Live Show: 4/9/99

4/9/99

Rochester, NY

Reviewed by: Erich, Angie, Nancy, Fiona & Mindy


The Details

Hi folks, it's Erich here. The set list is as follows:

*song off the new album

Half(don't know the full title)*
Laika
Jockey full of Bourbon
I love my boss
Sad Girl*
Too Careful*
If only you knew*
BJ don't cry
You Will Go To The Moon
River Valley
Get in the Car
I will hold on*
King of Spain
Michigan Militia
Love Potion #9 Medley

encores and such(not in any particular order):
Horseshoes
My Baby Loves a bunch of authors
The COBOL song(improv)
Imperial March(star wars) Jazz Version
and of course The Drinking Song.

The show was about 2 hours long and was probably one of the best shows I've seen since the Manhattan Sq. Park show waaaaaayyyyy back when. It was pretty funny during the COBOL song because Murray kept saying cobolt instead of cobol. For anyone who's interested, fruvous has now set up a search for bitor. If anyone wants to send money just send it to: Where the frick is Bitor? c/o Moxy Fruvous.

As for the people I met there, Jen, Aman, Ragu and Ken. You guys rule, C-ya at TMBG. Support your fruheads. c-ya,

-Erich the mountain fru guy

From Angie:

This is a review... this is long... apologies in advance

Can I just tell you, I had a f@cking amazing time last night??? I'm sorry for all of you that had to miss the show, but I have a feeling this year's tour is going to be an amazing one!!!

My Bliss begins as I'm trucking up rte. 390 from Binghamton, I left at 4:20 and arrive in Henrietta (Rochester "suburb" where RIT is) at 6:34... hee hee. It was miserable and gloomy when I left Binghamton... a rain that wasn't heavy enough to hinder, but not light enough to ignore. As soon as I got off of rte. 17 and onto rte. 390, the rain subsided. As I passed Dansville and started climbing out of the valley (about 50mi or so out), I saw Clear Skies to the North. Between the clear skies and listening to "Live Noise" on the way... well, I glance down and notice I'm doing about 95mph!! So, I back off to about 70, start a-singin' and anticipating the concert... and dammit, I'm back to 95!!! hee hee.

So, I pull into the parking lot behind the Ice Rink... backing into my spot. No sooner had I turned off the ignition and reached over to pop the seatbelt... but I turn around to see Dave and Cal walking past. And then, they stop... Dave looks into the car, and waves at me!!! So, I go to hop out and say hi, and forget my door's locked... and slam my shoulder into the door (*Ally McBeal moment again*). So, I hop out, he laughs at me, and I give him a hug. Now I'm already bouncy and flyin'.

I head out to find my tickets (Amy left them in her mail folder for me) and I'm RUNNING across campus!!! I don't run! ever! unless I'm chased and I usually just look for a hiding place or turn to fight ;^} I'm not even out of breath when I get back to the gym! Anyway, I see my friend Cory standing in line, and go to talk to him, I look over and see Fiona, Amy Schrader shows up with her brother, and Paul... then another group of my friends arrive... like an army, led by my friend Julie (hee hee). I see all sorts of familiar faces from FruCon and past shows... I meet my friend Cam's friend Dani (sp?), who turns out I was standing right behind at Hamilton College for an autograph from Murray! Throughout the night it was cool to see so many people I knew that were FrüFans to some degree! And a few virgins who have now had the same reaction: MUST HAVE MORE... MUST FRU NOW!!! hee hee.

The Show:

My set list is incomplete and by no stretch of the imagination in any kind of order... I don't remember much of the banter, and I'm sure I'm leaving things out... but here's some of what I remember (well, a girl has to keep _some_ secrets):

New Songs- Too Careful, If You Only Knew (?, I know I've heard it, I think that's what it's called), Sad Girl, I Will Hold On, and I think there was one more but I can't remember.

Classics- Jockey, New Boyfriend, Boss, YWGTTM, BJ, River Valley, Authors, Get In the Car, Michy, Love Potion Medley, Horseshoes, Drinking Song

Banter/Improv-

1) by far, the most hysterical yet... the Cobalt Rap. It started because they were talking about RIT being a technical school, and somehow led into this rap about programming. Some of the lines I caught were;

Murray= "It's not Fortran, It's not Basic, It's not Java... It's Cobalt"

Dave= (after Jian starts singing 'Do wa diddy diddy Dum diddy do') "There she was just a-walking down the street... etc. She walked up to my door with a Commodore 64" "I got a Message from Melissa"

Jian= "You're De-bugging... You're De-bugging"

I wish I could remember more... I was laughing so hard I nearly hyperventilated and my throat started burning. Everytime they thought they'd end it, someone had something else... they were havin' a ball with this one! This was early into their set, too! And, they kept coming back to it throughout the night.

