Wow... ummm...wow. Did I mention...wow?!?
So, at the last minute (well, Friday afternoon), I decided I was going to take the plunge and make the trip to Pointe Claire to see the last Fru-show of the season. Other than driving thru Montreal (from Ottawa to Burlington), I'd never been there, and I've heard from many that it's a wonderful city. Granted, my trip didn't allow much time to sight-see or anything, but I had a great time nonetheless.
I left Boston on Saturday morning, bright and early (8am), and headed to Pointe Claire. Mapquest gave me two sets of conflicting directions, so I chose to take 89 up thru Vermont (passing Burlington) to get to Canada. After some mild confusion with the highways outside of Montreal, I managed to make it to downtown by around 1pm (not bad time, if I do say so myself). I was planning on heading to the Comfort Inn, where a bunch of Fruheads were staying, but I wasn't 100% sure of _where_ it was, so I ended up wandering/driving and getting semi-lost in Pointe Claire. Eventually, I found the hotel, and waited for fruheads to arrive. They did, albeit later than I expected (around 3:30). Fiona, Sigrid, Marie-Claude (from now on, for reasons of laziness, referred to as MC for short) and hKatherine showed up and we all talked in the lobby and socialized, waiting for George to get there.
Well, George didn't show up at the hotel by 4 like we expected, so we put our stuff in the room, and headed to the venue anyway. FDC (stupid, Chris, stupid) has the wrong address listed for Clyde's, so I actually had driven by it earlier that day in my wandering and didn't even realize it. Clyde's is a bar/restaurant/venue kinda thing, with a lot of wood, and a balcony, so it reminds me of the Iron Horse. Adam, Nate and George were already sitting down ready to eat, so we joined them...George was more than surprised to see me there. :-)
After a bit, some more people showed up. (please forgive me, I'm horrible with names, I'll try my best). First, Kevin Way, Caroline and other "smith.edu" people :-) came in. Doug Levy shocked everyone with his entrance. Then, Amy (Snonsumr), Gobo and others arrived as well. We ate, talked, discussed the recent fru-shows and the new songs, and waited. We had a lot of waiting to do, too. It was around 5pm at this point, and Fruvous wasn't scheduled to be on stage until 10:30. A bunch of us headed upstairs to the balcony area where the game tables are and played pool for a few hours. Mary, Jo, Novac, Dante, Kimberly and various other fruheads arrived during our intense billiard matches.
By around nine, a line started forming inside the restaurant in front of the swinging door that leads to the venue area in the back of Clyde's. After doors opened, and people filtered inside, I finally went in to see everyone sitting on the floor watching hockey on a big screen TV in front of the stage...very cool. The opening act, The Wells (sp?), came on shortly thereafter. They were amazing! Acoustic Guitar, bass and drums...three brothers, two of which crowd around one mic (in Beatles style) and sing tight harmonies. The songs had a strong Beatles influence as well, I thought. They had opened for Fruvous the last time they played at Clyde's, and the crowd really dug them.
Fruvous didn't come on stage until about 11:15. Oy, late starting show, but apparently that's the norm in Montreal. They played for a little more than two hours, and graced the set with all the new songs...which are VERY cool. Downsizing is very slow and somber, but I love the addition of the keyboard sounds (from E-Mu's Classic Keys module). My Poor Generation (originally a Dave solo song) has come a LONG way and sounds great with the whole band. Half as Much has finally arrived too...that song has really grown on me. They also played Secret Agent Man for an encore...sounded *great*.
