All I can say about The second Buffalo show is Wow....
After showing up with a bunch of Fruvous Vetearns in tow, I went about seeing who else was there. I won't remember everyone, so I'm not gonna list everyone. We all know if we were there or not. Anyway. The tickets said the doors opened at 8:00pm, but as I was coming back to my place in line, I noticed the doors were open, and it looked like they were going to be letting people in soon. I hurried back to my place in line, and waited. Soon after the line was moving very rapidly, and we were in. Since I wasn't the sitting kind of Fruhead, I grabbed a place on the floor, stage Murray. I think this is the first time I've ever been to a show where the doors opened early. I not complaining at all.
Sarah Slean opened for the guys. We all stayed seated for the set. I couldn't see her at all, because she hid behind the piano, which was in my perspective behind the Drum set, but I did see her foot tapping a couple of times. She played an amazing 45 minute set. I definitely would recommend anyone going to see her.
At about 9:25, Moxy Fruvous started their set.
Opening: Extended Sahara: It was really great to hear this. I kinda missed it. It was rocking as usual. Half as Much: Another great song, I hadn't heard in a couple of shows. I am really begining to like this song. It really has grown on me. Jockey Full o' Burbon: I Love this song!!! (although I could concievably say this about every song they do) I Love My Boss: Excellent (I'm probably gonna run out of Positive Descriptive words soon) Stuck in the 90's: with George Pataki reference. Jian opened the song talking about how there isn't really much of a difference between Republicans and Democrats Horseshoes: With the Piano again!!!! I really wish every place they played had one. I love it! Grudge: A New Song!!!! This song also had Mike on the Piano. Murray sang lead for most of the song. I really can't describe it, except to say it was really Great! I hope they will play it in the next few shows. (After the guys asked what we thought of it. Lots of applause. Then Mike asked how we would like it if they speeded it up, and added Congo's. Some more applause. Mike replied: wrong Answer) Darlington Darling: I'm not used to hearing this song until the end, so it caught me off guard. Cheek to Cheek: A great song with Dave on Piano. I really felt like dancin'! Sad Girl: With the piano once again. I really hope this song gets on the new album. If it doesn't, I'll be really Sad. Pisco: I was going to try and spell Bandito, but its 230am, and I prolly spelled it wrong. I tried showing my friend the Pisco Dance, but I didn't convey it very well. Cross Boarder Shopping: Yey!! They mentioned they weren't sure if they'd remember all the words, but It came out great. They also mentioned the decreasing value of the Canadian dollar, and that it was cheaper to go to the Duty Free Shops at the boarders. Spider Man: Mike got up on the Piano Bench for the start of this one. BooTime: With references to Buffalo and Live Noise. (Buffalo Lyrics being the same ones from the version on Live Noise. ) Michigan Militia: Banjo Time!!! Present Tense Tureen: I love the Banjo. I really need to get one and learn to play it. Johnny Saucepan: (insert favourite positive discriptive word!) I Will Hold On: I love this song. Jian had trouble starting the song. I don't know if he forgot the words, or had problems hearing Dave or what. They ended up stopping and then bantering about how their tele-promters stopped working. After all that they played the song! River Valley: I can't even tell you the last time I remember hearing this song. Get In the Car: Good. I don't think they broke any Guitar strings tonight on this song. END: Psycho Killer: They did break one on the Les Paul here though. Encore 1: Homeward Bound: I can't believe I've heard them do this song 3 times within the last 5 shows I've been to. It was just Jian and Mike. King of Spain: The crowd really got into this one. With Sabres References. Encore 2: Allison: I love this song. It's my favourite non-Fruvous tune. The only song that was missing from the Iron Horse shows. Incredible! At the end, Cal started to play the King of Spain Remix, but Jian motioned for him to stop. Encore 3: Substitute: Wasn't supposed to be played. Jian meant that he just didn't want the KOS remix, not that the show wasn't over. I wasn't complaining!
All in all a Awesome show. If any of you made it this far, pat yourself on the back, I really didn't mean to type this long. About the show.... All I can say is. WOW!
From Jason:
Saturday was a bit smaller, which was nice because I was able to make my way up to the third row. They played most of the new stuff (Pisco Bandito, Sad Girl, Half as Much, I Will Hold On- Jian, did you write this? Extremely strong stuff and really great lyrics), plus a brand new one called Grudge. It's always nice to see Murray singing lead. My girlfriend is probably very upset she missed it :-)
It was great to hear other stuff I don't usually hear, such as Cross-Border Shopping, Stuck in the 90s, Allison, Substitute (I'm such a Who fan), Homeward Bound...all in all, a very nice night.
I spoke briefly to Jian after the show just to let him know that i really enjoyed the direction the new stuff was going in. I told him I thought it was different from YWGTTM- I felt that YWGTTM sounded very filled- lots of instruments, almost too polished and melodic. To hear stuff like "Sad Girl" reminds me of some stuff off of Wood. Pisco Bandito is the stuff that made me love Fruvous in the first place. Grudge combines their strong music with those ever present harmonies. All in all, great stuff.
I'm assuming that perhaps one of the band is checking out this message and if not, maybe someone will agree with my suggestion and pass it on to them. It's so clear that the guys take a lot of influence from Stevie Wonder- one of my favorite artists. They've played at least two of his songs before.
For your next cover, check out "Too High" from Innervisions. I would be willing to bet you guys could really be inventive with this one. The bass line, the opening harmonies, and some great harmonies could work over the verses...just an idea.
