On Sunday morning, we all roused out of bed by ten, but stayed in the hotel right before check-out, at noon. Afterwards, Mike, Kelly, Jo, Jen, Jenn, Lisa, Ella, Rob, Jason and I went to Friendly's just outside Providence for lunch around one in the afternoon. Once our bellies were full, we left for Northampton by three. We had to go to Connecticut first to allow Jenn to get her car.
After dropping Jenn off, we made it to Northampton by 5:30, with plenty of time to kill before the show. During our short walk around Northampton, a quaint, beautiful town full of shops and coffee houses, we ran into Rob, Ella, Lisa, and Jason in a record store. Everyone was hunting for rare audio treats amongst the piles of used CDs.
Shortly thereafter, Zard and Chris were found keeping warm in a nearby bank ATM along with Doug Levy. A bunch of us headed to 'Fire & Water', a small coffeehouse, where we killed some time, got some really good food, and listened to a young man sing some very heartfelt tunes with the help of his acoustic guitar. We decided to head to the Iron Horse and stake out our place in line a little before eight.
Doors didn't open till past nine, unfortunately. It was very cold in line, waiting outside like that, but Dan, Jered, Gordon, Clairice, Kimberly, Vika, Ofer and others also joined us and everyone talked and reminisced about the past year of Fruvous shows.
Fruvous started pretty quickly once we were let inside. There was no opening act; Jason and I grabbed an amazing seat in the balcony area to witness the action from. The Iron Horse is laid out very well; almost everywhere you sit is a good seat with a good view. Moxy's set was slightly varied from the previous nights, and the crowd was as into it as I've ever seen them. The band had a blast you could tell. The set was a little less than two hours long.
Afterwards, people said goodbyes to the band, and to each other. It felt much different than a regular show, because everyone knew that some people wouldn't be seeing one another for months, potentially.
Mike, Kelly, Jo, Jen and I said our last goodbyes and left Northampton by one in the morning, getting back to Utica by four, and finally getting to sleep by five. I was tempted to keep on truckin' to Rochester, but I could NOT keep my eyes open. Jo, Jen and I woke up Sunday morning and left Utica by nine. Jo and I got back to Rochester by eleven, at which point I crashed (hard, I might add) into the wonderful world of sleep for a good five hours before waking up to write this review.
What an AMAZING weekend. I'd never done four shows in a row before this, and it was a blast. I can't wait to see everyone when Fruvous starts touring again, but here's looking forward to NYE and The Fruhead show. See you all soon, and happy holidays!!
From Gordon:
And because we sometimes need to remember why we are here, a show review!!!
And what a show it was!!!
Warning: this is long, very long.
I got a little sleep on Sunday morning and drove home in time to watch the Patriots defeat the Jaguars, then I got my stuff together and headed down to the Iron Horse. I brought my "ATTENTION FRUHEADS - come to the Fire & water" signs and posted them on and around the Horse. As I was getting ready to head there myself.....
ATTENTION: THIS IS A NAME DROPPING OPPORTUNITY AND WHAT FOLLOWS IS A LIST OF EVERYONE I RAN INTO AT THIS SHOW.......if I leave you out, I apoogize.
Shilfiel (did you make him go to school?), Dedes (the fan!), Chris (Ted Koppel), Chris T, Chris O, Zard, Jason R (thanks for the football scores), Rob (sorry about the football scores), Ella, Lisa, Vika, Ofer, Mike, Kelly, Cynda, Dan, Jered, Ceecee (not really, but I try to drop her name in all my reviews), OK so who am I leaving out??? Anyone??? Anyone???
OK! Then I'll go on!
After Fire and Water I went back to Iron Horse to find my signs had been taken down - maybe the club thought that the coffee shop had put them up to draw people there. Maybe I should have asked permission?
Got inside at some time which was after we should have gotten in, grabbed some table for my mom and girlfriend and grabbed some floor space for myself. I invited them down a number of times - the shows are fun down there, guys, but oh well - they wanted to sit and stare at their men. Lori has a thing for Jian, my mom for Dave.....but after what we found out about Marcus......
The show got started - no opener tonight, thank goodness - band comes on stage and asks us if its ok if they rock out a bit.....ummm.....sure! Why not!
Organ Grinder starts and I knew right then that this would not be the usual Frushow. The Iron Horse brings real music lovers out and the crowds always get very energetic regardless of the band on stage. We here in Western Mass are good listeners and good audiences, in my not-so-humble opinion. And to all of you who came into town for the day, I hope you enjoy our little Northampton town - it's a real treasure of our area.
Then Dave starts playing something particularly fast - i didn't quite pick it up right away until he mentioned something about American thighs. I thought no way! And next thing I knew they did two full verses of the AC/DC classic on quadruple time banjo. Not just a tease, mind you, but an incomplete song.
Dave is holding the banjo, so why not Michigan Militia? We're supposed to be rocking out, right? I don't know why, but this was the best Michigan Militia I had ever heard.