Cal's setlist reads:
Michi Jockey Too Careful Sahara Moon Complainte Downsizing T-Cat 1/2 River Minnie Poor Gen Hold Kidz Raja King Gree BJ Potion ------------- Car Substitute ------------- Drink
The crowd was decent, IMO, but they kept yelling out requests between EVERY song...it got old very quickly. You could tell the guys were getting a little peeved as well. Moxy accomadated many of the requests though, which was nice of them. I hung around with Adam and Jo during most of the set; George didn't feel well and had to go back to the hotel mid-show. :-(
After the show, Moxy was talking to the Wells. Moxy really likes them a lot too, and want them to join Fruvous in a bunch of shows sometime. So, the guys really didn't have time to make much of an appearance. It was late (1:30 by this point), but upstairs in the balcony section, the girls played air hockey, and I chatted with Mike Ford for quite a while...until about 3am when the venue finally, and graciously, kicked us out and sent us away. :-)
Back at the hotel, a group of us gathered in one of the rooms, along with Toby. Ordered Chinese at 4am (interesting is the best word I have to describe the food we got), and by around 5am we all decided it was time to go to bed. Finally fell asleep by 5:30...man, I'm getting too old for this :-)
Woke up at 9am (!!!) and quietly exited the room, lest I wake any sleeping ladies, and drove back to Boston. Didn't have nearly as much bad luck with directions on the way back, but I did kinda get screwed up in Vermont and went about 20 minutes out of my way (woops!), but I made it home by 2:45 in the afternoon.
What a great time. It had been so long since I just hopped in the car and drove ridiculous distances to see a fru-show, but it was *so* worth it. I'm glad I was able to hear the new tunes; now I'm anticipating the new album more than ever. It was great seeing everyone, especially all the souls that arrived unexpectedly...see you all at NYE (maybe) and definitely at Frucon!
From Dan Jablonski/Mike Walsh:
[i started typing this review, then shmike (mike walsh) took over. you'll know when he starts typing, because he uses capital letters. you'll know when he stops typing because i don't. :-) ]
just went to the show at pointe claire--my first show since boston in october, but right on the heels of eddie from ohio and great big sea at the paradise in boston on thursday. trip up was uneventful, tho driving in sleet in vermont was lame. border crossing was trivial, and the hotel in montreal was easy to find. nice place--two beds, sofa, kitchen, $58us per night.
after dinner and a few rounds of curling on tv, we headed to the venue. show was supposed to be at 10:30-10:45, so we had plenty of time. we got there around 10:00. the opening act (the wells) came on a few minutes later, after the lead guitarist paged his bass player, dragging him and his beer on stage. they played for about 30 minutes. it was fun. they didn't suck. jian dug it.
between acts, we (me and shmike) met up with alex, dante, chris o, vika, et al, and jacob and friends from mit showed up at some point. we talked for a while. shmike and i played some two-player bridge. we talked some more. still no fruvous. around 11:20, mike nash (of previous pointe claire show fame) came on stage and introduced the band. the band felt the applause they received was "bullshit". murray introduced the band again, and they got a more satisfactory response. sorry mr. nash. no biscuit.
The set list is below for reference, these are highlights:
The first banter came from the band talking about their forthcoming album, to be recorded in March. When someone from the audience told them that in fact March was winter in Montreal but spring in Toronto, in response to the band's inability to determine which season it would be, Dave hacked Birdhouse in your Soul to be that quote.
The first new song was You Can't Be Too Careful, whose meaning escapes me. It was fun to listen to, and will definitely grow on me, but it would help had I written this review earlier than 0440.
After YWGTTM, Jian started asking various segments of the audience how they were doing, going all the way around to the fourth guy from the end in the fifth row before ending at the sheep in the middle. The middle continued to make appropriate sheep noises when prompted throughout the show. (Towards the end of the prevous song, Dave's mic died and he joined Mike one over. Jian noticed this and joined them, leaving Murray alone in one corner of the stage. Murray struggled to move over while still being at a mic for when he was singing, meaning he could only get to Jian's drums on the first try.)
Cal came on to fix Dave's mic 'twixt songs, and Junior Engineer Dave said it needed a new battery. Mike said that people on Earth were working on a mock of the microphone and sending instructions to Cal in Spaceship Clyde's. In the dead space, Jian noticed the Furby sitting in front of him on stage. He decided to play with the "orgasmic cat", but when he failed to get it to work on the first try, Dave commented that maybe it needed a new battery.
