Wow....What a Weekend.

For me. I really started Thursday, with Great Big Sea in Buffalo. They played a great set, and I was in the Front row, surrounded by Canadians on all sides. Quite differently from the only other time I saw them, which was in Hamilton, Ont. Where I was way in the back, surrounded by Canadians...

Friday, I picked up Chrissy K around 2:45. We made it to Oswego by 5:30, after taking the Park and Ride. We just missed Bark Like a Dog, but everyone (especially Mary (aka Cricket)) said they were really good. Fruvous' gear didn't even show up until around 6:30, when they were supposed to start. After a quick set up, Fruvous was ready to go. They did their sound checks, and started with a bunch of banter. Most of the Bantering bits were covered in other reviews, so to save time I won't really mention them. One that I didn't see, though, was they mentioned that they were glad to see so many people in Oswego, and that we didn't go to see Great Big Sea, their competitors, at Falcon Ridge. They said it all in good fun, I'm sure. The Set was pretty standard, although I was suprised that they didn't do Pisco Bandito. The stage was acually a barge, floating in the River; seemed to me to be a great place for the song. The only new song they did was Sad Girl, which sounds great with the new background voices towards the end. After the show, the guys came out and talked to everyone. I had grabbed Murray's awesome setlist, where he drew on it, "Ye Olde Setlist" I hopefully will be able to get it to someone who can scan it, its great. After saying our goodbyes, for about 40 minutes, we drove back to Chris and Moe's place where we were staying for the night. After reliving through past shows with pictures, we all went to bed around 3:00 am.

From Matt Fox:

Wow! What an excellent show. So I guess I almost feel obligated to post a review here...If I would have known that so few internet-Frü's were going to be at the show, I probably would have paid a little more attention to detail, but the set included this: MBLABOA/Jockey/BJ/ "No Trespassing" "Barret Agency" "Child 23" Horseshoes/Sad Girl/Fly/ Spiderman/Boo Time/Message/ Present Tense/Kids Song/ Michigan/Johnny Saucep'n/GITC King--Green Eggs/Love Potion #9 Video Bargainville Brown Eyed Girl/Drinking Song

All in all, it was a very enthusiastic show and for the most part the crowd was REALLY into it, with the exception of the drunk assholes who ruined the end of the show. (Basically, they begged for the Drinking Song through the entire set, disrupting songs, etc...and at the end of the show when Moxy finally played it, they were very rudely and loudly yelling, so Früvous stopped the Drinking Song dead in the middle, asked them to stop, and then started over again...) I was actually surprised at how many people knew the words to all of the songs; there were definitely a lot of people from Rochester and Buffalo there (hiya dedes!), as well as the standard people who simply came because it was a free concert. "In summation" , Moxy played for a little over 2 hours and delivered some of the best improv I've ever heard from them---(perhaps there was a bit too much? nah...never!)

From the Harborfest website:

Moxy Fruvous of Toronto, Canada gained extensive air play and platinum status for their first album "Bargainville" and its college radio hits including "King Of Spain". Their latest CD, "You Will Go To The Moon," ranges from "gangsta banjo hip hop" to "Persian love songs,"according to the group. Their music transcends poignant pop and love songs to a mix of stirring vocals and acoustic folky instrumentation, showing both comic and serious sides to the group, This flourishing quartet includes Michael Ford on vocals/guitar/harmony; Murray Foster on vocals/bass/guitar; Juan Ghomeshi on vocals/drums/percussion/guitar/piano; and Dave Matheson on vocals/banjo/accordian/piano/guitar.

From Paul:

I'd have to say that Syracuse was far better than Oswego (well, maybe not FAR better). I was just disappointed with the rudeness of the crowd at "Drunk"fest (oops, I mean Harborfest). I enjoyed the standard set quite a bit, and it was the first time I had heard "Sad Girl". Liked it a lot! Their improv was quite good... "Child 23" and "No Tresspassing" were very funny. "I was at home casually flossing" Where does he come up with these lines?

Child 23 was cute, but he was very shy. The guys dedicated "Johnny" to him, and once the kid figured out the guys were talking about him, he crouched right down and hid his number on his shirt behind his knees. Again... "Child 23's motto... I'm more than twice as good as child 11!" Hee hee!

