Hey, everybody, since no one seems to have done a review yet (or it just may be my server), I decided to take a shot at this whole reviewing thing for the first time... be kind, please!!!

*REVIEW* - Keswick Theater, Glenside, PA- 11/19/99

~Note: Incomplete setlist at bottom of review~

If I had to describe this show in one word, I'd probably have to say, "Wow."

So, after a fairly uneventful drive to Glenside (which reminded me as something of a cross between Fort Lee, NJ, and NYC for anyone who's been to both locations) with my parents, we parked, and ate at a Chinese restaurant right next to the Keswick. Apparently, 75% of their business that night was coming from people who had come to see the show. We headed on over to the theater around 7:50 (10 minutes before the show was supposed to start), with me all excited, as this would be my defruginizing show. As my mom commented, I was really surprised to see the wide range of ages sitting in the audience... never before have I been to a non-"family" show where the ages must have ranged from 5 to 75! But, I concluded that this must be the magical powers of Moxy Fruvous... The theater reminded me very much of cross between my high school auditorium and The State Theater (in NJ). Meaning it wasn't really fancy, but it was very nice, old, and pretty good acoustics, it seemed. It truly was a full house. The lights dimmed and we met the....

...Opener: Sarah Slean.

She was there with her band. Sarah and her guys had a wonderful, amazing sound, but as most of the audience seemed to think, she's got a ways to go in performance style- she managed to bore about a quarter of the audience, it seemed, by the end of her set. People listened politely, but some of the quiet moments in her songs were marred by the low rumble of talking that was coming from the theater lobby and even sometimes from the audience itself.

After a 15 minute break and a trip to some *very* smelly bathrooms (which I'm sure none of you needed to know ; ) ), we headed back downstairs to be completely blown away and surprised with Blow, Wind, Blow (I think. I don't think this is what it was, but all I remember was that it had the words "judgement day" frequently in it- that's what a quick search on FDC brought up.) Anyway, the point is, the theater became pitch black dark, and then, all of a sudden a beacon of light (otherwise known as spotlights ), and a beautiful harmony of voices doing a capella pierced the darkness. But where were these heavenly voices coming from? After much confused looking (as most in the front section of the theater had been doing), lo and behold, the guys were walking down the center aisle, energy going through the roof, and singing a wonderful song. This made for a very wonderful, surprising, and theatrical entrance with a lot of flair. I don't remember the lyrics off the top of my head, but I do remember that I liked it very much, and had local (Philly) references galore. Jian finished off the song with "F*** the Philadelphia Flyers!!!" and a hand gesture indicating the former. : ) By this point, the audience was rolling in the aisles and completely energized.

Here are some highlights (as this review seems to already have become fairly long-winded):

~By now, guys were all up on stage, and after a few comments, much of which I don't remember, launched into a very energetic rendition of BJ Don't Cry. Actually, the whole show and the atmosphere was very energetic (and there really is no other way to describe it), with the guys feeding off the enthusiam of the audience and vice versa.

~Throughout the early part of the show, they commented on their appearance on Good Day Philadelphia and WXPN), and the fact that nobody really knew them. At this point, the guys began to tell the "truthful" versions of the meaning of Moxy Fruvous (much of them which were pretty hilarious and led into a Dave = superhero banter... but I unfortunately don't recall because of lack of sleep). When it came to Murray's turn, he stumbled for a story, saying, "Moxy Fruvous means... umm... uhh.....," at which a audience member helped out by saying "A magical monk-baked bread?" Audience participation was pretty high in general, most of which was good, and some of which was just plain annoying. They also mentioned the fact that someone at XPN thought the name of their album was "Thorn Kill", with a few Lauryn Hill jokes ("The Miseducation of Thorn Kill... has an edge to it, doesn't it?").... there was a mention of the evil Trocadero at which they launched into an absolutely hilarious improv of "Limp (Limb?) Bisquick", aka Limp Bizkit with Murray and the other guys alternately singing in falsetto "Stir it up, stir it up, stir it up... Limb Bisquick". It ended up with Mike saying in his "salesperson voice" "Stir it up, leave it in the refrigirator for a few hours and be in for a gastric surprise!!!"

