Providence, Hotel Womb, Don't Look Back, Limbo, The Egyptian, Shadow Cabinet, An Arrangement, The Night Is Very Soft, Goliath/Song Of Solomon, Civil War Lament, September 13, ...Heart Of The Sun, Tristesse, Fireman, Comedown, Almost With You, Deborah, Silvermine, One-Inch Rock, Fly, Life's Little Luxuries, Constant In Opal, My Little Problem, Gloria/Prunella (just messing about, really :-)), Nonapology, Myrhh, Mistress, Hermaphrodite (one verse), Gone For Good, Like A Ghost*THEN* they did an encore which includes a really twisted version of Magician Among The Spirits and also Into My Hands, Just For You and Bel-Air...can anyone remember the other one or two ?
As if I needed to say this; these excerpts are not to be rebroadcast or used for commercial reasons without my (or Steve or Tim's) permission. This is the first time I've presented what amounts to a complete live song, bootleg-style, because I believe it'll do people some good - please don't get me into any legal strife with anyone, OK ? Just listen and enjoy.
To the music ! This was a looong concert - the main part was 90 minutes (my tape ran out on the last song :) ) and the encore was another 20 minutes or so. Tim was playing a rather large drum kit with a "flat mounted" marching-bass drum, plus electronic gadgetry for special effects. Steve was playing a 12-string Maton, which never went out of tune :) I'll make a set list off my tape over the weekend and post it, but I don't think it was too different from the Sydney set.
Tim was accused by Steve of not picking any songs, but Tim later told me they'd gone through the songs they'd done in Sydney in the first 40 minutes, and everything after that was unrehearsed...not bad at all ! And he *did* suggest songs, but Steve didn't pass that on to the crowd !
Many of the songs were truncated versions, usually stopping at the bridge/middle 8/solo part, but nobody seemed to mind at all - it was almost a medley ! Intro, chorus verse chorus verse, finish - applause. I particularly liked Goliath, of which he did two verses (flawlessly), segued into an impassioned Song of Solomon, then returning to the last verse of Goliath. Limbo, from Narcosis, was cool too and I've just made the Limbo -> Lembo connection - Michael Lembo was their manager during the Arista years, and I don't think Steve thinks much of the guy.... Life's Little Luxuries was very strong too.
He tried "Egyptian", from N+, but "shot it in the leg...no, it broke its leg, then I shot it." after just two verses because the chorus was definitely not working - the chords were all over the place :) He said they hadn't played that one before, and things always go badly the first time you try something. This morning I realized I'd have got a laugh if I'd yelled "Yes, they finish a lot quicker !". Or maybe not :-)
Other cool banter - Steve yells "Is the guy who knows the words to 'Set the controls for the heart of the sun' here ?"
"GOOD EVENING STEVE, HOW ARE YOU ?!", comes the loud and proud reply.
The guy then calls out lyrics one line at a time, with Steve playing it and when he came to the fourth line, Steve said "No, that's too silly, I'm not singing that !".
Unguarded Moment didn't rear its head till the encore - Steve said, "Now seriously, I'll ask a question and if the answer is yes, I'll play it. Would you want someone to sing something if you knew he was really, really hating it ?"
A chorus of evenly split "Yes" and "No" was the reply, so he didn't play it. Someone called for Magician Among The Spirits ("The Extended version", I added.) and he started to play it, though he started on the wrong note, and after only two verses (randomly picked from the song) he started making stuff up :) Everyone enjoyed that and it got big applause.
Yes it was a long show, especially when standing with not much dancing.
I didn't meet SK, but his performance was fairly flippant - something to do with him looking for rollies prior to the show?, I think so. It would've been nice if he was able to finish off a few more songs, since he was playing the only tuned instrument he tended to meander a lot. Someone behind yelled "Where's Marty?!!" to which I think SK mumbled "I'm not my brother's keeper". [Brian adds - yes, he did say that.].
Throughout the show I had the feeling "this is what he plays like when he's just sitting around". The mood kinda worked though - song of the night for me = Magician Among The Spirits running into The End (Doors)
al.
Overall it was a happy and relaxed night, both backstage and onstage. The Refomation sounds like it'll be great, Steve and Tim were both very enthusiastic about it.
A special hi to Matthew and Monica (with whom I shared a table), and to Albert, and his friend, who came down for a chat after the concert.
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