That's all from me. Hope all of you that went had as much fun as I did. I guess I'll disappear until New Year's Eve now :-)
From Amy:
After such a great set I was wondering what they could possibly do for Sat's show....never underestimate the guys!!!! With two fru-virgins in tow, we got to the Tralf around 5ish and hung out again with Andi and crew while trying to finalize the plans for getting us all into a show that 2 of us technically couldn't get into. Thank you again "mom" :-)
Sarah Slean was good, but all i could see was the amp in front of me so it kinda took away from the show a bit.
*small note* on the way up I mentioned to my friends I really would like to hear extened Sahara and River Valley. When the "heros music" came on I just looked back at them and beamed!!! The set was a bunch of new ones including the premire of "Grudge"...great the way it is...tho i did cheer when they ask if they show up the tempo and add bongos...just to see what it would sound like ;-) On a request they did Cross Border Shopping, even tho Jian seemed a bit skeptical about remember the lyrics, which led to the "Natter Song". Spiderman made an appearance and made a point to stomp on one of the growing number of little fuzzie critter fans there. I think you Pookamon is going need therapy after that one, Kim :-) After a set that I wished would never end they did 3 encores!!!! First was Homeward Bound *sigh* and KoS. HB brought tears to my eyes for the umteenth time that weekend..they do it so beautifully. The other two encores weren't in the set list and I can remember them off hand, but they were also wonderful.
After the show, I hung out with fru-heads and met even more Ng people. Hellos go out to Andi, Kim, Chrissy, Mary, Chad, Marie-Claude, Segrid (did i spell that right?), ladyWench, Laurie, and any and all I'm forgetting *sorry*.
My newly fruvouslized friends went over and got their tickets signed by three of the guys and Jian came over to thank me for bring some new folks to the show. I know this has been said before, but I gotta say it again...thank you Moxy Fruvous for being so caring and friendly toward your fans. You have no idea how much that is appreciated...well maybe you do, but...*grin* Thank you for all you do to make us frufans feel like we get something incredibly special at every show we go to and for taking the time to greet us afterwards. To use a quote from my favorite musical, RENT: "It's us, baby, who are the lucky ones."
Well, if you made it this far and didn't have a stroke over all the typos and spelling mistakes...CONGRATS!!! If i don't see you at Alfred i will most definatly meet you at Fru Con!!!!
From Mike:
on Saturday night, we arrived at the Tralf early enough to hear the soundcheck, which included Sleepy Drinker three times, two Dave numbers we'd never heard before, and "Grudge" four times. Although the tickets said "doors 8pm", the club was nice enough to let us in at 7.
Sahara
Half As Much (more rocked-up than the version they played on CBC recently,
which is the only one I'd heard thus far. VERY impressive!!!)
Jockey Full Of Bourbon
I Love My Boss
Stuck In The 90's
Horseshoes
Grudge (they introduced it as being played live for the very first time. I
don't normally use phrases such as "kicks ass", but in this case, I must make
an exception. Murray sings the verses, Dave sings the bridge, and they all sing
the chorus ["I will carry a grudge about it; I will carry a grudge"]. It starts
slow and then builds into an unstoppable harmonious powerhouse of a song, which
brought back memories of the smile that creeped across my face the first time I
heard "It's Too Cold" on the CBC shortly before Wood was released. Yes, folks,
this song "kicks ass". It also sounds like it could be one of the most
single-ready songs out of all the new material).
Darlington Darling (I don't think I've ever heard this so early-on in a set
before...)
Cheek To Cheek
Sad Girl
Pisco Bandito
- Mike sings "The Natter Song" in response to all the nattering going on
(several people were shouting for Cross Border Shopping by this point). Mike
then pretends that the Christmas lights against the back curtains represent all
of the Dunkin' Donuts franchises in the U.S., and does an impression of the
proud CEO singling-out certain locations ("at this location in Atlanta, one
empoyee is experimenting with erotic-shaped donuts").
Cross Border Shopping (with the Xmas lights going on at the start of Murray's
solo near the end)
Spiderman (at one point during the song, Mike took a stuffed Pikachu [that cute
little yellow Pokemon mascot] from a girl in the front row and jumped on it. :)
)
Boo Time
Michigan Militia
The Present Tense Tureen
Johnny Saucep'n
I Will Hold On
River Valley
Get In The Car
Psycho Killer
---
Homeward Bound (just Jian and Mike, as it was in NoHo)
- "he's got groovier sideburns than Paula Cole... mister Murray Foster!"
King Of Spain (with intro by Murray... I thought for one fleeting moment that
perhaps they were about to do the full GE&H).
---
Authors (a drunk guy behind me had been shouting for this all night... Dave's
mic kept cutting-out during it)
- Jian started a beat, and said that he'd give $20 after the show to whoever
guessed what it was... someone guessed correctly (although I've already
forgotten what the answer was... shows what happens when one writes a review
this late ;p ). They then jammed on that song for awhile, eventually segueing
it into (what I believe was) that song from NoHo with the "stand by me"
chorus... by the Clash?
Alison (great to hear this again... it was beautiful.)
---
- several people in crowd: "DRINKING SONG!" Jian: "ohhh no, we are beyond
requests at this point. We're gonna play whatever the fuck we wanna play!" :)
The Substitute (dedicated to every garage band in Canada)
And so ended one of the most enjoyable Fru-weekends one could possibly hope
for... I went home full of a withdrawl that might not be satiated until shortly
after Christmas... =^[ time to start saving! =)
Some other tidbits from the performance include:
Back to the tour dates 1998 page