~Definition of Moxy Fruvous led into a very amusing (for me, since I'd never heard it before) rendition of Marion Fruvous, complete with horse-riding sound effects...

~I was very surprised to hear Pork Tenderloin and Homeward Bound, and let me say, both renditions of them blew me away....

~Jian tried to keep from making a very lengthy intro to IWHO, but it turned out to be lengthy nonetheless (not that it was bad or anything), complete with a synopsis of Love in the Time of Cholera.... but a very serious intro turned slightly humorous with a comment at the end: "Hey, I don't mean to scare you or anything, but see, there's this book...."

~ Disco VB- a wonderful surprise for me, with the intro, Jian- "Sometimes a guy just wants to dance..." Much of the audience was dancing at the front of the theater by the time we were halfway through the song. They stayed up there through the next song until people screamed "Sit down!!!" Apparently, they had been blocking some views, I think. To paraphrase Jian, "I guess we'll just leave you to an inter-audience rivalry... we'll just keep playing..." which lightened up the somewhat tense atmosphere.

~Boo Time- local references galore, much of which I don't remember... sorry! : (

~River Valley- they launched straight into this after one of the Dave Songs.... which one, I don't remember, but it sounded great, the way they did it.

~Get in the Car- another fun song which had the audience dancing.

~Psycho- Jian got the audience clapping to the intro, but it took 3 tries to start the song, at which some point someone cried out "You're such a tease!!!" Every time Jian stopped, a group of lights went out, which had a very nice effect, I thought.

~Drinking song- great FruMoment, but it felt like most of the people who knew the lyrics were sitting way up front or a little further back...

~Some other notes of interest: at one point, Mike teased us with a clip of Jenny Washington, though the whole version wasn't performed, and Dave singing the Sesame St. theme was VERY amusing (which is why I've been saying that I think the guys would do wonderfully if they did a performance of musical guest-stars on the show...)

It seemed to me that there were a LOT first time FruConcert-go-ers in the audience... at one point, one of the guys asked something to the effect of "For how many of you is this your first concert?" and quite a few people seemed to raise their hands....

Also, apologies if this is anyone on the NG, but some girls were hurling their glow-in-the-dark necklaces/bracelets at the guys during a quiet moment before the end of The Drinking Song... I don't know how the guys felt about this, but it certainly ruined the moment for me. Other than that, the audience was pretty pumped up, yet respectful to everybody for most of the show...

As to that whole language/banter issue, it seemed that the guys were a little tamer than what usually seems to go on.... as Mike reminded Jian, "They didn't pay to hear you tell them 'F*** off.'" My parents loved ILMBoss, and enjoyed most of the banter.

Regretfully, I didn't get to meet any of you, due to the fact that it was 11:30pm, we had an hour and a half drive ahead of us and I had been up since 5:45am (must.... get..... sleep...), but as this show was everything I expected (which was a lot considering I've always been told, ".... Moxy Fruvous puts on THE BEST live show, you've never heard them 'till you've heard them live!) and much, much more, I hope I'll meet some FruHeads next time!!! **************************************************************

I don't have a setlist, but this is what I remember off the top of my head. (I'm sure someone who did slither for a setlist will post it, right? *hint hint* )

*NOT in exact order*

Blow, Wind, Blow (?)
BJ Don't Cry
*Improv*- Limb Bisquick
Half As Much
I Love My Boss
Marion Fruvous
Indy Day
Sad Girl
Pork Tenderloin (Dave + Murray)
Homeward Bound (Jian + Mike)
IWHO
Disco VB
No No Raja
Splatter^2
Present Tense Tureen
Boo Time
MPG
River Valley
Get in the Car

Encore (some of these may not have been in the encore, but they were
closer to the end of the show):
Michy
Psycho
KoS
GE + H
Drinking

Hope I've given a coherent review that you've enjoyed.

~truztno1

PS- Did anyone make a tape of this show? I might be interested in doing a B + P deal eventually, but I'm not sure if the blue "No Taping Per Artist's Request" on the Keswick's doors were applying to MF....

