Live Show: 11/19/97

11/19/97

St. Louis, MO

Reviewed by: Chad Maloney

The Details

Okay, so my queue of pending reviews has become a stack now and there are more to come. So, I better get a couple out the door.

St. Louis you ask? Well, I made that trip over to the Mississippi along with some of my friends from the place where I went to school. Andy, Rich, and I piles along with Coz into Coz's car to travel the couple hour drive down the mystical Interstate 70.

Now, most of you aren't from Indiana, so you don't understand the pain we go through with time zones here. Indiana doesn't change timezones, so we gained an hour travelling to St. Louis. So, we stopped off in scenic Maryville Illinois a mere 15 minutes from the place I grew up to enjoy some nice frozen custard at Bobby's. Get it soon, cuz Bobby's closes Nov 30th. Our shivering bodies sitting outside in the cold eating some great frozen yogurt before a Frushow! Yay!

We ventured across the river over the poplar street bridge and into the city. We got to the venue at 10 till proposed doors but the guys were still sound checking and chairs were still on tables. Marcus wandered out, so I took the chance to ask him what time doors were. Marcus, the smart guy that he is, asked back "Is this a perfect world?" I of course pointed out that it was a Fruvous world, and guessed 8pm (it was 7). Marcus said that was pretty close. So, we were in downtown St. Louis with an Omni and an hour.

We drove over to Union Station Mall and walked around for awhile to burn time. We stopped in the A to Z Stuffed Animals (Aardvarks to Zebra) store where I bought my stuffed Aardvark (Side Story: They I asked them if they'd have to change the sign and the guy behind the desk smiled really big. He pulled another Aardvark from below the desk and smiled. "We sell more Aardvarks that way.") We then went back to the venue to catch some Hammel on Trail.

The Galaxy in St. Louis isn't the best venue in the world. The stage is a good height, but there are two huge pillars in the middle of the floor in front of the stage. The sound board is in the back of the room about 20 feet from the stage. The room itself is good sized, but the stage faces the wrong direction. So, there isn't much hope of great sound. Cal pulled off some decent sound though. Two of my three friends had never seen Fruvous and they understood the show. Great job Cal...

When we got in, we were close to the first couple people in. Hammel was already setting up so we took a seat on the floor to await the hijinks of the sweaty bald man. There were maybe 8 people total listening to him directly, but he still put on a great show. The a job for all occasions challenge continued and someone shouted out airplanes. Hammel continued to tell an anal sex parachuting joke and told the audience to (of course) F*** Off. He put on a good set including the Vines song where he plays slap acoustic guitar and the song for his mother. At one point, he started talking to a woman reading some book off to the side of stage while he was playing. He asked her waht she was reading and she told him. He said it was a decent book, but best read in its native hebrew. He offered to let her borrow it, but she just laughed. Generally, I was really impressed with how he dealt with a smaller crowd. He played more music and still had the intensity he always has...

Fruvous came on to a packed front of stage. I placed myself in front of one of the large pillars, so I didn't feel bad about being tall and in the front. Right before the show started, this pretty tall guy squished right in front of this girl in front of me. I started laughing. She was mad at first, but figured it was okay since it was Beatle Bob. I had no idea who that was, but I could still see fine, so it was okay.

The guys started out with Acappella Message and I was surprised how good the sound was. They continued through the first couple tunes Poor Mary Lane and It's Too Cold. The show was going well and the audience was into it. The audience was pretty much young. Definitely early 20's. Beatle Bob was tearing up the dance floor.

I was right under the speaker in front of Dave and I could hear the bass great. It was a combincation of the Nemesis pointing at me and speaker being above my head. This got noticed a lot during Michigan Militia.

Early going, Murray spilled the beans about a certain little Fruvous plan. We got the whole explanation. I'll boil it down to this: everyone should see the Fruvous musical. It is going to be great! Not much budget for most of it, but there is a great bright spot that will make you remember it forever. The end will change your life.