Downsizing was pretty cool, but long. I liked the story, but Dan decided it was too long and tuned out about half way through.
Jian had "Time" written on his set list here, and couldn't understand it, saying "I thought this was the Tom Waits song." The lads immediately started to play time is on my side, which went through the swing/ska pattern before becoming a ska tears of a clown.
There comes a time was new, but I don't remember anything about it. The requestful crowd (see below) started getting louder at this point, as the lads were talking about The Wells as a gambling group. someone yelled out "White City", a song about dog track betting, which the band didn't know. They decided they were playing "Stump the Stars".
After Grandpa Fruvous came on, the band decided to do something about everyone yelling for Green Eggs and Ham by playing a country song about Sam I Am.
The last new song was My Poor Generation, which was pretty cool, but kinda got overwhelmed by surroundng events.
Someone from Rochester mentioned something about the Flutie song, which the lads had done there. This was in the midst of the request raquet.
The other commentary on the show was the crowd: they were very Bargainville oriented, and were yelling out many requests for material therefrom. This to get to both the band and some of the rest of the audience (including us), and so at times people were yelling out very random songs (like the Flutie song).
After the show we were pointed at Picasso's for 24hour breakfast, which was good, cheap, and on the way into town. Having had a great day finding things in Montreal, we go to bed looking forward to Canadian coca-cola and GBS discs for friends at the end of the return trip.
set list:
michigan militia
jockey full of bourbon
banter (march is winter in montreal, spring in toronto, hacked into
birdhouse in your soul)
you can't be to careful(new)
sahara
you will go to the moon
banter (sheep)
french folk song (if i knew french, i could comment. i felt kind of
alone. this is what i get for going to shows in quebec.)
banter (batteries)
downsizing(new)
improv: time is on my side/tears of a clown
there comes a time(new)
banter (stump the stars)
half as much
river valley
minnie the moocher
improv: sam i am
my poor generation(new)
banter (flutie)
i will hold on
the kids song
darlington darling
pinochet intro to
king of spain -
green eggs and ham
bj don't cry
love potion #9 (medley)
get in the car
secret agent man
i love my boss
drinking song
From Tom Fazzio:
Hehehe... this will be one of those college road trip stories that gets told every year around the holidays. It started out as a simple jaunt to Montreal for a concert and some clubbing...
Had 4 people (3 FrüVirgins) and myself in the Big 'Ole Van leaving Potsdam, NY for a simple drive to Montreal. Finally on the road after a few delays... "Where'd Josh go? Should we grab the maps? How much gas do we have?"
I guess a big 'ole van filled with 5 young guys traveling from NY to Montreal for a 'night of fun' isn't one of those "have a good day" deals at customs. So this is my first time ever driving into Canada and I'm asked to pull to the right, exit the vehicle and come inside. Oh boy!
8pm - Leaving customs =)
OHMYGOD! All they did was card each of us, ask two questions and we were on our merry way; BUT IT TOOK A WHOLE FREAKING HOUR!!!!! So now I will always have a helluva story to tell about THIS FrüTrip...
By the way, I didn't take the maps because I *knew* where to go. Well, as I found out, I knew the way to Rt. 20, but I totally forgot what street Clyde's was on. All I knew was Point Claire... after 2 complete turn arounds, Clyde's jumped right out in front of me!
The opening band, The Wells, was a really good band IMHO. I would go to a local bar to see them, definitely. After their set - which started around 10pm and lasted about 50 minutes, we (a homely crowd of 200 or so) were treated to an extra lengthy FrüDelay. It was nearly 45 minutes between the two bands, and the Früvous stuff was ALREADY set-up beforehand!
Seems like it was a "Wood" free set list:
Let's see...