2) Early in the set they were talking about Bowie music, did a few riffs from a couple of songs, then decided to move on ;^)

3) During IWHO (I think, I know it was a slow song, people were waving lighters and such...) someone started laughing and pointed up at the bleachers... someone was waving a light saber!!! So, towards the end of the set they comment on it, and the guy waves the lightsaber again... and they tell him to come up on stage... Jian suggests that he needs some arrival music... Dave starts playing the Stars Wars theme on the electric guitar. Jian plays a marching drum beat to accompany. It turns out this same gentleman was responsible for the Moon during YWGGTM at the Harro East in Nov... Jian said that he should be praised & lauded (not his words, but that's what he implied) by the Rochester crowd... Dave, I think, said it was the high point in the show... and someone started in with C-C-C-Cobalt! So after he returns to his seat... they all jam on the star wars theme again, Jian plays with the beat and goes from Jazzy to a March and then back to Jazzy... and finally Dave just waves him off in a big CUT gesture!

4) The show was interpreted (Sign Language, if you don't know what I mean) by a woman named Sarah, which Jian thought was very cool. Murray said something towards the end of the night, some large word starting with S, wanting to see what sign she would use. She simply spelled it out. Mike says to him that in some countries what he just did would be called, cool... and then said that in some countries the punishment for that would be this- and he walks sternly towards him... the audience is ooooo-ing and tsk tsking Murray, and Mike takes his hand and slaps it. We died!

There's more... and there were tons of folks there that can elaborate or fill in gaps, so I'll stop the show info and go to post-show and weirdnesses...

Post Show:

It's cool, but a kinda scary in a way... I'm standing waiting to talk to Jian, he turns to me and says, "Hey Ang, how's it goin?" and opens his arms for a hug :^D Am I such the junky now that they know me by face AND name? He, Murray, and Dave commented on seeing me during the show... which was cool.

When I went to say hi to Murray, he turned, said hi and hugged me... hee hee... I love hugs, I really love Fru Hugs, and I really really love Fru hugs initiated by Fru's themselves. I had to ask him,

What's with the plain white T-shirt, are you feeling ok?" and put a hand to his forehead. He laughed, I told him I thought it was adorable because he was wearing sneakers and rolled up jeans... he looked like a little kid, and I thought he was all ready to do the Kid's song. He said all he was missing was the backwards hat. We talked for a few minutes and I went up to where Mike was "holding court" on the bleachers

Dave was surrounded by a crowd, spotted me and waved with a big grin... when I turned to say something to Dani and then turn back... he was gone!!! Sheesh!!! so, he re-emerges (I'm guessin' he was gettin' a refill...) and I get tired of waiting for a break in the conversation so I go over and talk to Dave. I go to say hi, and says "Hi Angie!" and gives me a hug hee hee... signs my 'b' liner, and we chat for a few short minutes. He's got peach fuzz on his head, I have this thing about buzz-cut heads and before I could stop myself, I played with his fuzz... he didn't seem to mind.

Finally, I had to interrupt Mike, surrounded by the guys from SNMNMNM talking about distortion and Pencilinas. I apologized and asked if he'd just sign my liner... he said, "Oh,I'm sorry! I didn't mean to keep you waiting like that." I told him it was ok, he seemed really into the conversation and I didnt' want to barge in, and comment that that was really polite of me... *smirk*

While he was talking with the guys, they had commented on the troubles of WBER (Jian had made an announcement during the show, a plug for the campus station WITR [which he first goofed and called it WIRT] and then made a huge plug for WITR, saying that if anyone would help them to please do, as they are one of the few stations in the "Entire Continent" that gives Fruvous good Air play). There was a suggestion of a benefit concert for WBER. Now, before anyone goes berzerk... disclaimer: "Something overheard by members of two bands shootin' the shit... this is no announcement of such an event!!!! However, both Jian and Mike made comments last night about seeing if Fruvous could do something to help... I'm keeping MY ears and eyes open... how 'bout you?

