From Mike's that Elizabeth, a former fru-virgin grabbed!! First show and she gets a setlist.. :)

PORNO (heh, Poor Napolean)
1/2
Too Careful
If Only
Video (dance version, of course)
Sad
Lazy (yay, cleveland AND Detroit!! I LOVE that one!)
Booty
Indy
Earth, Tureen
Sauc'e
hold
Marion
Author
Car
Splatter
Psycho
=========
Michy
========
Gulf War Song (not on set list...   OUTSTANDING! LOVE IT!)

Ditto to Josh Woodward and Merideth. I fell for the Pisco trick too!!!

From Lawrence:

So I just got back from Chicago, and now that I'm at my computer again I can post my reviews of the two shows. But I'll do them separately to avoid any confusion. :)

Detroit. The Magic Bag. Despite having a very hard time actually *finding* The Magic Bag, I actually managed to get there before there was a huge line and got to chat with lots of Fruheads. This was fun. Got in and found that it was a smallish venue with tables and chairs set up on large step-like things. And there were tables and chairs in the lowest level, but the bouncers told me I could stand unless people were bothered by it. So I went right up to the stage and pretty soon after that everyone was up there anyway. I guess no one complained. :)

The opener, whose name I'm not going to try to spell, was decent, but the songs were a bit too slow to hold the audience's attention. He was a good guitarist and he had a good voice, and the lyrics were cool, too, but most of the songs seemed to go on and on and on... he played for about a half hour, with much chatter in the background, and left the stage at about 10. A little bit of waiting and setup, and Fruvous took the stage around 10:30. Because I think it's easier to parse this way, I'll give the songs, then my "descriptions."

Poor Napoleon - Ok, so I must be the only Fruhead who had never heard this song at all until Friday night. (sorry, I just haven't listened to any Elvis Costello) But I thought that they did an excellent job and I can really see how this is a nice opener. Given that, I started wondering what else we could expect from a show that they opened with this. (I could see Mike's and Dave's setlists but was trying hard not to look at them)

Half as Much - well, they didn't *open* with it. :) It's a good starter, though, and high energy. Plus it's on Thornhill, which they seem to be promoting heavily for some reason. :)

Too Careful - I love this song more and more every time I hear it. Especially the tone of the second verse. Something about it. Really nice.

If Only You Knew - Another of my favorites on Thornhill. And excellent live. The vocals are so well emoted.

Video Bargainville - Dance remix, as usual. Three false starts (it took some of the newcomers a while to figure it out, I guess :) And this version doesn't break up the set nearly as much as the other, although hearing it after If Only You Knew seemed a bit out of place.

Sad Girl - The "let's torture Murray" part of the show. They seem quite fond of attempting to do some sort of improv bit while Murray is at the drums. It's amusing, to say the least. And I can't remember what subject they were on this time.

The Lazy Boy - surprisingly, no reference to the fact that the home of La-Z-Boy is only a short distance from Detroit. (I guess they came from Toronto, and you only see the sign coming up 75 from the south :)

Boo Time - "Raising our flag at the Magic Bag." and other fun rhymes.

Independence Day - Don't get me wrong, but there are a lot of songs from Thornhill that I'd rather they be playing at *every single show* than this one. It's a great song, but it is kind of slow, and they've done at at each of the last 5 shows. Maybe because it's the only Murray song on the album. But they could throw in Pisco every now and then, too. :)

Earthquakes - Yay! I love this one live. Excellent percussion from Jian on this one, although some of the vocal timing seemed a little off - it sounded like someone missed a beat in the first verse. Still, I love this song, and the audience was very into it, as well.