With these assorted somewhere in the ordered set list that follows: You Will Go To The Moon River Valley Sahara Set List: Michigan Militia Jockey (new)Taking Chances (um, check that name???) (new)Downsizing (new)Half as Much (new)T-Cat Minnie The Moocher (semi-new)I Will Hold On Kid's Song Darlington Darling (No No Raja was on the set list) King/Green BJ Don't Cry Love Potion #9 -- Get In The Car Secret Agent Man (Substitute was on the set list) -- I Love My Boss (not on set list, done by request it seems) Drinking Song
The show was right on. Dave had some trouble with his mic, and made the statement "I could really use a battery" A little bit after that, Jian says "Not much good singing into a battery does, though"
Some confusion about Jian's set list led to Tom Wait's "Time" I think it was... The sound at Clyde's was excellent, actually the entire set-up of the stage was great. Except sometimes the lighting was funky, but still added to the show.
Mike was behind the congas when he tipped over his bottle of beer on the stage. He tried to cover and pretend nothing happened, BUUUUUT, Jian took note and made *sure* to emphasize the incident. During 'Not the Beetles' everyone picked on Dave for being "Little Johnny F*ckyouover". Anytime Dave tried to speak, someone cut him short.
Do these guys have a sheep fetish? And did they have to share that with the crowd? 'Cause Jian got everyone making sheep noises... along with cows, chickens, and mice (a "tough" one supplied by Murray).
Individually, each FrüLad was energetic and excited as ever... Murray really wailed on that bass, and Mike *really* needs to get out of the habit of injecting pure caffeine into his system before a show - does he ever calm down? ;) To be honest, it does add allot to the show to see them participate so much, not only in making the music but also enjoying it.
Finally, is it just me or did it seem like they skipped a section in GE&H and Drinking Song? Also, I do enjoy the slightly faster version of I Will Hold On. Um, is it possible to record *both* versions, guys? Please? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?
From Adam Hartfield:
Warning: This is not a show review. It is an account of my experiences surrounding a show.
What Happened To Me On My Trip To Pointe-Claire To See Moxy Früvous
by Adam Hartfield
7 Dec 1998
My trip up to Pointe-Claire, Quebec, began with my waking up early Saturday morning from excitement. Got on the road at 8:30, drove up to Barre, VT, where I picked up a sickly Nate DeRose, and continued north on 89 to the Canadian border. Nate's a taper and brought only a small portion of his gadget collection, er, recording equipment with him. The border control staff wasn't too keen on that, and they didn't seem to believe that it was OK for Nate to tape.
I asked if they had an Internet connection, and they did (!), so I sent them to FDC. 75 minutes later the clerk came back with a section from the FAQ about recording. Custom-clerk-guy asks Nate if it's OK with Cal and Tobey for Nate to tape, to which Nate said yes. :) After the car was searched, we got on our way.
Observation #1: Provicial road 133 leads through *flat* land. And there are lots of silos.
Observation #2: Quebec drivers are unlike any others I've seen. Most of the Canadian drivers I encountered did not believe in using turn signals when changing lanes. Some Canadian drivers like to stop in rotaries, get out, and start kicking each others' cars while cursing and punching.
Nate and I arrived in Pointe-Claire at about 3:30. We wandered around for a while in search of a cafe-type place where Nate could get some hot water in which to dissolve his TheraFlu. We found a neat little bakery where we got water and other restoratives, and hung out there for a while.
We went to Clydes (apostrophe ommitted for accuracy in relation to the sign on the building) where we met up with George Nowik. A short time later, Marie-Claude Danis, Katherine Maheux, Fiona Gardiner, Sigrid, Danya Ortmann, Doug Levy, and Chris O'Malley showed up, followed by Kevin Way and the Smith College contingent, and also Kimberly mother-of-Kristaffer. Mary Krause made a surprise appearance. Somewhat later Scott Jesmore (Novac), Dante Blando (Hanrahan) and Jo Janis showed up, giddy from the ride from Rochester. Paul Beasi, Andrea Krause, and their friend Amy came in at some point, too.
Your humble correspondent tried the poutine, and pronounces it awesome, well, the Clydes version at any rate.