Finally, after much noise from the crowd, "Drinking" was played only to be interupted by Jian asking the the rude guys what the problem was... "You ask for a song, and then... (he motions with his hand in their direction). Is everybody okay, no one is getting hurt, right?" I'll never forget the tone of his voice. It was at that precise moment that I noticed how much the guys really care about their music. I mean, sure they spend a bit of time adjusting the sound so that it is just right for every show, but to break into a song and start over is really something. I really respect them for that.

Once the guys finished, they worked their way through the crowd to their "dressing room". That is when my wife took a bright flash pic of Jian at point-blank range while I was shaking his hand and congradulating him on a good show. The flash caught him off-guard as he reeled back "Whooaa.. HEY!" My wife apologized. I then said "Nice show" to both Murray and Dave as they walked by (Mike had jumped the fence to the right and bolted back even before the rest were off the stage). Dave turned around and looked at me and said "Thank you very much!" in the most sincere voice. I was really shocked that he even acknowledged me.

After they left, I waited around and bought a few "T's", posters and got my first Frumiles card and had it stamped. My wife got some left over Roses from BARK to give to Jian to say she was sorry for blinding him with the camera flash. She felt really bad.

The guys came back and Jian walked right up to us as my wife apologized numerous times and presented him with the flower. He hugged her and said, "Oh, that's okay. I just hope that the picture turns out good!" He then noticed that I had a poster for him to sign, so he said "Sure, just follow me over here so that everyone else has a chance too". He signed the poster and talked with us a bit. I aked him how they decide what version of "GE&H" they are going to play during a set, and he responded that the shorter version seems to flow better from "KoS". Makes sense to me.

We then walked over to see Dave. "I saw you guys smiling and signing in the crowd. I was actually looking at you to help me with my lines!" He said to my wife. He signed the poster too, and we got some pictures.

Mike was next. A guy ahead of us took a pic of him with a digital camera. He said that that was the first time he had his picture taken with a digital camera. When we walked up to him, I said that our camera wasn't digital, and he made some comment about being on the top of technology for a split second only to brought back to reality by us. He thanked us sarcastically as he signed our poster.

We finally got over to see Murray. We introduced ourselves, and my wife snapped a picture of him signing our poster while using my back to sign. That was fun. She also gave him a rose too, as she said she really likes his voice. He posed for pics, but I wasn't sure if he smiled, because he had something in his teeth that he was embarassed about, and trying to pick out with his fingers. Too funny!

We then realized that we never got any pics with Jian, so we went back and waited again and asked him if we could get a few snaps. OKAAYY, Sherri and Paul. It's not like I haven't spent ENOUGH time with you guys already!" I can't believe he remembered our names! We thanked him and bumped into Mike (not literally) as he was leaving. I asked him about the TMBG cover (Shoehorn with Teeth) they did on the DiVinci's Notebook CD. We talked about that a bit, and then followed him back to the dressing room. I said to my wife how neat it was that he could walk through a crowd without being recognized. I know he isn't a God or anything (sorry Mike, but it's true), but I know I would recognize him if I saw him on the street. Oh well.

From Sarah:

got there a few hours early...
   the stage was on a barge, which is esentially a ...well, it makes it a
floating stage. :o 
some "new country" band was just ending (yay! ) and some old timer "rock"
band was about to take the stage.. they were country for the most part really.
i was sitting by the stage and almost got trampled by an old lady line dancing.

   finally that band finished their set and the früheads started staking out
their spots by the stage.
   let's see, who was there... buffalo and rochester people, really ... andy
(or is it andi?), The Man aka dave, misty/maige, the guy that has a daily show
jacket , cricket, some girls from buffalo that were vaguely familiar, some
kid from school, 3 somewhat annoying little boys from rochester, jeff mcrae
(steven page's body double ), my friend kitana of course annnd.. other
people i recognize but i don't know/remember their names...  (oh, also a
good looking guy with an old TMBG apollo 18 tour shirt .. hehe.. i'd seen
him earlier and knew he had to be there for früvous..)

