SET Long Road, Corduroy, Why Go, Gods' Dice, Dissident, Small Town, Sad, The Fixer, Given To Fly, Happy Birthday to Mike Richter (Sung by the crowd to Jeff's friend), Come Back, Even Flow, Save You, In Hiding, Man Of The Hour, Insignificance, Got Some, Spin The Black Circle Encore 1: Love, Reign O'er Me (The Who cover) Life Wasted, The Real Me (The Who cover), Alive Encore 2: The Needle and The Damage Done (Neil Young cover, Eddie solo), Rats, Supersonic, Smile, Rearviewmirror Encore 3: Yellow Ledbetter (with Star Spangled Banner)
First off, this was one of, if not THE, loudest show I have ever been to. Bad Religion opened, and they were pretty good (and fucking LOUD!)...though that kind of punk is not my cup of tea. Most of the crowd didn't care about them, but thats the risk you take when you open for a band as big as PJ.
If the UC wasn't sold out, it was at 99% capacity minus the seats behind the stage. I could see the 300 level was packed, and there were even some 10clubbers that got 300 level tickets, so I was really happy with my seats.
Today will be my 8th time seeing PJ, and with yesterday being the 7th, all of the songs in bold are the ones I have never seen them do live....so I had a few treats. Even though I've seen Man of the Hour, Sad, and Smile, they are still pretty rare so I was very pleased with the set. For the most part, it seemed that the crowd was really into every song, even some of the new ones and rare ones. Granted, I was in the fan club section but still, nobody seemed bored during any number.
Two of the first things that really jump out at you is how animated these guys are on stage. I mean, they are well into thier 40s, and they were still bouncing around and jumping like they did back in 1992 (minus the stage diving and climbing the lighting rigs). The last couple of tours, Stone kinda stood around like an old man but he was all over the place this time. Mike by far as the most crowd interaction, but he was running in circles around the stage, playing while laying in the ground during 'STBC', and played the first half of the 'Alive' solo behind his head. The second thing you notice is Eddie's voice. You'd think that by the time you get near 45, the throat might start to go a little bit, especially with the smoking and wine drinking he does, but that was not the case. I suppose it could have just been a "good day" (I'll see how his voice is later tonite) but my god he was hitting every note and scream right on the money. Even the 2 Who covers, both of which really test his range, he was spot fucking on.
The 3 new songs (in italics, from the new album coming out Sept 20th) sounded really good. They really translated well live and if those 3 songs are any idication of how this new record is going to sound, its going to be like the second coming of "Vs." Stone jumped on the bass and Jeff played guitar on 'Smile.' The 2 Who songs were played beacuse "those were the songs I listened to while waiting for the EL to take me to work in the fucking 40below" (Eddie grew up for a few years in Evanston). "Needle" was dedicated to Micheal Jackson. Jeff was really touched that everybody sang 'Happy Bday" for his friend. The last choruses of 'Even Flow' and 'Small Town' also had Eddie turn the mic over to the crowd.
Eddie seemed to be having mic trouble, because they switched his mic at least 3 or 4 times during the show...including after 'Alive' when he smashed the micstand into the stage. He also had his earpieces hanging at his side for most of the encores. He passed his wine bottle to the front row during 'Come Back'. Mike had to swap guitars in the middle of a couple songs too. 'In Hiding' was a special treat, and you could tell Stone took great joy in playing his song in Chicago for the first time since 2000.
All in all, a terrific show. One of the top 2 that I've seen. My ears are still ringing, I'm dead tired from the show, and 27 holes of golf this weekend, but looking forward to round 2 in about 12 hours!
_________________ Joe Orr Road Rod wrote: It's more fun to be a victim Caller Bob wrote: There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.
Last edited by Frank Coztansa on Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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