Insert 5 hours of random socializing here. Hockey games were watched on the big-screen projection TV, many games of pool were played, and much food and drink was consumed by all present.
The doors to the performance space opened around 10. The room was packed, with the dance floor full, a bar along the back, and tables and stools along the left side. It was hot and smoky, and low-ceilinged to boot. I liked The Wells (the opening act) but don't know how to describe their music. Fruvous came on at about 11:15-ish and played some new songs. I didn't get to pay as much attention to them as I would have liked because I was in front of a large group of drunkards who talked through the entire show. Why didn't I move, you ask? Well, there weren't many open spaces, and of those, few had either a sightline to the stage or an absence of drunk/loud people close by. I made do with what I had.
Other reviews have focused on the music. All I'll say here is that I'm looking forward to hearing the new material in a more conducive environment for listening and from what I did hear and interpret, it is all great.
After the show, we hung out for a little tiny bit. Nate gathered up his *very dangerous* recording equipment, we said our goodbyes, and tromped out to the car. It was raining. Not a drizzle, not a spritz, but a hard, driving, cold rain that was freezing on the tree branches and cars, but not the ground, thankfully. Nate and I left Pointe-Claire at about 1:45 a.m.
Observation #3: The roads I travelled on had *horrible* drainage. There was standing water on the roads all the way back to the border. All that water made the lane markers nearly invisible, and without reflectors in the road, it was *very* hard to see where I was going.
But I managed, hanging off the steering wheel in an adrenaline-induced hyperattentive state. Nate's attempts to sleep surely were not helped by my open window and stereo playing music. We crossed the border right at 3 a.m., and had an easier time crossing it this time. ;) The customs guy seemed a bit confused as to the recording equipment, but as we were both citizens of the country we were trying to enter, we didn't get any flack this time. I was SO happy to enter the land of well-drained roads and reflective guardrails!
Got to Barre at 4:30. Dropped off Nate and drove to the farm in Plainfield with the aid of loud music, a blood sugar spike induced by peanut brittle, and lots of fresh air from the rolled-down car windows. Walked through the door at 5 a.m., spent a few minutes talking with my aunt(who was just starting her day), and went and crashed. Slept till 11, left at 12:45, and got home to Maison Futon at 3:45.
All in all, I had a fun time, and I have a hell of a lot of respect for you Frufans who drive for days to see the band. I'd like to return to Montreal with someone else doing the driving. :)
From Fiona:
I'm not all that motivated to write this review anymore but a) I'm procrastinating and b) I feel I should.
Well as some of you know things started on Monday when I finally caved and told Sigrid to confirm our train tickets. Now all that I had to do was keep George and Marie-Claude from finding out about this for a week. Turned out to be quite easy *g*
Friday night I arrived in Toronto, stayed with Sigrid, met her nice roommate, Michelle and did the obligatory stay-up-much-too-late thing. Woke up at 5:45 on Saturday morning. Cold, dark and raining out. Fun. We ran for the subway station and got to Union station about 3 minutes early. Things are looking up.
I don't sleep well on things what move so while Sigrid caught up on her sleep I checked out the scenery, listened to the Mel Lastman show and Robbie Williams' new album "I've Been Expecting You". (Which, after hearing the new songs, I'm going to have to reccomend to the guys. A North American release is expected sometime early next year) The conductor was in a good mood, and I had a hard time keeping a straight face when he joked with a small group of Canadiens fans who were going to Montreal to see the game. Sample:"You like Celine Dion? Don't you know she's really a man?" *g*
Once we got to the hotel (11:30) we had been hoping we could check in, rest up in the room and then come down to freak out Marie-Claude when she arrived. Slight snag - the room was in George's name and the desk clerk told us he had to be the person to check in. We left our bags at the desk and went to the mall. 3 cheers for Tim Hortons!
At 3 pm we returned to the hotel to find ChrisO sitting in the lobby looking slightly bored. He was having the same problem we were. Introductions were made and we all signed Marie-Claude's birthday card. Not long afterwards the birthday girl arrived... and stared *g*. Phase one of Operation Freak-Out went rather well.
