San Francisco!

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San Francisco!

Postby stasia_k » Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:43 am

Just got back from the show and it was SO GOOD! Better than what I saw in Philly last month, maybe because it was the last show of the tour? Anyway, a longer review and setlist to follow, I promise.

Stasia
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Re: San Francisco!

Postby stasia_k » Thu Oct 15, 2009 10:37 pm

Here's the setlist:

How Your Heart is Wired
Bad Skin Day
Next to You
First Born for a Song
Light Catches Your Face
The Great Defector
Tongue
Breastfed
Flame
Rocky Took a Lover
-encore-
Ribs
Eve
Better Band

As I mentioned, I saw the Philly show in Sept. - made the trip because my sister is also a fan, but wouldn't have gone by herself, and we had a very good time. But the World Cafe venue where they played wasn't the best place to see them, esp. compared to the Independent. I'll compare the two shows as I go. I almost didn't go to the SF show because I had just had a busy weekend with my dad visiting and 2 Dylan shows at the Greek Theatre. And it was raining cats and dogs most of the day... but the rain stopped around 5, and I had the energy and cash to go, so why not? Got there around 8:30, hoping that the opening band would be almost done, but they played until 9, which messed up my travel plans a bit (I wanted to be on the 11:05 transbay bus back to Berkeley).

Bell X1 went on at 9:30. A small disclaimer - I'm not a big enough fan yet to know the band members' names, so I'll be general. I was standing in the front row, just right of center, in front of the drums, which is too close for good sound, but so much fun at the same time. My first moment of excitement was seeing that Light Catches Your Face was on the setlist, because we didn't get to hear it in Philly. However, since that's a quiet song, the crowd noise rose and either I couldn't enjoy it or maybe it wasn't that well done. Another song that my sister and I heard that we thought could be better live is Bad Skin Day, specifically the back-up vocals, and the chorus of "someday we'll all wear a crown...". On the other hand, I love hearing First Born live, because the bass drowns out most of the slightly creepy back-up lines and gives the song more urgency.

One great comment from the lead singer before the song Breastfed was about the existence of non-dairy creamer in the US and how it confused them :) At the end of the main set it was 10:30, and I had to make a decision to stay or go catch my bus (the next one wasn't until 12:05). But I also decided that I would take the next day off sick from work, so that made staying all the easier. I'm so glad I stayed for the encore because of the songs played - in Philly it was I Fought the Law followed by two or three older songs that I don't know. But here they ended with the ONE song I most wanted to hear - A Better Band! And it was super intense, drumming like the world was about to end (for some reason the only other comparison I can make is the drumming at a Dylan concert, like All Along the Watchtower as performed 3-4 years ago, very tribal).

Any chance someone recorded the show? There was a girl next to me taking a lot of video with her camera, so I'll have to check YouTube. They ended at 11, and I hung around until forced to leave, partly to kill time and partly to see if any of the band would come out - the drummer and one other guy did, but I didn't have a chance to say anything. Then I walked down to Haight St., had just a few minutes to wait for a bus, and home I went.
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