Present Tense Tureen - for once, Lori and Trace weren't there to torment me with "That's not a *tureen*, it's a *tureen*." :)

Johnny Saucep'n - exaggerated breathing on Cantaloupe from Jian, and I almost made it through the whole thing. (not quite, still working at it :)

I Will Hold On - I forget what the intro to this one was, or if there even was one, but I always love hearing it. There were some people singing the backing vocals, but not many, and none of them were on stage. :)

Marion Fruvous - !!! Excellent! I haven't heard this since last summer, and when they started talking about where they got their name, I got pretty excited about it (hey, it was either this or Cedric :) A bunch of fake definitions and explanations were given, and they then went into the song (and no offense to anyone who lives *in* Detroit, but... the song was kind of appropriate, I think. I didn't see much of the city, but what I did see looked quite filthy)

Authors - Oh, boy, this was amusing. Started out perfectly fine. Then Dave decided to get on Jian's streetcar. "The driver said 'I was looking fabulously straight!'" and Dave lost it. Kept playing guitar, mumbled a few things into the mic, and got some comments about "Um, lyrics?" and went right into the refrain. However, Dave did *not* break any strings this time so they were able to do the traditional ending. :)

Get in the Car - Look at the Fruheads dancin'! There wasn't a huge amount of space, but most people in the back were just sitting down, so it was a little calm except right up front.

Splatter Splatter - with the BJ drum intro (this is getting confusing, since the instrumentation is the same :) And the Scream 3 intro, too. The guitar was a little quiet at first, but it eventually came in.

Psycho Killer - Jian directed the audience again to raise and lower the volume of its clapping. For the really quiet parts, people were snaping and got some confused looks. The song started out quiet and got loud, as usual. :) I forget if there were any broken strings, but it turned out to not be relevant....... end of main set

First encore - "What state are we in?" "MICHIGAN!" "What State are we in?!?" "MICHIGAN!!!!!" Michigan Militia. I guess a little more appropriate in Michigan. :)

Second encore - the four of them came out and stood in a line at the front of the stage, and my immediate expectation was the Gulf War Song. Well, have Fruvous ever been known to let *me* down? :) It took them a little work to get the audience quieted down (and a bit of checking to make sure the people in the back could hear) and there was an introduction along the lines of "With all the stuff that's been going on recently, we thought we'd do this song for you..." and they did, in fact, sing the Gulf War Song, and it was *incredible*. Despite the noise from the non-audience part of the venue (i.e. the bar) and the occasional laugher from people who had never heard the song before and found some of the lines funny (not to say the rest of us didn't, but we'd heard them before, so...) you could have heard a pin drop. I was completely mesmerised by it. The four of them standing right in front of me and singing this powerful song. A perfect ending to the show.

Some of the banter and improv...

there were these giant light globes hanging from the ceiling, and they had lots of holes in them. one of the lads commented that they looked like strawberries, and we got a bit of improv about that.

hmmm... that's actually all I remember of it. I'll have to check somewhere else for some of the good quotes and stuff. :) Chicago is next...

From Bridget:

Here we go again... where do I begin? Let's start with midnight on Wednesday, September 15, when Katrin and I took off from Denver on a greyhound bus. All I could think was "Why? Why am I doing this AGAIN?!?!?!?" I have asked, begged, and pleaded with several people that if I ever, ever, ever get the idea in my head to take a long bus trip to please slap me. Nobody slapped me, so I found myself sitting on the dreaded gas-guzzling beast set for a 30-hour trip to Ann Arbor. I blame Joe and Donna. They know it. However, Katrin was my savior. It's amazing how much easier such a trip can be with good company. Thank you dear, for accompanying me!

We boarded the bus at midnight, and with a couple of exceptions [1,2], things went smoothly. [1] One guy didn't even GET on the bus... they wouldn't let him board because when we were getting set to go, he for some reason thought they weren't going to let him on, so he proceeded to verbally abuse any Greyhound employee within shouting distance of himself. Kudos to the Greyhound staff for not allowing this kind of behavior to go unnoticed. [2] There was a rather hygienically challenged man with a frighteningly uncanny resemblance to Charles Manson riding with us until Chicago. But we met enough great people along the way to sort of balance things out.