From Robinkat:

Hi All! This is Robin a/k/a Robinkat (using Tim's name w/his permission!) I don't usually post here, but I did write down the set list last nite, so here it is:

	- Judgment Day (which Tim sez is better known by Blow Wind
 Blow)  (while dancing & singing themselves down the aisle)  It was
just great & a wonderful surprise for us!
	- BJ
	- some 'Limb-Bisquick' (as I understood it) banter with an
 intermingling of the reggae 'Stir It Up'! 
	- Half as Much
	- Independence Day
	- The Sesame Street Song followed by banter about the Fox Show
 (which I/we (tim & me) did not see)
	- Sad Girl
	- I Love My Boss
	- wonderful banter/discussion regarding recycling &
 environment which led into 'The Ballad of Marion Früvous (which we've
never seen & it was just wonderful!)
	- Boo Time
	- Video Bargainville (which Tim tells me was actually Disco
 Bargainville) either way it was stupendous - particularly since some
of the audience went and danced in the aisles!  (a side note:  Kelsey
managed to work her way to 'stage-almost-Jian' - she sez she simply
said 'excuse me'.  thanks to all those fans who let her through!)
	- The Hunt For the Dangerous Pork Tenderloin (a real first for
 me & tim) - we loved it (done by Dave & Murray)
	- Homeward Bound (done by Jian & Mike) which really made me
 think about how often they actually get to see their families/loved
ones/others (so, Robin's personal thought is that they've been touring
long & hard, and perhaps we adoring fans should give them a break)
	- banter re:  Conan leading into Splatter Splatter
	- Raja (one of Kelsey's faves - thank goodness she didn't
swoon!)
	- Present Tense Tureen (which is one of my faves)
	- I Will Hold On (preceeded by an intro re:  a book Jian 	
recommends:  "Love In The Time of Cholera"(i think)  - sorry i didn't
catch the author)
	- My Poor Generation (when do we really decide what we want to

be when we grow up?)
	- River Valley
	- Get In the Car
	- Psycho Killer (with a number of false(?) starts!)
	- Michigan Militia
	- King of Spain
	- Green Eggs & Ham (yeah! on our part - since Kelsey & I
wore our SAM I AM sweatshirts!)
	- a Beatles tune entitled 'Lose That Girl"
and finally - 
	- The Drinking Song

Well, here you are folks - this was my first note-taking & posting. It was such fun trying to write these tunes down in the dark & read them back this evening. Doing this well after the show has brought it all back into reality! The three of us truly loved the show!

I (robinkat) have many thoughts regarding this show - having only seen only four shows to date! They played long & they played great! 24 tunes (not counting the banter tunes) and didn't quit until 11:30. If you've got any questions or queries - just ask me. (But please don't ask me in the news group - i don't frequent this!) FrüMessage me, or look for me occasionally at the IRC Cafe' . . . Robinkat

From Jason:

Nov. 19, 1999 - Keswick Theatre:
Hockey Night in Canada (as they approached the stage through the audience
) Blow Wind Blow BJ Dont Cry
     limb bisquick - impromptu
Half as Much
Ind Day
     Sesame St. Theme - partial
Sad Girl
Boss
Ballad of Marion Fruvous
Boo Time
Disco Bargainville
The Hunt For The Dangerous Pork Tenderloin
Homeward Bound
Splatter Splatter
No No Raja
Present Tense Tureen
I Will Hold On
My Poor Generation
River Valley
Get In The Car
Psycho Killer
     ENCORE 1:
Michigan Militia
     ENCORE 2:
King of Spain > GE&H (short)
     ENCORE 3:
You're Gonna Lose That Girl
The Drinking Song

From Lesley:

~Boo Time- local references galore, much of which I don't remember...sorry! : (

I got a set list :::HUGE GRIN::: so I have the local references.

"Groovin' Keswick"
"David O. Sleznick"
"Louis B. Meyer
"Bryn Mawr"
"King of Prussia"
"Dressed in Fuscia"
"Or Magenta"
"Tell 'em who sent ya!"

Just thought you all might want to know what they were.

Thanks to Kat for these:
• Program, part 1
• Program, part 2

Some other tidbits from the performance include:

• Feel free to help contribute to this section!