I must say that when we were driving to Oberlin College, Atasi made the observation that she was expecting Ohio to look a lot like wide, open fields and much less trees. We all agreed with her. We never thought that Ohio would have as many trees as it did. But, hey, we're just a bunch of southerners (plus one westerner) traveling around. We don't know much.
The campus is pretty nice. Very well laid out...no hills! (Which made me very excited cause good ol' JMU is nothing but hills and many stairs and more hills with more stairs...needless to say we hate walking around on the campus sometimes.) And the students look really really cool.They're very liberal and not at all conservative. Rumor has it that they're pretty darn smart as well.
Ok, so I was a bit concerned when I heard that the concert was in a chapel. That's just very weird considering some of the words that come out of the guys' mouths during their shows (esp. Mike). Jordan was like, ya, this is my second show with them in a church. Alrighty. I guess it's not as odd as I thought. The chapel was really nice. No air conditioning, but really nice. We scored some sweet spots in the balcony right over top of stage Murray. Geared with cameras, we were ready for a good findal show.
While waiting, Jordan and I made freinds with the people next to us, who were from Pittsburgh. Then, Jordan started to feel a little ill so she and Amanda went down to the restroom just in case. While down there, they ran into Jian and had a nice little conversation. Back in the balcony, Atasi and I were chillin. After a while, Amanda and Jordan were back...and the lady came on to announce Fruvous. Boy, was there an ecstatic crowd at this show. And, the acoustics were sweet. It's been a while since the show, so I'll try and tell you everything that I can remember. Improvs/Banter:
~there was this group of students sitting next to us which caught a lot of flack during the concert. Jian was making fun of them cause they sat there only to see Murray's a$$ during the show. Then, after Pisco, Jian was saying that they were like the dancing flowers that you can buy. So, they played a good lil jam and the kids were dancing and stuff. It was funny.
~during Pisco this person had a fish on a stick and was running around the floor with it. Toward the end of the song, they were making it 'swim' across the front of the stage then threw it toward the guys. I'm thinking that there was some stuff written on the fish cause every once in a while one of the guys would pick it up during the show and read it or something
~Jian was wearing a shirt that says, "Guys are Great"
~Dave was looking as good as ever. Everyone was commenting on how good he looked. Awww yeah.
~If Jordan's camera actually worked, I would've gotten some great pics of the lads...at one point Jian slapped his butt toward the students sitting next to us.
~During Disco, Murray definitely rocked the house. As usual, Murray gave Mike the wonderful symbol of the birdie. At which point, Mike bent over. Very nice image.
~GEH...Mike was awesome. "I see dead people."
~Their closing song, The Drinking Song, was great. Everyone was swaying and singing. Gradually, the guys dropped out and just let the crowd sing and it was just beautiful. The acoustics in that church were just brilliant. I'm guessing that it's quite alright to have a concert in a church.
I totally enjoyed myself at the concert even though we were dripping with sweat at the end of the night. After the concert, we got pics with Mike, Dave, and Murray. Oh, thanks to Murray for being such a good sport about the whole picture thing. ;-) Our friend really appreciated it. I definitely look forward to hearing Dave's solo cd.
...and, hopefully, the guys will be back on tour...after their much needed break, of course.
Get lots of rest, guys! You definitely deserve it!