Then they played It's Too Cold, which was our thoughts exactly waiting in line. Brrrrrrr.... I am not used to this cold weather, and its already December. It's Too Far - where people had to park. It's Too Late - to get that 12th stamp on the card - the tour is ending tonight!
The show slows down. Horseshoes. Rumblings were that John Greene (I forgot him up above!) was going to play piano with them, but there was no piano set up. Maybe because the McGarrigle sisters ha played earlier and there was no time for a proper soundcheck. Back to this point a little later in the broadcast.
I Love My Boss came next, and well, you know - it was I Love My Boss! "Who knows what Jablonski will be bringing from dear old boss?" OK so this time Mike dropped the name. This brought a giddy cheer from the Fruheads crowded up front.
Boo Time happened next and maybe Mike was possessed or something but he was doing his best Donald O'Connor attempt to climb up the wall. (OK - do you know this stuff? Singing in the Rain? Make em Laugh? Donald OConnor? Walks up the walls? Then tries it at the end and walks through?) Anyway, Mike was jumping off the walls - it was great!!!
Then he catches his breath and sings Oliver's Army. I sang along with great gusto. I may have even annoyed my neighbors...
Then they said they did an album of science songs and I thought "could this be Entropy?" and, well, it wasn't. This also I think was point in the show where one of them asked Murray "what is Bittersweet about?" and I thought "Bittersweet?" but nope.....You Will Go to the Moon.....
Then they started talking a little bit about something or other having to do with alternative cigarettes and Jian got off on a tangent about the kids in the front row. He said he had brought some girl on stage in a prior show because she looked like someone (some folk singer, I don't remember who, but I remember her on stage). Then he had Chris announce the song and in a deep voice, said "Ash Hash." Then he was called Ted Koppel, and well, that's gonna stick.
Now Jian went from Ash Hash to Fly. An odd transition, but I like this song, although something odd began to happen. Some annoying crackling over the PA. Sound problems? At the Horse? Oh no! They blew the speakers! Now of course this didn't happen. I talked to the Iron Horse house sound guy after the show - he told me it was radio interference from the wireless mikes. I said "you mean like in Spinal Tap?" (I mentioned Spinal Tap two nights in a row!) and he sad "yah, like that.....except this is real."
The next song was River Valley. What a great live song. As a matter of fact, this is the song has the highest gap between live and album version, or at least that's what I think. Of course most of this review is what I think.
Get in the Car came next, and I mentioned last night that I like this song less every time I hear it, and well....that hasn't changed....the only part I really like is the Billy Ocean line.
Next came Your New Boyfriend, or shall I say your Old boyfriend - the song as it appears on the album. It has a different feeling this way. The slow way is pretty funny in the contrast between the arrangement and the words - this sounds more angry. It changes the mood of the song.
Next Dave disappeared with his hat. Golly gee what comes next. 1-2-3-4!!!! Well, this is just a show stopper - I go so crazy during this song that I think it must end in 30 seconds because I don't quite remember this song happening! Did it happen? DId it morph into a short Green Eggs? Did Jian say that the three sacred things are The Beatles, Leslie Nielsen and the Maple Leafs? Did he insult Phish and then do a just kidding? Does he actually hate Phish? Do we care?
I remember Love Potion #9. But you know, it makes me want them to do a full Carry On Wayward Son cover. Wouldn't that be cool? Fruvous does Kansas? How about Styx? Can't you just see Fruvous doing Renegade? Wow I could come up with so many cover songs for them to do, but we have not yet begun to cover songs.
Because after the show was "over" (yah right) they came back and played Psycho Killer (speaking of Phish, they covered Psycho Killer that night, too). They do it so well - it's like all they'd need are some oversized suits (if they wore my jacket, they'd be all set) and we'd be looking at the Moxy Heads!
Then it "ended" again and we heard Present Tense Tureen. This is a good song, but somehow or other something louder would have been right in this spot in the show, but what? I'm going to complain? I don't think so!
Then the Lou Reed intro into Dancing Queen - I turned around, smiled at Lori (she loves Abba, especially I Kissed the Teacher) first time hearing this in person. It's the only time I really ever liked this song - I'd much rather hear an SOS.
Now since the show had reached its "conclusion" they weren't going to......what? Girl From Ipanema in the original (or so I'm told) Portugese? Then Jian in Persian? Well I'll be.....cool.....
Then Mike broke into Brown Eyed Girl. People screamed! People danced! People started passing out all over the place! Mad mayhem! OK not really, but this crowd was so into this tune. Unfortunately, my girlfriend has green eyes, so I can't really appreciate this song as I should. Green Eyed Lady is more my speed. Do you think they would humour me?
Then finally, Drinking Song. What else? Swaying, singing, saying goodbye.
Well that's it. A killer show to end the tour that made me proud to call myself a Fruhead. I am fairly new to this designation and I am greatful to all of those who made me feel welcome. I'll be seeing you along the road for years to come.....
And that's the last Frureview for months to come. I don't apologize for making
it so long. It is going to be a while before I get the chance again!
Some other tidbits from the performance include:
Back to the tour dates 1997 page