As 4 o'clock neared, with no sign of George, we pleaded with a new desk clerk who repeated "I'm sorry but you can't.. unless one of you has a credit card to hold the room?" #$$*% Of course I had a credit card. Problem solved we dumped our bags in the room, left a message and spare key for the absent Mr Nowick and piled into Chris' car for Clyde's.
Reason we couldn't find George? He'd been at Clyde's for 2 hours waiting for
us. *g* Said hello to Adam, Nate and whoever else was there. George was
suitably freaked out... more so by O'Malley than by Sigrid and myself though.
But the biggest doubletake came when George said to me.. GEORGE: Is that
Jeff? FIONA:No, that's Doug Levy Ok I know a lot of people liked the Wells. In general, so did I. The sound
guy, however, I did not like. Kevin and I discussed whether it was a good
thing if one could no longer tell if the bass levels were making the floor
vibrate because the bass levels were making one's jeans vibrate. Wayyyy too
heavy on the bass and kickdrum.. I got nauseous.
FRUVOUS!!!!! Some general thoughts. LOVE the new stuff. I come to Moxy
Früvous through a love of good pop music, and the new stuff is beautiful pure
pop. (I don't mean bubblegum and pop either. I mean pop like.. the Beatles or
someone. Folk this stuff is not.) Another thing that occurred to me is that
the new stuff won't get lost in bigger venues.. they'd sound amazing in Dolby
Surround Dave's mic cutting out made for the nicest rendition of La Complainte, and
Murray's move across the stage to join the other three was just one of his
"on" moments. He was entirely too funny that night. Makes up for the bout of
shows where he seemed to only open his mouth to sing. Best line: (After the
requests had gotten way the hell out of hand) "Ok there's a bit too much
democracy going on here. As a fascist, I'm quite scared. If I hear one more
request I tell ya the tanks will be rolling out and then no one will be
happy" There were other doozies but sadly I've forgotten them.
Dave was ultra-cute during Not The Beatles when everyone was picking on him.
He put on this pathetic puppy dog face with the tears welling up.. I wanted
to hug him. Btw I will take this moment to say that I could really do with a
show that didn't include KOS, GE&H, or BJ. I can't help dancing to them and
it was a great Not The Beatles but I think they need a rest. The three of
them in a row at the end of an otherwise great set was a personal downer. I
loved the show until after IWHO, then got back into it for Love Potion. Maybe
it's a sympton of being at too many shows. (she says, only having 11 stamps)
Speaking of dancing.. people have got to stop standing like telephone poles
at Fruvous shows. I felt all conspicuous dancing. (That may have something to
do with the fact that I was right in front of Murray as well) Maybe if more
people had danced we would have had less stupid requests.
After the show, there was much hanging around, until Marie-Claude, hKath,
Sigrid and I got fed up and went upstairs to play (or watch in mine and
hKath's case) air hockey. Eventually Sigrid won and we returned to our table
to find Mike and ChrisO chatting. Somewhere in here came Mike's comment about
the Drinking Song mistake.
We were gently encouraged to leave around 3 am, so the non-Fruvous portion of
Marie-Claude's birthday party commenced. This involved packing our room with
ten or twelve people, a few six packs of beer and much talk and laughter.
Because of George's illness and a confusion as to where he was at, people had
been invited to different room numbers. So when someone said to me (I was
closest to the door) "I hear voices in the hall", I poked my head out to
check for errant Fruheads and found myself looking at Jian instead. Whoops.
"Oh hi." Looked in the other direction for possible Fruheads, saw none,
closed the door and freaked out a little. I was laughed at and the party
continued.
