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From: Marc Wood

Some observations on the second First Avenue show:

* The set list was identical to the previous night's list posted here,
although a song or two might have been out of order. I'm glad I didn't buy
tickets to both shows in the hopes of hearing just one more song. I also
don't think I should check the set lists before I go to shows anymore. I've
never been to a show where I knew exactly which songs the artist was going
to play in each encore. (Not that I'm complaining about hearing Disappointed
and See a Little Light!)

* Varnaline wasn't as bad as other people are saying. I especially thought
their electric numbers were good. Physically, they make for an interesting
trio. A tall, unassuming front man with an old-fashioned hat, a boyish,
exuberant drummer, and a goateed, bald guy thumping an upright bass (on some
numbers).

* Brasilia Crossed with Trenton! If this is on the set list for your show,
listers, you're in for a real treat! He kind of does for this song what "The
Living End" did for "Hardly Getting Over It" (I'm not a bootleg collector,
so there might be better versions of either of these songs out there, but
I've never heard them.)

* Even though I'm not a big fan of "I Hate Alternative Rock," I could really
appreciate the way he tore into it. Did anyone else see him fling several
ounces of sweat off his head just after this song ended? All of the Hubcap
songs benefited from the full live band treatment.

* This is my third Bob show, the other two being First Ave. shows on the
Copper Blue and FUEL tours. What I always notice is the difference in his
singing style between recordings and shows. I don't expect his live
performances to sound like the recordings, but the way he always heads for
the higher notes and the screaming sometimes changes the melody of the song
so much it's impossible to compare the two. I think he's just got too much
energy in him to do anything subtle with the vocals on most numbers.

* Best ad-lib: "This is Lonely fuckin' middle of the day or whatever" before
Lonely Afternoon.

* Everyone was having fun--I've never seen Bob so energetic, and Michael
Cerveris was jumping all over the place. The band was tight, especially
thanks to Matt Hammon's drumming, which even out-machine-gunned Malcolm
Travis, but with not as much low end. Most of the time I liked having two
guitarists--I can see what Bob was talking about when he said he wanted to
do more solos. There were times, though, when I wasn't sure who I was
listening to, and whenever I managed to catch the sound of his guitar by
itself, I missed that singular, buzzsaw sound.

* Overall, it was the best show of the three I've seen, although the Copper
Blue show has more sentimental value to me. I have to admit I felt a little
sad when he walked off the stage for the last time. But I'm looking forward
to catching an acoustic show next time he comes to town (maybe then I'll get
to hear "Wishing Well"!). When I listened to him play Disappointed, I
thought of everything he's said regarding retiring the electric show and
accepting the fact that he's getting older, and I heard an answer in the
line, "It doesn't make me feel any less a member of the human race/This
ain't no race."

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From: wheats

Just a couple of thoughts on the Monday 1st Ave show.....
WOW!!!!  I don't have a setlist but it was pretty close to Sunday night.  He
was not in as good of mood as Sunday and the only talking he did was
introducing the band.  Wanted Was and Eternally Fried were great.  Brasilia
was awesome.  Everytime I hear that song live it sounds completely different
than before.  Sunday it was the basic live song strait from Poison Years,
Monday was very quite, emotion laden and perfect.  Hanging Tree was awesome.
He looked like he was in a complete daze at the end of the encore, almost
like he wanted to talk but didn't.  I got to meet both Mr. Hilcoff and Bob
after the show, that was more than a pleasure.  Meeting him was a bit
strange.  I felt like Chris Farley in the elevator with Sting....  hey Bob,
do you remember when you did that song See A Little Light?  That was great.
Anyway, I'll miss the live electric shows but I think I'm ready to move on
as well.  Bring on the 12 string.

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From: tlewis

while i don't know if i agree with bob's frequent statement that
loud guitar rock-outs are a "young person's game", i can fully appreciate
why night after night of that kind of a gig for years on end could really
eat at you.  an experience at the monday night show summed it all up for
me:  after blissfully falling into their fellow concertgoers
for the first, deliciously crunchy half of the show, a few very drunk
folks behind us were *not* happy when bob took his time over "brasilia".
they chose to express this by yelling, and i quote, "motherfucker, rock
out!  this fucking sucks!"

thankfully, no one on stage gave any indication that they heard or cared,
and ended up turning in one of the most moving performances of "brasilia"
or any song that i've ever heard him do in my 7-odd times seeing him.  the
whole show was like that--they seemed to have already decided they were
gonna knock our socks off, and that they did, steamrollering ahead with so
much power it was sort of ridiculous.  like other people have mentioned,
it was a total kick to get the tunes off "hubcap" and "dog and pony" the
way they were meant to be, through the full band.  through this band
*every* song becomes an anthem one way or another.  

obviously he and the band were truly feeding off the vibes from us, from
each other, and from the shared music.  it was especially fun to see the
joy on bob's face as he dug into figures he seems to be fond of (like the
little riff at the close of "classifieds"), and to see him stepping back
and enjoying jim's bass solo in "deep karma canyon" (they played that one
as soaring as the lyrics are).  extra-fun concert game:  finding rorshack
(sp????) inkblots in the constantly evolving sweat pattern on bob's shirt.

i would guess he's always going to have a special place for that kind of
intensity you can only get electrically.  i just understand why he'd want
to back out of it.  (i don't know if i'd be too keen on packing everything
up, blowing the crap out of my ears and having plastered people yell
"motherfucker" at me to boot.  ah well, the mystique of the rock band.)  

however, and this is a no-brainer:  *get to these shows if you can*.  it
feels so good to see bob "go out" with a bang and not a whimper.
but here's a BIG tip:  bring ear plugs.  you can always not wear them and
you may be sorry you didn't.  i wish i had; this is in the running for
loudest show i've ever seen (right up there with NIN...sheesh), and ear
plugs would've nicely shaved off an irritating top layer of general
crunch.