After explaining all about the musical, Murray said right into the mic "Now we are gonna have to kill them all" and then went "Oh, did I say that into the mic?"

Saucep'n was introduced as a protest song. A couple people in the audience knew the slogan EET! EET! EET!

Lazy Boy was back to the ole Who has a Stereo that rocks? Who wants a stereo that rocks? Who just cheers for stereos that rock?

During Moon, Murray found a disco ball on the ceiling and exclaimed that there it is! I see it! After the orbitting rhondele part. Ash Hash followed, previewed by a little story from the Riverfront Times.

It seems that there was this 18 year old whose older sister started going out with a new guy. This guy asked the 18 year old to get him some pot. He kept asking and asking and finally the boy gave in and got him 10 bucks of pot. The boyfriend kept asking for more and the boy got him another 20 bucks worth. At this point, the boyfriend arrested the boy. The boyfriend was an undercover cop who set all this up and the boy was sent to jail for years for 30 bucks of pot.

Fell in Love was great. I was right under the speaker and the awesome moving bass line was just wonderful. Then the screaming high pitched squeel started. Murray started looking around. Jian stopped the song instantly. Mike looked around at the guitar equiptment. This left Dave trying to keep the song going. Trying to ride out the squeel. IT went a good 20-30 seconds before Murray unplugged something.

By the time Murray got it stopped, Mike had dedicated Please Please Me to Beatle Bob (so the band knew who he was) and they all went on to do the whole song. Murray had no problems once he unplugged a box from the top of his amp which leads me to think it was the fuzz box or a direct box or something up there. Jian was surprised he fixed it so fast, but still figured they should do Please Please Me since they started it.

After Please Please Me, Jian got the chair and the pre-Raja talking ensued. Jian started with his earlier today story. It seems the guy servicing him at the hotel (this is what he said) had on pink lipstick. The guy, behind the desk. What are they called? Anyway, he had pink lipstick on. Now, Jian was totally okay with it. I mean, you know. But what are you supposed to say to a guy with bright pink lipstick? Even if it does work for him?

Mike went off on the Fruvous musical some more. Explaining how the shrill noise sound effect will be perfect. Murray poited out that the noise should be left for the sequel. Mike then threated the entire audience and told us we should not speak a word of this to anyone. He then started acting out the news reports from around the world after the simultaneous opening of the musical all around the world.

Before Jocket, Dave played around with Spiderman on the accordion. The show closed strong like it always does with the new set. King of Spain was really great. The Blues called him up to drive the zamboni and the King why are you There Tee hee hee hee. Let's make Friday part of the weekend and get these guys all diction lessons...

During Get in the Car, Beatle Bob jumped up on stage and danced along. Mike humored him and let him have a good sized space. And I still love Psycho Killer...

The encored made sense more than normal. Green Eggs & Ham followed by Authors works much better than Fly. Instead, Fly led off the second encore. It was surprising, but worked pretty well, especially with Love Potion #9 medley holdingh down the end. I was all ready for the Drinking Song. In the last 7 days, I've seen 6 shows and only 2 ended with the Drinking Song, #1 and #3. I'm not complaining, just observing. The improv at the end, Mike threw in a last plea not to tell anyone about the happenings at this show or else the Fruvous musical will be a bust. Alas, I can only abide by his wished. All I can say is, see the Fruvous musical even if it is the last thing you'll ever see.

After the show, I talked to the guys alittle, but had to get on the road. I was gonna go back to Terre Haute and then sleep for a couple hours before finishing up the trip back to Indianapolis for work. Dave said he has been feeling bad lately and a couple of my friends noted how he seemed really quiet. I hope he gets better so he can close out the tour at the level he wants to.

We drove back and talked about the show. Coz got his liner notes signed and he and rich both liked the show. Hopefully you'll see that at more shows as time progresses.

The Pictures

Click the description to get the pic:


The Music

Opened with The Set Closed with Encore 1 Encore 2

Misc. Info

Some other tidbits from the performance include:



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