At 4 am Chinese food was ordered from a just-closing restaurant, which caused
much confusion and eventually the ordering of too much food...hope the
cleaning staff liked the leftovers. (As well as a slight sweet'n'sour sauce
spill on one of the beds!) Things finally ended at around 6 am, just after
I'd realized that George still hadn't check us in properly *g*
And so, after a 4hr15 min train ride and 1 hr 15 min bus ride, ended another
Frutrip. See a bunch of you at the Toronto NYE party :)
And then I went on to describe the show in a scant 3 paragraphs. However,
other fun things that happened occurred to me so I will, as Rob suggested,
commit poor net-ettiquette and follow-up my own post.
Before Fruvous took the stage I noticed the mic for the doumbec was there and
hoped for Extended Sahara, which we did not get. But we did GET Sahara, and I
was right in front of Murray's monitor. I've raved about this song before,
and with the monitor so close I couldn't resist.. I put one hand lightly on a
corner of the monitor (didn't want to tip it or anything, it was just on a
chair, and certainly didn't want Murray deprived of hearing everything) and
felt the percussion and bass. I probably looked a little weird to both Jian
and Murray, it's a little different than just laying hands on the stage to
get the vibrations off of that, but I wasn't bothering to look at anything..
just feel it. If I had my way I'd have my hands on a speaker for the whole
show, but as I can't I do make an exception for Sahara.
The amount of audience participation was high, especially if you count all the
bloody requests. During the Kids Song intro, Jian asked "And what was that
constituency..?" and half the audience replied "THE KIDS." There weren't quite
glares going on but it was close. But Jian turned it into a good thing by
replying "The rest of this intro will be conducted under the Cone of Silence.
And that group was, Agent 99?"
The stuffed animals in front of Jian got some comments too. "We have these
stuffed animals that appear on stage..." Kevin's black, vibrating cat, which
had been onstage the night before got called "The Orgasmic Cat" and Jian had
fun with it and the microphone. (Probably not as bad as you're visualizing
but it was funny) Someone also remembered the Pokemon had appeared before
(Belongs to Kimberly [Kristaffer's Mum] and got beaten by Spidey at the
Tralf)
Other people have pointed out the other great stuff, like Dave the Junior
Engineer, so I won't make you read it twice.
Another note on the amount of requests. There were ups and downs. It was
started off by some idiot who decided he wanted GE&H early in the set,
followed by someone who yelled "Play some Bargainville!" "Sure!" Dave
replied, and the guitar promptly died. "Or I would if the guitar was there."
So whoever it was was encouraged to repeat the request and we got River
Valley, which Jian said was his "request". (ie it was on the setlist, like
everything else they played, excluding GE&H) The more creative requests (as
things got out of hand) got some "Ohhhh!"'s from the guys. When it became
clear that the guys were gonna stand and listen to requests until people shut
up it was actually nice to hear people asking for actual rarities. When
someone finally asked for "Big Fish!" Jian replied "Jeez they're digging up
the dregs of the request barrel now." Dave: "Yeah.. what hasn't been
requested yet.. Big Fish!" (this is about where Murray started in with his
democracy comment) However the absolute worst were the requests were being
made for GWS when the guys came out for encore. Murray had the pitch pipe and
someone yelled "The die is cast!" as if yelling for GWS wasn't the best way
to NOT get that song. I was actually quite glad that they went into Boss
instead.
Kudos to the guys btw. I've seen them get really pissed off about requests
and they handled the overload with much humour. It must have been really
frustrating to play new songs and have them seemingly so unappreciated,
especially since the setlist was quite Bargainville-heavy apart from the new
stuff. They knew the crowd would want Bargainville stuff and planned for it
but even then people kept demanding things. Mike even explained at one point
that "Patience is a virtue"
As has been pointed out, even though we were perhaps the silent minority,
there were a ton of people who travelled to see the show and truly did
appreciate hearing the new songs. Thanks so much for all the great shows this
past years guys - we think you're worth listening to, and more.
Some other tidbits from the performance include:
The Pictures
Thanks to Nate for this one:
Thanks to Kimberly for this one:
The Music
The Set
Closed with
Encore 1
Encore 2
Misc. Info
Back to the tour dates 1998 page
