By Deborah Karen Watt
(Damn, there have been a lot of posts about this show! Sorry for any repetitious info.)
I have the setlist at the end (after my extended commentary).
I wasn’t too into V4V. I think it was mostly me, and I just wasn’t in the mood for such a low-key opener. I did really dig their last song, where the drummer switched to guitar and lead vocals. The Quails were still fun. Seth especially is a blast to watch. Jen seemed happier on stage than she had seemed in Seattle. After several shows, I am finally beginning to understand more of the lyrics. Who knew that I’d been grooving to a song about genderqueers all this time?
SK were great, as usual. Dropped from the 1BT setlist are “Prisstina” and “Funeral Song.” Everybody seemed pretty loose onstage, smiling at each other. For some reason, possibly because I’ve already been to several shows or possibly because this show was more crowded so I had to concentrate more to be able to see, I feel like the music kind of passed in a blur. I don’t remember too many distinct moments in the songs, but I’m still buzzing with the fabulousness of the experience as a whole. I am now convinced that the Bluebird in Denver has the worst sound anywhere. Everything sounded great at the 9:30.
During V for Vendetta, and then twice during the Quails, we were encouraged to yell out “no war” loud enough to be heard by our “elected” “representatives.” At one point during SK, a fan spontaneously yelled out “no fucking war,” and Carrie said, “We’ll substitute that lyric if we can.” Later Carrie introduced “Combat Rock” with “This is an anit-war song,” which is obvious, but I hadn’t heard them describe it as such before.
Janet’s comment on how important audience interaction is for them:
“Could the people in front just smile every now and then?”
Carrie: Janet often points out, though I don’t notice much, ‘that’s
the scariest crowd we’ve ever played to’…but I realize you’re just
concentrating, right?
Corin: The thinkers come to the front.
I thought the exchange was funny (especially since I used to be a pretty still, stern-faced person, until this 1BT tour..). But I agree with Jona that it was a strange comment to start out with, since the majority of the crowd was dancing and cheering. It probably served to get the rest of us dancing even more, to make up for it. The guys I figured she was talking about were right up front center, and pretty tall, so probably they were the main people she could see
when she looked up? And they did seem to interact with the crowd less at this show than some others…
And there was a followup to that conversation.
Carrie: After Janet said that, it kinda looked like a freaky Paxil commercial, because I was smiling really big and you guys were smiling really big. Which is great, but it was kind of surreal… I just want to let you know that I’m not promoting it. I haven’t been put up here by anybody but myself.
During the jam-intro to W+G, which was mostly just Carrie, Corin was kind of panting into the mic..Didn’t know what to make of that. I thought Corin was more subdued (in terms of dancing around) this show than some others I’ve seen. But I thought (is this even possible?) that she kicked it up a notch on the vocals, particularly for Sympathy. I could see her whole body straining as she sang. Carrie jumps around a fair bit during this song, but I am mostly transfixed letting it wash over me.
Corin was especially ‘playful’ during W+G. The new version is super-quiet during the verses and she would look out at us and smile like “I know what you want, you know what’s coming” as the song explodes into the chorus.
Janet’s “long, but good” Joke (before the start of the encore): The pope was riding around in the Popemobile and it broke down. Since he was in a hurry, he hailed a cab. The cab driver was afraid he’d go to hell if he drove the pope and got into an accident, so the pope was like “OK, I’ll drive.” He was speeding around and got pulled over. The cop saw who was in the car and radioed his boss. “I’ve got a big one, what should I do?” “How big? The mayor?” “No, bigger.” “The
president?” “No, bigger.” “Well, who is it?” “I don’t know, but the pope is driving him around.”
Fashion report:
Janet - black sleeves with big flowers on the top.
Carrie - brown button down with built-in tie, jeans.
Corin - lacey black top, skirt, fishnets with a fancier pattern than usual.
I had a great time, and am bummed that I’m out of excuses for travelling around the country to places and at times that just happen to coincide with SK shows. Though I have always wanted to go to New Zealand…
O2
Oh!
#1 Must Have
Burn, Don’t Freeze
Remainder
Turn It On
Far Away
1BT
Light-Rail
YNRNRF
Combat Rock
Start Together
Sympathy
Hollywood
(jam)->W+G
Step Aside
——————
Little Babies (with a really pretty ending thrown on)
Joey
Little Mouth->jam->DMO