From Lissa:
(written by Lissa Herron, Katie Webb, Allison Vogelgesang, and Jenny Wahl)
On a sultry evening in the non-air conditioned Finney Chapel at Oberlin College, Moxy came out at 8:15 and opened with “Nowhere Man”, to the delight of many. When they finished, they said that that song, and in fact the whole concert, was dedicated to George W. Bush. Jian said the name of tonight’s concert is “Moxy Fruvous in Oberlin College: This One’s for George”. Dave said, “This next song is about his IQ. It’s called ‘Half as Much’.” During Half as Much, Dave broke a string, so to give him time to change it, the other three did an improv called “Hey Joel”, an ode to their soundman. Jian also claimed that the people up in the balcony pissed him off because they couldn’t hear them and were only sitting there to look at their asses. Murray claimed he wasn’t wearing any underwear because it was too hot. Jian made the comment that you could tell it was the last night of the tour because they had been out for half an hour and had only done two songs. Eventually they settled down and played a really slow version of “Horseshoes”. At this point they were getting really hot and sweaty up on stage, so Mike suggested that they go “Night Swimming” in his best Michael Stipe voice. Jian broke into “Closing Time…. I’m going to try to sing this in my best Michael Stipe voice”
Jian spit out his gum and put it on his little pile on his drum set, eliciting an “eww” from the audience. The intro to the next song said it was to be kept in a time capsule until February 4th, 2001, when there would be an empire made of …. Gum (according to Murray). Mike was inspired to sing “Vangelis” (Chariots of Fire) and Jian started running in slow motion across the stage as Dave and Murray whistled the tune. They finally broke into “Heatseeker Boy”, which was the original intent. After HB, Dave tried to move things along by beginning to play the keyboard part to “Sad Girl” as Jian talked, but only succeeded in having Jian say how nice it sounded and that we could all hear these wonderful songs on Dave’s solo album. They did a cheesy infomercial type promo, with Murray claiming that “Dave’s Peaceful Music” was perfect for listening to 5 minutes before bed. Mike claimed that it was better than taking two months’ worth of Nyquil. They tried again to intro “Sad Girl”, with Jian asking if we got Canadian TV down here. He said that in Cincinnati, they get the channel Much Music from Canada. At this point the Cincinnati faction in the second row (us!) cheered for Cincy, causing the band to go off on a tangent (in British accents) about the major cities in Ohio. They finally got back to talking about Much Music, the Canadian MTV, and that the video for the next song plays on Much More Music, the VH1 equivalent, because they’re not cool enough for Much Music. Finally, after 20 minutes of trying, they played “Sad Girl”. Jian mentioned that his voice was shot from the night before in Rochester, NY, so he sounded like Dave Matthews (who, he claims, is very sexy).
The guys actually got serious for a little while and went straight through “The Lazy Boy” and “Kick in the Ass”. They switched places and said their next song was about a magical place…. “Sugar Mountain”. They went through a few refrains of that, and thanked us for letting them have a Canadian moment. Then they played “Pisco Bandito”. The lyrics were slightly modified… “A nautical Murray Foster, a latter day Jian Ghomeshi, Antonio Dave Matheson”. After resuming original playing positions, Jian decided that the balcony people no longer pissed him off because they had a synchronized groove. He had them act like flower pot people, whenever he played they danced, and when he stopped they froze. “Independence Day” was next, with really cool red lighting. Murray rocked.
Next was “Boo Time”, but Mike didn’t have a hat and none of them wore sunglasses. In the middle they urged us to “smoke a little boo with the fruvous crew”.
As an intro to “Michigan Militia”, the guys noticed that Ohio “caresses the soft underbelly of Michigan” like North Dakota does with Canada, their “gay neighbor to the north”. They did a great “Militia”.
Dave asked if we were hungry, and said that he had had some soup before the show. Then came “Johnny Saucep’n”. Jian asked if Oberlin had a football team (it does… the Oberlin Yeoman). Turns out it’s the same mascot as his alma mater. However, they decided that this was not a good mascot and it should be changed to something like the “Oberlin Tafts” or the “Oberlin Rutherford B. Hayes”. On to the next song, also about food; “Guinea Pig”.
Jian said since it’s the beginning of a new school year, it’s open season for love. Then that love ends and you go buy books. But this next song is about a lasting love that is also kind of sad because of the total dependence on that love. “I Will Hold On” was absolutely gorgeous, Jian singing with his best “I’m about to cry” face. He wasn’t the only one…. many audience members were also in tears. They kept the mellow feel by following directly with “My Poor Generation”.
