everything's going fine, the bus shall blow a tire right after they pass customs. Dave and Cal got thanked a lot during the set, as did the Grape Jam crew who stayed late so Fruvous could get their whole 90 mins (probably closer to 100) in.

So yeah. Music.

Sahara, Horseshoes, Heatseeker Boy,.. I *remember* Murray saying "Ok, Song Four" after some banter broke down.. something about reggae beats and Major Max someone... but I have no recollection of order from here on in. Encore was Video Bargainville.. the duel was going really well and would have gone on even longer had not the drummer decided to interrupt another Fordy solo to continue the song (Spoilsport.) and Brown Eyed-Girl

In no particular order, Jian decided, with backup from the crowd, that we didn't want slow ballads that early, and cancelled Sad Girl... *after* everyone had switched instruments. Pisco made an appearance, as did KoS..

GE&H Not the Beatles.. The "Murray and I can just go back to our room, play the Revolver album and slap each other around" quote reappears. Murray:"is that a good touch or a bad touch?" Jian:"Hard to tell sometimes, isn't it?" "These people were SIRED by Julian Lennon." This lead to a Julian Lennon cover by Mike which thoroughly distracted Jian. "I'm sorry. I got off-track there... but I'm PISSED OFF" 2 seconds after I whispered to Maggie "If Mike says he sees dead people, he dies" Mike decides that the response to "Look what you did to HIM" is to start running around Dave... holding his mic like a flute and singing? humming? whatever.. "the sabre dance". It's funnier than you imagine, trust me.

MBLABOA, IWHO, Psycho Killer, PTT, Saucep'n, Nuits, Moon (some humming from the audience, prompting Jian to divide the crowd into the root, third, and fifth or seventh and get them to hum together. Somehow this evolved into a weird little jam... and then Daveo claimed the crowd was scary "Something out of Planet of the Apes"), Lazy Boy, If Only, Boo Time, Get in the Car, um.. at some point Maggie decides banter's going on too long and mentions to me that sometimes it's time to just shut up... and "shut up" comes at a sudden silence from Jian. I don't think more than the band and a few people in the front row heard her but the banter suddenly broke down.. this may have been when Murray announced "Song Four?"

And just a personal gripe. They did it AGAIN. For at least the third time in my history as a Fruhead, they started into Rainbow Connection and deliberately fucked it up. Just once I want to hear it all the way through. They can mock it before and after if they really feel the need but Dave-o was doing so nicely.

Other random things... at some point during the recital of all the happenings of the day "I Will Survive" began. The band didn't know all the words but the crowd was most helpful. And Kevin Costner's "The Postman" got made fun of a lot. Mike was the only band member that's seen it, but that didn't seem to matter. Jian thought Murray had.. (I think Murray probably saw Il Postino and Jian got confused) Jian, stage Dave for Pisco, announces "Woah, Dave, spotlights!" "It's the Spotlight on Dave 2000 tour" this prompted a Behind the Music moment. Oh and if the show wasn't 97/98 enough.. Jian wore the "I dig your boyfriend" shirt.

From Maggie:

(moon done early in the set)

wow for the first time ever i can actually post a setlist. thanks to tobey i have jian's setlist:

SAHARA
HORSE
HEAT
IF ONLY
SAD [not played]
LAZY
PISCO
BOOTY
MICHY
TUREEN
SAUCE
ASH [also not played :( ]
HOLD
NUITS
KINGREEN
AUTHOR
CAR
PSYCHO
_______
VIDEO

i'm going to start out by saying that i'm from rochester, *not* toronto. :D

the drive down was fun, rather uneventful, so i won't bore ya with details you don't care about. sarahs slean and harmer took the stage with tory cassis at 1pm (we got there just in time). excellent. three of my very favorite people! donna the buffalo played between s/t/s. i thought they were alright, but i can only take so much jamming. besides that, they didn't even look all that happy to be playing.

fruvous was scheduled to take the stage at 5pm. the frubus pulled up behind the stage literally at 4:57. gotta love 'em for the consistency ;) there was much improving about reggae, which i didn't quite get but still enjoyed nonetheless. hee. after Horseshoes jian began to explain why they were late... apparently they blew a tire just after they crossed over the peace bridge. cal and tobey came to the rescue "and got down and dirty, fixing that tire while we read archie comics! it only took five minutes to fix the tire, but they got down and dirty for half an hour." eep? i jokingly said to a friend of mine "he needs to shut up now" just as the improv ended... and i think jian heard me. he gave murray a shocked yet amused look... that didn't stop me from feeling terrible (i'm sorry jian).

a reference was made at one point to the big black plastic- looking thing that was up on the hill. i had no clue what it was, either. jian said "ya know, i think that that *thing* is closer to us than it was just five minutes ago..." the fruhead contingent in front laughed, it was sadly lost on everyone else.

i can't remember anything else. there was lots of banter, at least, it seemed like a lot to me. :) i wish that i could fill in the blanks, but i can't. i'm tired. and i hate buffalo... well, i hate getting lost *in* buffalo at night. darn one-way streets...

From Rachel:

didn't they do "you will go to the moon" at some point? I really hope I wasn't imagining that. it was amazing. I don't think it was on the setlist, 'cause I heard Jian suggest it to Dave off-mic.

there was lots of banter about "major matt marshall" (maybe?) who I think was a space-man doll Mike had, that Jian had never heard of. there was also some banter about the people on the hill who were sitting up there to be "as far away from the band as possible." Jian thought there were three, but Murray said there were four and the fourth was Jian's optometrist. then they actually counted people and there were five. Oh, and talk about how "moon" was a lame name for the moon, like oranges being called orange, (Jian: but "moon" isn't a color! that's my point!) because the moon could have had a cool name like "Richie".

Some other tidbits from the performance include:

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