*Argh %^#$*^@^&%#$(&!!!!* I knew this was going to happen, I spend an hour detailing the concert and as soon as I am a'boot to finish the news reader crashes on me. So here is my poor attempt at recovering what I lost and still making it out of here intime for some microwave goodies and some much needed sleep.
Background - um... I am going to warn you right now that this may be insanely long since I am not an experienced Moxy concert scribe, oh and if you have any real love for arkansas you may want to proceed with caution my last one wasn't too kind to the crowd. (but I hope that this doesn't stop Moxy from going further south perhaps on their next tour, like say.. umm... dallas..).
After a brisk 5 hour drive through the wilds of oklahoma with Kathryn (bastet) and Andy (starfox) we reach the incredible old fort smith river festival! Now festival in my mind conjures up images of carnival rides, interesting, disgusting, and horribly fattening foods (like funnel cakes), rows upon rows of games which nobody can win, and arts and crafts tents full of interesting house hold items made out of drift wood. Not here. The "festival" was pretty lame, three booths for food, a tent for arts and crafts (all really cliche 'cept this guy making stuff out of used electric wire), and a stage under a huge bridge. Needless to say it was pretty dinky.
A pleasant surprise was Vance Gilbert; who performed right after we got there. He did an excellent job with what he had to work with. I especially got a kick out of his being the first country rap singer, the crowd was stunned. ha ha ha. Next, heart rouge. The harmonies were great and I got to put my whole 2 semesters of french to good use. Next the mambo kings... a really pathetic glorified poka band. Although calling them poka might insult some poka people. They were horrible, although Chad might disagree. Angel and I made up new words to their one song so it was at least tolerable.
Moxy comes out, yeah! We've (Kathryn, Andy, Andy, Chad, Angel and myself) moved to front row center, rest of crowd is 60 ft back on lawn chairs and whatnot.
Jian introduces the group and challenges the audience to get off their butts... some move closer. Jian says its their first time to Arkansas and that they just came from Missouri and that they hated it, then retracts to say that it was kewl. Think they there going for a intra-state rivalry thing, but they were getting little reaction from the crowd. Dave says that they'll come back (maybe in a couple of weeks) if the river was clean enough to swim in. Its damn hot (90 degrees and about 100 % humidity).
BJ don't cry. - they sound awsome, the acoustics are great, but then again we're almost on stage. We've got a good 10 ft. buffer zone between us and the next "fan". Many people in the back decide to call it a night. Mike says BJ'd rather be going cow tipping...
Jockey Full O' Burbon - no intro, just jammed right into it. I love this tune, it sounds excellent.
Horseshoes - I know there was an intro, I was attempting to gauge crowd reaction and wasn't paying too much attention (sorry).
Jian asks the crowd how many people have crummy jobs. Many in crowd cheer and raise hands. I am amazed at how many are employeed.
I love my boss. - the guys are really on for this song, well done.
Dave intros talking about who can divert which disaster fire, plague and the like...
Spiderman - mike doesn't have too much to climb on so makes due croutched in one corner of the stage. Mike is plays it up; attempts to get the crowd to do the spiderman screetch... and tells everyone in the crowd with those annoying glow rings that they are endowed with spider-powers. Very cool.
I blank due to shock at this point. Someone begins the intro to Greatest Man in America, as soon as I realize thats whats next, I figured there was a'gonna be a old style hangin'.
Greatest Man in America - crowd realizes the song is about rush, they cheer wildly. Dancing ensues and general merriment. Guys get through two verses before they realize that this isn't a song praising rush. Eerie silence starts from behind us. Guys raise hands in Nazi salute, 6 fru-heads in front salute back, at this point I'm not looking back to get crowd reaction. Guys finish; I think I hear "get the fans then the band"(no I'm j/k but you could feel the LOVE).
On with the hats and grampa fruvous.
Minnie the moocher - a most excellent song to cover, kudos!
Rivervalley - an excellent treat.
Get in the car - guys are jamming, a small crowd has now gathered and dancing is going on, even the idiots behind us who were attempting to mock are dancing.
I've just got to get a message to you - I'm a sucker for acapella music... this is just great. Even the people in the back are getting into it (probably cause the realize that this is a beejees tune).
Johnny Saucep'n - everyone is jamming', crowd is going wild (probably cause this sounds like a lot of what they're used to).