Jian asked how many people were seeing Moxy for the first time, and it was a decent number of people. He said that the people who know the band know that they are die-hard, fervent, ardent….. REPUBLICANS! After a chorus of boos, he said “Oh, not in the American sense… in the Australian sense! We are anti-monarchy! We’re sick of being a colony! We’re sick of that woman on our money! We want to do what your presidents did 200 years ago, and kick out the king and make a country where people could vote Democrat, or better yet, Nader! BUT… there is one monarch we’re a bit fond of.” Of course, everyone knew what was next, but they continued to stretch the intro. He asked, “Is it George Washington? (NO!) Is it Abraham Lincoln? (NO!) Is it Thomas Jefferson? (NO!) Is it Spiro Agnew? (NO!) CLOSE!…. physically at least. It’s.. Mike! Tell us who it is!” Mike gets all emotional and says “Murray….. is the best man to introduce this song”. Murray says “thank you” and Mike throws something at him and says “oh shut up you mama’s boy”. Murray is heavily cheered and says, “King of Spain”. Dave comes out with his KoS hat on, and they did an awesome version. It was kind of hard to understand everything they said, but it sounded like they made a reference to Murray’s earlier claim that he was “freeballing”.
It was hilarious.
Much to everyone’s delight, the guys did a slightly convoluted version of
“Green Eggs and Ham”. When Dave said “Didn’t even like the Beatles with their long, long hair,” the entire audience pointed along with Jian and said “HEY!”. Then Jian went off on Dave for 5 minutes about not dissing the Beatles. He claimed that everyone in there was the illegitimate child of a Beatle’s fan. Everyone had “suckled on the teets of the Help album. They drank from the loins of Paul McCartney”. That obviously didn’t come out right, and all four cracked up for a while. After the laughter subsided, Jian said that he and Murray would be ok, they could just go to the hotel and put on some Sgt. Pepper’s, and they would be fine, but “look what you did to Mike!” Mike was going into hysterics, and said some unintelligible things. Finally Jian broke back in with “You don’t like green eggs and ham”. All were happy. The fun and happy mood continued with “My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors”, with Murray being crucified. They ended with “Psycho Killer”. Mike messed up the “you start a conversation you can’t even finish” verse, eliciting a strange look from Jian, but was able to get back on track. They bowed and went off stage.
First encore was “Disco Bargainville”. Jian made us sing “pay one price for two” three times because we weren’t loud enough for him. They went off stage again.
When they came back out, Jian tried to act all serious, claiming how Moxy is passionate about their beliefs, love, music, etc., but if we got only one thing out of this concert it was to “Believe”. They did the exact same intro to this Cher parody in Cincinnati, which was kind of disappointing, but it was still funny, especially Mike’s part. They also worked in a little bit of “Come on Eileen” into the middle of it.
Finally, they ended as usual with “The Drinking Song.” They had us sing one refrain, and the crowd was really into it, swaying in unison. At the end they stopped singing and let the audience finish the song. It was really moving and beautiful.
Overall, this was the best concert I’ve ever seen. The rapport with the
audience was great, and the guys were having a blast on stage. All four
came out afterwards to talk to the fans until they kicked us out of the
building. A great end to a great tour. The Music Opened with · Nowhere
Man The Set · Half As Much · Horseshoes · Heatseeker Boy · Sad Girl · The
Lazy Boy · Kick in the Ass · Independence Day · Boo Time · Michigan
Militia · Johnny Saucep’n · Guinea Pig · I Will Hold On · My Poor
Generation · King of Spain · Green Eggs and Ham · My Baby Loves a Bunch of
Authors Closed with · Psycho Killer Encore 1 · Disco Bargainville Encore 2
· Believe · The Drinking Song Misc. Info Some other tidbits from the
performance include: -Murray wasn’t wearing a Murray shirt! It was white
with blue stripes, and looked like a 50-50 poly-cotton blend, if not all
cotton! Very shocking, but understandable due to the heat. -Jian’s shirt
was awesome. It was tight (of course) and dark blue, and said “Boys are
great. Every girl should own one” -Mike looked very nice in a green shirt
and white baggy pants. He wanted to wear the white pants because it was
pretty much his last chance before Labor Day, after which he, of course,
could not wear white. -Dave was wearing a long sleeved denim shirt,
probably not the best choice considering the heat. It ended up getting
really sweaty. :-P
Some other tidbits from the performance include:
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