   "Bark Like a Dog" came on. they were ok, i guess. i wasn't really paying
attention, sitting not-facing the stage, looking for a couple people (one being
a friend who calls them "foxy doofus".. although now affectionately! i made a
convert!! :D). everyone seemed to like 'em though.. my sister got their cd so i
guess i'll have to listen to it .. after their set they came down to give
autographs and gave everyone stickers and roses*.

   moxy came on after forever (really, 7:20ish. 50 minutes late, that's
moxy!:)) and spent a LONG time bantering:) my favourite pre-song banter :
tuning a bit, a little feedback came from murray's bass, to which jian said
"murray, you're feeding." and muray replied "no, i'm just lactating."

   oh yeah, dave's banjo has been artistically altered by mike:) in the same
style as the multi-colour flame-like paint on the bj don't cry page of
bargainville's liner notes. :) very pretty!

no trespassing/cock attack/seniors-a-gogo:
first you need the setting.
   across the stage, at the top of a small hill there's a small fence which had
a small general "NO TRESPASSING" sign. past the fence there's a large building
with a large sign on the side, facing the stage that says "BARRET AGENCY
INSURANCE", with the logo being a small red weathervane rooster.

...now there were people behind and along the fence. jian mentioned how the
sign wasn't working all that well. out of nowhere came an improv sign about
"noooooo tresssssspassing" (somewhat to the tune of "school's out for summer"
without the "for"). after that, they mentioned how, the people that had never
seen them must have thought they planted the no trespassing sign there so they
could do their 'no tresspassing' song. "hey guys, think back to 3 months ago
when we wrote that song about no trespassing!" "it's to the tune of our song
[singing the same tune] - staaaaaaage ooonnnnn a barge"... and then they
mentioned how *that* was to the tune of their song "baaaaaaarr-eetttt agency.."
which prompted more banter about the barret agency. mostly by mike..

   "i just love the little logo there..." jokes about falling weathervanes,
"*male* roosters" - purposely not saying the word.. ;) .. etc.
jokes about people with the barret agency coming out and tripping people in the
crowd... "were you tripped at harborfest? yeah, we thought so. call the barret
agency."
but it was murray who finally provided the expected joke about .. "cock
attack".

   to the right of the barret agency was a senor citizen's apartment complex
apparently. there were a bunch of old people on their balconies in their patio
chairs watching the show. the guys noticed them and said hello, which prompted
one of the female elders to get up by surprise and boogie for us. "it's seniors
a go-go!"
....later during spiderman, during the improv speaking part, spidey had come to
oswego to uncover the mystery of where all the seniors had gone (no one was on
their balcony anymore..  and this was only about... 10 minutes later) which
was realy funny..  and he informed us that they all went into their bathtubs
like the ones from cocoon .. "forget viagra! it's orgasm time!"

child 23!
   there was a little kid (looked about 9) at the top of the hill with a jersey
on, #23. i don't know why they started picking on him, but a big song started
about "child 23".
"oswego's so small, they just number the children."
murray: "come here, little 9!" :)
(the kid looked pretty pissed )... "he's gonna be in 14 years of therapy!"
"we just took away his childhood!"

   of course then followed the drinking song, or on live noise as someone
pointed out - "song 23":)

   there was something about phil donahue too, apparently a guy in the audience
who looked like him. i couldn't see.

other stuff:
   then there was some jokes about fried dough... which gave one of the stage
crew girls the idea to run over to get a couple plates of it and set it on
stage for the band. mike threw one of the doughs (?) out into the crowd, and
the 2nd was used during king of spain.. (i got a great shot of him with a big
slice of fried dough hanging out of his mouth.. :))

   a bunch of guys kept shouting "DRINKING SOOOOOONNNG!" and jian made them
promise to screm that inbetween every song, then they'd do it. ;) at one point
they shouted "VIDEO BAAAARGAINVIIILLLLE!" and jian said "we know who's going
home with the band tonight, eh big boys?"  and gave them a flirty look, then
said to the band "i'm gonna get the shit kicked out of me....." :) someone
shouted "Istanbul!" and jian said "i am mister worm"... ~ a "Dr. Worm" TMBG
reference! yay! now if i could only hear the song... 

the set:
   kinda standard-ish.. (compared to the setlists around here for the more
frühead based shows.)

jian's (in caps; other comments are mine).