Weirdnesses:

1) During the opening act, the Pushstarts (I didn't comment on them at the beginning because i couldn't hear a lot of what they were saying. They did have a baby accordion... and a Trombone...and the guitarist who played the afore-mentioned instruments was wearing a canteloupe orange shirt... we figured Murray loaned it to him, hee hee): they played a slow song, and people were waving "virtual lighters" while they sang. so me and my crowd were joking about the light sources we were holding. I said, I have a match... would hold it up, say ouch and shake my hand... light another, burn my hand, light another... which got us all giggling. Then someone says something else, and they say, "its your turn" to me... so I think a second and say... I have a lightsaber, and make some stupid sound effect to turn it on and wave it around... so during IWHO, what do we see but the lightsaber and this guy off next to us with matches!!!! That was a little freaky!

2) Before the opening act, we were standing around restless, and Julie was bored and starting singing Fru songs. we sang some of River Valley and BJ, and Johnny Saucep'n a few times... she wanted to sing the Drinking song but I talked her out of it. Honestly, I felt a little weird singing there songs like that... but it didn't bother her. So, both songs were in the set (they didn't do Saucep'n tho... *pout* )

the new album is due around July... I forgot to be nosy and ask about the title, and they (at least, it was Jian who said it) are VERY excited about this new album.

Thank you for reading so far... I hope I was able to convey at least some of the awesome time that was had by myself...I can't wait for Syracuse!

BTW, if anyone recorded (audio or audio-visual) PLEEEEEEEAAASSSSE contact me... I must have a copy, somehow!!!

From Nancy:

Angie and Erich did a great job summarizing the show. I'll just add that I have to agree, it was a *fantastic* show - even on the Früvous scale of great shows. The lads had a great time and it was evident throughout. Very high energy and side splitting banter. The Cobal piece started with them saying something about the college being "technical", and a student yelled out, "yeah, but the computer labs don't work" or something similar. The irony was just too much and that spawned the whole ongoing CcccccCobal thing... I brought a friend from Columbus who has been in town and had never heard Früvous before last night. He bought 3 CDs and a T-shirt. He was mentioning the banter after the show and I said something about the improv being one of the most amazing things about a Früvous show when he looked at me in complete amazement and said, "You mean they didn't plan that at all? That was completely off the cuff?". The moment of conversion - we've all seen it at one point or another yet it reamains so satisfying!

From Fiona:

I know the show has pretty much been summed up but hey my last review was for Windsor and that was months ago. So here goes a quick travel diary/review. WARNING: Very little mention of the music.

Got into Toronto around 10:30am, headed home, talked to the 'rents on the phone, dumped my bag, called Rosemary, got cleaned up and headed out again. Not long afterwards I met Rose at Finch station. For those of you who know not Rosemary, (i know she doesn't read/post much lately) she is a very very cool lady and I hadn't done much hanging out with her since the *last* time she drove to Rochester - Nov. 1997 [my first official Frutrip. (Going to a political rally and discovering Fruvous were there doesn't count.)] So I was very happy to see her and didn't mind the waiting about time while we waited for people who didn't show up. (My fault.. crossed communication wires. They had alternate transportation plans)

We got mildly lost around Rochester, a symptom of talking too much and not watching for exits, as well as knowing we were ahead of schedule despite the wait at Finch station. I introduced Rosemary to the joys of the WBER Nov 1998 interview, (*wave* to Adam) and when we pulled into the parking lot near Paul's apartment, we decided to see if another such interview was taking place. Lo and behold, our very own Lads on the campus radio station. Dave was making godawful puns (it's a talent Dave-o. it must be.) and getting responses like Mike: "Cricket....cricket" Jian: (followed by the rest)Dave's a Funny Guy song. They sang Moon and sounded in fabulous voice.

Once Früvous was off the air, we went and surprised Paul (and threw his poor roommate off-balance) by ringing his doorbell. He gave us a minor tour of the campus on our way to the gym, where Früvous were soundchecking (loudly) and Andi, Kris and Kim were hanging out. I did some more wandering with Rose enjoyed seeing some of the Deaf students conversing.

A lot more Früheads than I expected appeared in line and the hugs were plentiful.. *wave* to all of them, no point in listing names, and we were treated(?) to some busking by a local campus group that involved a guitar, a tuba and an accordion. I advised several people as to the volume of the soundcheck and that I was carrying earplugs. I didn't have nearly enough to go around though.

