This was my first Moxy Fruvous show, mainly because this was the first time they ever played in Pittsburgh. According to the band, this was their second time visiting Pittsburgh, but the first time they ever played in front of people. According to the band, their first visit was a few years back when the Penguins won the Stanley Cup.
This was a benefit show in support of local radio station WYEP-FM. The band was donating their time and energy playing the gig for free. They only asked for food, lodging and gas money. Some comments the band made was that this station was playing truly alternative music, and they were happy to hear some of their own songs being played also. WYEP is the only station in Pittsburgh that dares to play Moxy Fruvous songs on the radio.
The show started promtly at 7:00pm with the opening song "Buy Our Disc." Next was "My Baby Loves . . . Authors," and then "River Valley."
After those songs, the band encouraged everybody to finish up their food during the next song, because up until now they've played their sad, slow, songs, and after the next song, things were going to heat up. The crowd laughed and the band went into the next song, "Horseshoes."
The following songs may be a little out of order, but they played the following . . .
"I Love My Boss," "The Greatest Man In America (Lyric Changed to Bob Dole is quite a nice man)," Johnny SauceP'n," and "Get In The Car."
Next they played "Green Eggs And Ham," and in the middle of the song they talked about the Beatles with Jian doing a very good Beatle impression.
Next came "Spiderman" with Mike running around the audience with Jian and Dave chasing him around. Mike was stealing plates of food (Mainly Cheese) from various tables in the place and redistributing them to other tables. At the end of the song Mike scared one unsuspecting audience member by grabbing him by the shirt collar like he was going to choke him. Needless to say, the audience went wild during this song.
After "Spiderman" came "King Of Spain" with Dave wearing his funny red hat. Next was "Michigan Militia," which got a good response from the audience since WYEP was playing this song often.
The set ended with the "Love Potion #9 Medley" which included various bits of songs, but the one that got the most laughs from the crowd was the "Staying Alive" segment.
The band then thanked the audience and left the stage to a roaring crowd that gave them a standing ovation. After a few moments, the band came back on stage for their only encore, and sung "The Drinking Song." Both Murray and Jian looked especially sad and sentimental during this song. I thought that either one of them could have burst into tears at any second.
The encore ended with another standing ovation, but we knew that the end had come because the band re-appeared on stage and started clearing it of their instruments and other gear.
After the stage was cleared, the next band started setting up and during the break, I finally got a chance to meet the band. Each one was very nice and they all gladly autographed my photo of them from the "Bargainville Sessions," which I received a few years back when I was reviewing albums for my old college newspaper.
One strange thing I saw was Murray autographing a piece of cheese - I overheard him say that that was the first piece of cheese he ever autographed.
My mood was filled with excitement and frenzy after seeing such a wonderful show and meeting all the members of the band.
Soon the headlining band, Over The Rhine, started playing, but they were just too mellow for me to handle after hearing Moxy Fruvous.
Moxy Fruvous put on an awesome show, and I hope it is the first of many for
us to see here in Pittsburgh.
Some other tidbits from the performance include:
Back to the tour dates 1997 page