AUTHORS
BJ
JOCKEY
HORSE (shoes)
SAD (girl)
BOSS
SPIDEY
KIDZ (song)
FLY
BOOTY
MICHY
(TUREEN) (parentheses i don't know why..)
SAUCE
MESSAGE
KINGREEN
CAR
POTION
VIDEO . . . . . .

not on list- drinking song
~

after-show stuff:
since i have pretty much run out of things to get signed , i was camera girl
for kitana. :)

*roses.. my sister gave murray her rose (someone else had already given one)
and he still wanted another one (he HAD to have 3).. we had one more ..*I* was
about to give it to him but the brat snatched it out of my hands ... he was
excited to finally have 3.
kitana and i waiting, watched him sign the back of some girl's lilith fair
shirt... writing "I'M PAULA COLE", everyone watching was laughing making the
girl nervous.. and murray reassured her "oh i'm just writing obscene words on
your shirt."

i guess, that's it really. all i can remember for now. :) I'm sure i'll think
of something else later...

From Tanner:

Well, the Harborfest show was certainly a great one. The boys were REALLY on that night, and the banter and improvisation seemed to have no end. Everything in the surrounding area was lampooned, from the "No Trespassing" sign in the middle of the concert area to the elderly folks enjoying the show from the balconies of their apartment building to the Barrett Agency (Your premier protection against Cock Attack [you had to be there]) to Phil Donahue and Child 23 (Again, you had to be there). There was a Fried Dough stand near the stage, and the Dough jokes (Let's give all of these people Fried Dough) were also endless.

The set was spectacular, including the absolutely excellent rendition of "Brown Eyed Girl". The only thing that put any sort of a damper on the night was the clan of drunken, white-hatted frat boys standing altogether too close to us shouting incessantly for the Drinking Song and chanting feral frat boy drinking chants. All primates aside, however, it was a wonderful show, topped off by an invitation from Jian to meet up with him for some soccer in Syracuse the next day.

From Zac:

Hey there all. Pretty good show. This'll be a bad review as I have not written one in forever....wow, probably more than a year. Well, anyways. They went on late to no surprise, but this was because the stage was somewhat hard to get to by way of vehicle. So, it took them a while to figure out how to get all of the equipment to the stage, then Cal decided to use all of the people working there that had "Harborfest Stage Crew" on their shirts. So, instead of 6:30 or 7:00, they didn't get set up until about 7:20, and didn't go on until after that....but, who cares? Not me, except for the fact that I had a 2 hour drive at the end of the night and I couldn't get home too late. Goddamn me....I'm rambling. On with the show! Opened with MBLABOA after a long time sound checking. Then BJ.....then there was a really long improv about "No Trespassing." Very funny....It might not have been there, but it was somewhere. Hmmm. Then maybe Horseshoes. Then I have no idea. I know that they played Fly, I Love My Boss, Spidey, Michigan Militia, Get in the Car. They also did the best version of The Kids' Song that I have ever seen. There was something about it that was just more hilarious than anything. They ended the set with that old school King of Spain -> Green Eggs & Ham -> Love Potion #9 Medley. Usually King is just a little boring, as it is with all frequent concert goers, but this time there were many forgotten and changed lyrics, which never happens because they've done this so long.....so that made it a good and interesting version.... loved it! Okay, first encore was Video Bargainville, and then Brown Eyed Girl. Second was the Drinking Song, and there were some obnoixious (sp) guys yelling for it the whole show....then when they played it Jian stopped the song because they were doing something that shouldn't be done....I'm not sure what because I decided to lurk around in the back of the crowd where there was a good and unfamiliar view. During The Drinking Song nobody around me knew what to do....weird. Good thing I had my two great friends with me....Thanks Wiener and Courtney!

So, I stuck around for a while, saw the guys, told Murray the plan for the purchase of a Fl. Oz. album tomorrow....They're a great band! You should all go out and buy their music! I'm pretty sure they have it at the SoundGarden in Syracuse because I bought it there before the last Styleen's show, so you can all get it tonight if you go! YEAH! Okay, that's enough of me being dumb for now....Maybe I'll see some of you tonight!

Zac DeCamp

Thanks to Ryan Kehoe for these:
• Murray smiles
• Mike & Dave
• A cappella jam
• Sad Girl
• Mike as Spidey
  Thanks to Christine for these:
• Dave with the shnazzy banjo
• Murray on drums
• Boo Time
• On stage conference
  Thanks to Sarah for these:
• Jian busts a move
• Mike loves fried dough
• Murray on bass
  Thanks to Mike Scialdone for these:
• Murray & Jian play pattycake
• Close-up of Murray
• Murray plays bottle toss
  Thanks to Dan Godwin for this one:
• Scanned setlist (Jian's?)

Some other tidbits from the performance include:

• Feel free to help contribute to this section!