Improv - (I believe this is where the improv actually happened). Jian asks crowd for ideas on what to sing, he eliminates freebird which seemed to cause mental block for many of the people there. Idiots in the crowd yell "play some cake", this is quickly dismissed. Idiots yell "beer" and "sex". Jian taunts them by telling them they are most original. Someone says "swing", a most cool musical style, but topic for a song... and another says "marshmellows". The improv is short but pretty cool given what they had to work with.
Jian says that the band is actually republicans. This gets many cheers. Jian asks the crowd how many consider themselves republican. Many cheers and raised hands. Jian says they're republicans in the austrialian sense not the american sense, that would be idiotic. Silence again (I'm laughing hysterically; on the inside...). Mike intros king of spain, somehow gets cow tipping into it which was a running theme throughout the talking to the audience. Dave runs onto stage with multicolored kingly hat.
King of spain. - still rocks.
Green Eggs in Ham - much of the crowd gets into this since Dr. Seuss was probably the last book they read. Idiots barge into the front row and crack open beers and begin to chug. Ugh.
Love potion #9 (supa-mix) - crowd is jumping.... morons in crowd are attempting to slam dance.
Amazingly enough we get them to do an encore.
My Baby loves a bunch of authors - Jian intros with lo usual... its not as well received as the LP #9 mix since it is a little slower in tempo, but I could care less about the rest of the crowd, I loved it.
It was a great concert... just wish I could have gotten rid of 3/4s of the crowd. And I must thank all the fru-heads that were there.... it wouldn't have been the same without cha!
From Starfox:
Well, well well and well...This weekend was my first time seeing Moxy Fruvous live. I've been deflowered! :) I'll leave the play by play of the Fort Smith show to my good buddy and road trip pal, wild bill.
I must say, Fruvous live is a total blast. The best small venue band I have ever seen. I got to stand right up front since I was one of maybe a dozen fruvous fans there. I was pretty surprised as to how well the guys got that crowd hopping (of course, beer helped some of the teeny boppers). Especially after they played "Greatest Man In America" after that one, I swear I could hear the sounds of guns cocking. :)
They played some of my favorite songs, such as "Horseshoes", "BJ Don't Cry", and others. After the first show, I was able to get Jian's set list, and subsequently have them all sign it. (Thanks guys!) We (kathryn, bill, angel, chad, Andy, and me) got to get some pics and chatted a little with them and Toby. After the concert and checking into our hotel, we went to a local bar where they had a pretty good blues band playing and Jian certainly seemed to enjoy himself. Too bad we got there right before they closed, so we only got to hear about 15 minutes worth of the band.
The next day was by far the best Fruvous experience. They played on a small cabaret stage inside a tent so it was definitely up close and personal. Again I was up front with the rest of us Fruheads. It was billed as a "vocal workshop" so the guys mainly played acoustic and harmony songs such as "You Will Go To The Moon", and "Gotta Get a Message to You". During the opening song "I Love My Boss", Jian hopped down and did the bump and grind whilst rubbing my head. I shall never wash my hair again...*laff* ;) And I had another close encounter of the David kind as he pointed me out during the epilogue portion of King Of Spain. The second show was very cool and I had an absolute blast.
Afterwards we chatted and got pictures, then hung out with Murray a while as we all watched the Sons of Tennessee (three guys on horses playing country music). I great treat for Moxy I'm sure. Real live American culture...:) Unfortunately we could not stay any longer as we had a 5 hr trip back to Dallas. After Toby hooked us up with some Definition t-shirts (thanks man!), we bid adieu to the wonderful little town of Ft. Smith, Arkansas.
Well, needless to say, I loved every minute of it. I love the fact that you can actually get up and meet the band members, and that they are cool with that. So, for now, I shall listen to my albums with a greater appreciation, wear my Fruvous T with pride, and work with Bill to spawn a Dallas contingent of Fruheads so the guys can venture even farther into the south.
Starfox "Newly christened Fruhead"
From the Ft. Smith Southwest Times:
PaperDate: Thu, June 11, 1998
Publication: Southwest Times Record, Fort Smith, Arkansas, U.S.A.
Old Fort River Festival Musical Lineup
BY LINDA SEUBOLD
TIMES RECORD
Moxy Fruvous -- an unusually fun, talented Canadian band with a name to match.
Funky, punky, brainy, zany, thought-provoking, energetic performers, they are known
for their musical moxie and sizzling live performances.
Some other tidbits from the performance include:
Back to the tour dates 1998 page