The Push Stars were decent.. I enjoyed them enough to do some dancing.. they sounded sort of like Spirit of the West. They had a new guy with them.. his second gig apparently. He played, among other things, accordion and trombone. The volume was up rather high and i was thankful for my earplugs (remember this is the hard of hearing Fruhead here). We were Stage Murray right next to this giant bank of speakers so that couldn't have helped. I spent a good deal of time watching Sarah, the interpreter, and noting a few things. My experience and vocabulary was nowhere near good enough to follow her all the time though. I apologise to all the non-signers I signed comments to during that set. With the earplugs in I couldn't hear speech and Sarah was signing away and.. well *g*.

More Fruheads turned up between sets which meant more hugs. Hugs are pretty much my favourite thing about Fruheads in general. I bounced around between various groups, showed off my grad pix, announced to people that I'd had my last university class ever and generally made a nuisance of myself. Drea would have been proud. ;) (The other 2 Trouble Trio members missed you Drea, and we weren't the only ones)

As I'd expected, the volume got better for Früvous and I took out my earplugs about 2 lines into Half as Much. I understand that some of the hearing people I'd donated earplugs to kept them in, but I found they interfered with the quality of sound.

The set was good. Not a lot of banter, but as you have heard, what banter/improv happened was lots of fun. I'd had a version of Half As Much were the guys' harmonies were kind of off on the tape we'd been listening to on our way down so it was nice to hear it done properly. Also, I actually liked the version of If Only that they played. The other instruments weren't quite as intrusive as I remembered them from Lee's Palace. The lighters, matches, hands, and light saber during IWHO were just so appropriate. I turned around to see the lights, it was a very cool moment. I notice no one mentioned the "Way to Go Murray" that got yelled twice after Moon. He acknowledged the attention and moved on with his life. *g* Dave also had a copy of the book onstage with him (don't know if it was a gift... that makes what.. 3 copies he has now if it was?) and a picture of a very young child with a chocolate eclair. Tobey got quite a workout (I even remembered on the way there that it was Tobey's birthday soon and I forgot to say anything to him. For shame! Happy Belated, Tobey.)I think he came up to replace strings four times. For the record, when the crowd got around to yelling requests (when the guys came out for the first encore) I joined in and put in one vote for Earthquakes. Sadly, I was denied. (Still trying to get the FruCon version out of my head)

After-show was a lot more socialising, climbing the bleachers to talk to people, compare notes, hug etc.. Special *wave* to KatieC whom I hadn't seen since NoHo. I mentioned FruCon above.. Mike was wearing his FruConII shirt post show! I don't usually note those kinds of things but I figured that deserved a mention. Rosemary and I got minorly lost on our way out of Rochester but with the help of a friendly cop (who even admitted to knowing who Fruvous was) we managed to get home safely. my day ended at oh.. 4:30 am EDT. Well worth it.

See everybody at the Friendship Festival! Going to be cheap and spend $30 on a Robbie Williams show May 1st instead of about 5 times that much on a Fruvous weekend at Syracuse/Utica. I'll miss you. And of course you're all invited to come with me to Rob's show ;) I need sane company. (I saw that little slip of yours Lori.. don't think I didn't notice *giggle* You *will* buy The Ego Has Landed... eventually)

From Mindy:

Ok... lets see. RIT, RIT, RIT. Hardest to remember of all my fruexpirences.

PRESHOW: Well, the day started out great! I went to my old high school and was stopped hundreds of times in the hall. As I walked by, I literally heard ppl gossiping about my return (but they didn't notice me without hair =+)). I chilled with all my actress friends and make songs while eating lunch (don't sing with your mouth full, it gets messy). Only had one awkward moment so the day was quite wonderful. I said goodbye to my best friend and brought my stuff over to April's and thats where thing got bad. Being locked out of her house in freezing weather, trying to break in her room and sliding off the roof on my knees. Not good. Not only that,but I couldn't get to the room to get my 3 inch heels so I figured I was screwed.

IN LINE: I was pleased to see my posse at the front of the line, but before went to them I went to see my brother. *gasp* what is this? His floor mates and a friend of his I nearly beat into going. It was a beautiful sight and excitement was high!