We stopped for breakfast in Henderson, Nebraska on Thursday morning. Thanks to an overcrowded bathroom and an inattentive waitperson, Kat and I almost got left behind in Henderson, Nebraska... ugh. But the wonderful Des Moines woman in the seat behind me alerted the driver that not ALL the passengers were back, and he waited for us. Thank god for small favors. We met Jenni from Australia, who was in the midst of making good on a drunken New Year's Eve resolution from a couple years ago. She is amazing. She saved her money for 2 years and is now in the fourth month of a two-year excursion around the world. She'd been to California, Nevada, Colorado, Mississippi... I'm not sure where else. We rode with her from Omaha to Chicago, where she was continuing on to Buffalo and Boston, and next month to Europe. All I can say is wow... very impressive. Not much else of note to say about the bus trip. Two nights on the bus was brutal, but I figured once we got to Ann Arbor, the rest of the trip would be smooth sailing. It didn't help to have to go all the way to DETROIT, either, before backtracking to A^2. I looked out the window sometime around 5:30 on Friday morning, realized that we were actually PASSING Ann Arbor, and got very depressed. Ah, life goes on, right? Actually, what REALLY pissed me off is that I lost my Früvous pin somewhere between Omaha and Ann Arbor... grr...

So we got to Ann Arbor Friday morning at 8 and what a wonderful sight it was to see Joe waiting for us as we got off the bus. We picked up the rental car (from here forward known as the rockin' Frübus) and went to Joe & Debbie's for some much needed sleep. And chex mix. The new apartment is awesome! We sacked out on the couch for a couple hours, showered, ate, and I actually started to feel human again. Left to go BACK to Detroit to meet Fiona and Drea and finally see Früvous.

We trucked on back to the Detroit Greyhound station, found Drea & Fiona, then set off to Ferndale and the Magic Bag. Soon after we got in line, Donna showed up. It was wonderful to be among Früheads again. I've decided we just need MORE of you guys in Colorado!! Got some dinner, chatted with people outside the venue, finally got in. Same old, same old. I like the Magic Bag. It's a nice-sized venue. Donna and I planted ourselves stage Murray, while Kat and Amanda ditched us for stage Dave. Their loss, I guess... (o; We had found out earlier in the day that Tory Cassis was going to open, so we were psyched for the show. Chatted some more, met a few people, just the regular good time.

Tory's set was great. He's so mellow, sometimes it seems amazing that he's so well received as a Früvous opener. Enjoyed him immensely. Especially the Tom Waits cover, "Time". And he talked with the crowd a bit, which I love. He really is a funny guy. So he finished up, and once again we were on Früvous time, though I have to admit my last few shows haven't been TOO bad. The lads came out before long, and put on another great show.

I don't have a setlist yet, but I'm sure it's been posted by now... They opened with Poor Napoleon, very nice. The banter was hilarious. Mike does a mean Eddie Vedder impression. And we learned about the book "Jian". Authors was hilarious - Jian: "I was looking fabulously straight!" [3], causing Dave to pretty much forget the rest of the lyrics. And we got Marion Früvous. This was the highlight of my night. Hadn't heard Marion since my second show last October. Murray's definition was the best: Früvous was the name that was rejected for the town of Blair, Mary-land, which was too bad, because "The Früvous Witch Project" would have been so much scarier than "The Blair Witch Project". (o: We also heard "Earthquakes - the REAL version", copiously better than the version we heard at Lee's Palace in February. Other highlights were Gulf War Song off-mic for the final encore, and for the first time I got to see Disco Bargainville and The Lazy Boy. Hooray! When the set was over, I remembered WHY I rode a Greyhound for 30 hours to get there. (Actually, truth be told, as soon as I saw Joe, Debbie, and Donna I remembered why I rode the bus for 30 hours, but Früvous is nice, too.) So ended another indescribable show. I was amazed. But perhaps most importantly, I was happy. I was giddy. I know I'm preaching to the converted now, but there is just NOTHING like a Früvous show when it comes to being entertained. Meeting some more great people was an added bonus. Karen, Mark, Amanda... Frübus companions, it was great to meet you! I also got to meet Sheryl briefly, hope we can hook up again soon! Hung around the Magic Bag for a bit, and by the time we got back to Joe & Debbie's, I was a zombie. Sleep is very very good.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS, ADVICE, AND QUOTES:

I made an appearance in "Waiting for Bob"!!!!! OK, so this was an observation that had to be pointed OUT to me... AFTER the fact... and I still feel bad that I didn't recognize myself. Kat, hope you don't mind me posting this, but I was so proud to be there! Go to waitingforbob.com and see me on the Friday, September 17 strip. I'm the "jerk" who, like, sold the cd! And I'm even wearing my Früvous jersey! (Katrin drew a budgie dog on my copy... *g*). OK, enough self-promotion. Onward and upward. (Thanks, Kat!)

When you are able to rank Greyhound stations in major US cities by how clean they are, how nice the neighborhood is (or isn't) or how good the snack bar is... it's time to either (a) stop Frütripping so damn much or (b) get a better job so you can FLY!!!!!

You know you're in for a long trip when your traveling companion keeps telling you "We're having an adventure... we're having an adventure...".

There's no better time to traverse Nebraska than the dead of night.

Tiger Stadium is pretty darn ugly...

Good, true friends will give you a hug even when you're skanky from 30 hours on a Greyhound.

Club Bart (Ferndale, MI) has luscious grilled cheese sandwiches, but the slowest moving staff I've ever seen...

It would appear that Katrin is impervious to the effects of alcohol at sea level.

Mike Ford may very well be the funniest person on the face of the earth.

[3] "Who are those fabulously gay magicians in Las Vegas?" "Penn & Teller?" ~Dave & Jian

"I've Gotta Get a Message to You!!!" "And what message might that be?" ~Random fan & Jian

"The artwork on the label will NOT get you drunk." ~Amanda

From Mer:

Fabulous Fabulous Show!!!!!!!!

Preconcert notes:

I wasn't supposed to go but, thank you Mark and Joe, you guys convinced me to go and i'm glad i did!!! These guys convinced me at 3 in the afternoon on Friday and its about a 3-4 hour drive from Akron to Detroit so I put my butt in gear and got moving. When I got in line i met some people from BG (Hi Jenna & crew!) that were really cool. Jenna is new to the newsgroup! Once I got inside is surprised Matt that I was there and he liked it! The opener was Tory Cassis and he is fab!! Barb and I just looked at each other when he came on stage and we both were in agreement. Looks good and full of talent!

Concert Notes:

I don't remember setlists or anything so i'll leave that to the people that do remember but....

Two words - Marion Fruvous!! I couldn't believe, I've never heard it and "WOW!!!" is all I can say. Well there was more to the concert than that. Get in the Car which i don't hear much was played. In Johnny Saucep'n, Jian usually does his little dance thing when they are going to town with all the foods and the last time doing it Murray did the same little dance Jian does.

(Personal opinion - Murray looks better doing it!) They closed with the Gulf War song! One of the between songs chatter topics was about [paraphrased] "If you are new to Fruvous... If you are NUDE to Fruvous." Basically what was said from there by Jian was that you will get a discount for coming to the venue nude by $2 but they have to see you get out of your car, come in to the venue and leave the venue. Then Dave chimned in with [paraphrased] "I know where you were going with that" and then something about they have to see you have an orgasm at the concert. (Just something really off the wall that i thought i would mention)

Post concert Notes:

Has anyone else noticed that they have been doing intro's to certain songs and then not play that song? For instance, Mike said something about "Cottage Country" so i was expecting Pisco... but they didn't play Pisco. Jian towards the beginning of the concert did the intro to Splatter Splatter (which i think was a mistake) but they didn't play that until the end. And if you think back to Columbus 9/12/99 they wore the bootime hats for i think it was Boss... whats up with that? I think its kinda cool because now i don't know what song is gonna be played until they play it where as before I knew what song was coming up 5 minutes before they even played the first note.

Some other tidbits from the performance include:

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