Just came back from Guinness Fleadh, and I must post this immediately. A group of us were hanging around the signing booth after Fruvous's performance today, and we overheard Tobey telling a newly minted Fruhead about FDC. "Today's concert review might be on the 'net tonight--or even right now!," he said, prompting us to remark that, since we were all standing right next to him in the middle of a large field with no computer terminals, odds were that no one had yet posted a review. So, if you were there than and you're here reading this now... aren't we efficient? (And self-referential?) :)

Part I: Palookaville

So I drove down to Palookaville (a show less than an hour from home! Such luxury!), met some friends of mine, and we all went inside. After claiming a table, I wandered around and came across the merch table. Jian was hanging around nearby, wearing a pair of improbable pants. Hellos followed, I claimed my stamp, and by that time the first band (a country band) was on. --to the stage. I positioned myself stage Jian/Murray. Amazingly, I found myself next to none other than (wait for it) Nikolai Faaland! Talk about a blast from the past. Also there were Doug and Taylor (hi guys) and Rachael and Elaine, who apparently lurk here (and who will now delurk... come OUT and say hi, already.)

Fruvous came on in a blaze of glory. Or maybe it was stage lights.

The setlist:

Sahara (regular short intro)
Jockey Full Of Bourbon (I think it had the bonus verse, but I'm not
sure)
Improv song about how cold California is (which is true!  Brrrr.  It
is not RIGHT for it to rain in June.)
Horseshoes
You Will Go To The Moon (most energetic performance I've seen yet)
When She Talks
Pisco Bandito (with streudel bridge!  First time hearing it (the
streudel bridge); loved it.)
Boo Time  (full of drugs'n'booze references... guess Santa Cruz's
reputation as freewheeling hippie town gets around... :)
Michigan Militia
You Shook Me All Night Long (not on setlist) (All the Fruvirgins had
identical expressions of stunned disbelief at the sound of AC/DC being
played on the banjo.  :)
Johnny Saucep'n
Fly
King of Spain
Green Eggs and Ham
Psycho Kiler

Drinking Song (no encore was planned, probably because Fruvous was technically an opening band)

Mike came out after the show (Jian didn't, interestingly, or maybe he was hiding from me or something ("Egad! Not *her* again!" :), but I didn't see him), and I renewed my pleas for "something in French". Alas, it was not to be. :(

I headed off towards home at this point, because I needed to get an early start for...

Part II: Guinness Fleadh

From Taylor:

Well, this was going to be exciting. After seeing the Lads at Slim's about 8 months ago, I was more than ready to see them again. This time I was gratefully accompanied by two of my friends, Fru-virgins, Dave and Sharon. So we trekked over from San Jose and had dinner at the Pontiac Grill a couple blocks from the venue.

Once we got inside, Dave and I went straight to the shirt table and talked with Toby for a little while. At the same time Murray, Mike, and Jian come walking up asking where they can put their stuff. This was cool...especially for someone who has only seen them once before. Mike, Jian, and I exchanged a few words...you know, thanks for coming out, nice shirt, etc. I was pretty jazzed.

So Wayne "The Train" Hancock opened up with an hour set! Ten minutes into it and we were wondering how Moxy got onto the bill between a rockabilly band and Mojo Nixon! But that wasn't too bad if you like rockabilly songs that more or less sounded the same. It was good if you like redheads in vintage dresses. In a nutshell, they were good, but I couldn't handle listening to them for long periods of time.

Then there was Fruvous who must have brought in the largest crowd and greatest cheers from the audience. I swear, Palookaville would have been half as filled for that show had Moxy not been there. And it just rocked. From Michigan Militia to the lads talking about how cold it was to King of Spain and Green Eggs and Ham. It was such a blast! Don't ask me for a set list, cause I really can't remember all of them. I'm sure someone else will be able to post it. :) What I do definitely remember was Sharon coming back from getting the "I Love Canadian Boys" tee and going on about how Jian said it would look real nice on her. And I have to give props to the West Coast Fruheads for being able to drown out a couple of drunken Mojo fans who were getting tired of waiting. Heehee, we rule! But the best was after the show, as we were still waiting by the stage debating if we wanted to stay any longer, Toby just starts handing us gear and having us set it beside the stage. Woohoo, deputy roadies for the night...Toby, you rule!

We got back to San Jose around 12.30am and wound up on my front porch talking till about 2am. One thing we agreed on was that we're all going together in the Fall when the guys come back to California. Well, that, and we think that someday during King of Spain they need to pull a girl up on stage and say "This is Lisa! Don't speak about her." So, by 2am it was off to a very short sleep before San Francisco the next day!

• Sahara

• Jockey Full of Bourbon
• Cold California [improv]
• Horseshoes
• You Will Go to the Moon
• When She Talks
• Pisco Bandito
• Boo Time (jazz version)
• Michigan Militia
• You Shook Me All Night Long
• Johnny Saucep'n
• Fly
• King of Spain
• Green Eggs & Ham (short version)

• Psycho Killer

• The Drinking Song

Some other tidbits from the performance include:

• Feel free to help contribute to this section!