Fruvous has always seemed to have great shows at Valentine's, so after a day in Buffalo, I was ready to trek to Albany for the fourth time in my Fru-history.
I left work and Rochester around 3:30, and made it to Albany by around seven. After finding parking, I got to the venue, greeted by Maureen and some of her friends. Doors were supposed to open at seven, but, as always, didn't open till about 7:30.
Once inside, I realized that they changed the layout of the venue a tad, moving the bar further back, making more room for the audience, which is always good! Jess Klein was the opener and she went on stage a little past eight. The crowd sat on the floor, and was very respectful of Jess' quiet, short set. Before and during Jess' set, a bunch of people showed up, including Jason, Rob, Leah, and others.
Between the two sets, I was more than a little surprised by Vika's arrival. :-) I wasn't expecting her to be there at all. crazyVika. Gordon, Adam, Melanie, Kathryn, and more fruheads arrived at this point. Fruvous came on around nine, and played an amazing set lasting two hours. The set was full of improvs, audience interaction, and plenty of surprises. Great show!
Afterwards, Laurie, Susan Tanner, Jo, Jen, Chris/Moe, and yet more people said their hellos (I didn't see anyone barely, during the set). Helped Fruvous load the van, chatted with the band and friends, and gave my car to Susan Tanner so I could head back to Boston with Vika (not my _original_ plan, obviously, but, hey, I can improvise!)
Left Albany at midnight, and made it to Boston by three in the morning. Kathryn (Bastet) arrived at FruCasa shortly thereafter, and got a whopping 4 hours sleep. Have to get up early on a Saturday morning if you want to make it to Elmer, NJ in time for Vance's set!!! :-)
From Wildy:
Valentine's in Albany was Fruhead central last night. Moxy played to the largest crowd they've seen in Albany yet, and what a great show it was. Two new songs tonight. One was a slow serious/funny piece called Sad Girl (always hard to tell the lyrics when hearing them the first time live). The other was something along the line of Disco Bandito... a fun calypso/rock piece about a fish from Mexico who swims as something of a tourist attraction in Lake Ontario for tourist money. Bandito had the whole crowd dnacing and clapping.
I even brought a friend tonight, and am happy to say that there is at least one more burgeoning Fruehead living here in the greater Albania area.
A wonderful improv developed tonight, between the crowd and the band. Jian was commenting on the shape of the room, and how one small section of the room were Murray's people. this became a running joke throughout the show, with the guys going so far as throwing Murray out of the band because he had changed since he got his own people. :) But a musical jam developed about Murray's people, and people on the other side of the room who were Not Murray's People, and then the "sheep" in the middle of the room who were Nobody's People. Jian said it was the first time they'd ever done that one, and probably the last, as even though they rather liked it, they'd never remember it by tomorrow night. I can't remember everything, and certainly not in order, but the set included: BJ Don't Cry, Horseshoes, I've Got to Get A Message To You, King of Spain, The Present Tense Tureen, Video Bargainville, My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors, Jockey Full of Bourbon, Johnny Saucepan, Your New Boyfriend, Love Potion #9, Green Eggs and Ham, Sag Girl, (Disco?) Bandito, Murray's People (several times), The Drinking Song, Spiderman, and Get In The Car. Not to mention several little snippets of this and that, and a superhero known as the Bird-Bag Lady, who assisted Spiderman in running "Snake Politicians" out of the capital.
All in all, a great, and highly interactive show. And I won't even tell you
what they said about Syracuse. :)
Some other tidbits from the performance include:
Back to the tour dates 1998 page