PRE OPENER: The badness of the night was not to end with my bloody knees (literally). While we were in the front stage Murray, and very bad man was pushing my friend God Girl out of her place. He yelled at her and when a friend stuck up for her he said "I don't doubt that you're nice but she isn't" Her name is friggin' God Girl! Anyway, this caused tears.=.+(

OPENER: Pretty good. We (my crew) seemed to be in a dancing mood, so the Pushstars dubbed us the award winners for dancing (yay). They had music to dance by, but by this point I was getting real tired and hoped Moxy would be along.

*MOXY*: I wasn't the only tired one. One of my crew left in the between time before moxy. Fruginity was not doing good that night.

Half as Much- seems very well together and was a great way to open up a show! Laika- always fun and my friend was very excited that Ji smiled at us....i had to laugh Jockey Full of Bourbon- actually I very heard much of this one lately so it was appreciated I Love My Boss- much fun and full of pelvic thrusting to which a mass of cheer arose Sad Girl- good, and again, its been a while Too Careful- much better harmonies and confidence then the tape I had and I was greatly pleased (same with 1/2 as much) If Only You Knew- I've never heard the just Mike version,but this one seemed different from Lee's... less overpowering backups? Anyway, it was wonderful and my crew was touched enough to quite down a bit =+) BJ Don't Cry- always fun! YWGTTM- wonderful wonderful and out came Chris and Jamies' light saber and the way to go Murray's were a nice touch ;+) River Valley- always seems to sneak up on me with a pleasant how do you do Get in The Car- much dancing and happiness! I Will Hold On- *sigh* At first i thought, blech! Is Jian a stalker? Sounds obsessed. Now that I've heard that it *is* an obsession song, I like to try to think of it as a love song and I like thinking of it in that way (what can I say? Non conformist) KOS- silly and much pleasing to the native New Yorkers Michigan Militia- one of my friends favs, so I'm glad it was played Love Potion #9- made many a friend giddy

encores Horseshoes- many eyes went to the interpreter at this point (*ahem* fiona*cough*) =+) MBLABOA- the dancing continues.... Drinking Song- Oh Boy! Many tears! Did I ever say that my friend who killed himself went to RIT? Well, he did. When I cried, Alyssa cried, and then my crew became very sullen, but we were happy for each other being there. I gotta stop this habit of bawling in front of attractive men =+)

lil goodies

Cobal- My brother and his mates are instant fruheads for life! no better way to get a nerd. My crew too since they (Alyssa) yelled that the labs didn't work, thus starting the improv. Sorry to all around us. We were a loud group that night!

David Bowie- Ack! no one seemed to know it so there was feeble clapping. They played the older ones light Ziggy, and it was sooo yummy! /Me *heart* Bowie Pic and Stick and seasons greetings- Yup, the YWGTTM book and eclair on a child were amusing but did anyone mention the smile on a stick? Yeah, Jian tried it on and complained that he couldn't use it cause the skin colour wasn't brown. I've not bee to one concert where he didn't consider himself brown =+) that all lead into the drummer boy with "*cum*, they told me.... Pa RUM pa pa PUM!"

Star Wars theme- Chris went and bought another because of the loss of the last, but it was worth it, eh, Chris? Chris is my best friends step dad and it rocked my world double time to see him on stage! I was just said that he didn't see me, though =+( But it still rocked! other bits- there was this "where is Bitor" thing that I am still completely lost about. anyone? Jian also had fun mentioning that the millennium baby had to be conceived that night. He also looked pleased at the number of offers yelled back at him =+). At one point one lad did a Beavis and Butthead impression and for reasons I can't remember, Murray was calling Dave a bastard.

AFTERSHOW: at first I was real tired and wanted the concert to end (i scared myself with that one), but when it did end, i looked around and whined "already??" I went with Jamie to get his light saber signed, because he wanted me to introduce him. The guys were as wonderful as always so I wasn't needed, but I was glad to share the experience with Jamie. After he left, I spotted a friend I haven't seen for about 3 years and completely flipped! And reuniting with her, I went to talk to the guys myself and deliver messages of who said hi and such. We talked for quite a bit and I now have fruhugs from everyone but Mike. I don't think i will ever ask again cause I was scared off by that night but oh well..... Hi to all the Glorious fruheads that I met and remet! You guys rock my cookie all the way!


The Pictures

Click the description to get the pic:



The Music

Opened with The Set Closed with Encore 1 Encore 2

Misc. Info

Some other tidbits from the performance include:




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