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From: negoci

Varnaline opened the evening to a receptive but 
politely ambivalent crowd.  They were met with 
mild applause; to my tastes, their slower tunes 
weren't particularly appealing, but they did 
keep my interest throughout.

And then, of course, the main attraction.  The 
set list follows, with comments where they 
seem appropriate:

   MOVING TRUCKS - Excellent upbeat opener; the 
   sweeping feel of the song's end really seemed 
   to come forward live.
   TAKING EVERYTHING
   FIRST DRAG OF THE DAY - Great dramatic 
   arrangement, substituting some nice drum work 
   for the samples of the studio version.
   I HATE ALTERNATIVE ROCK - Nice forceful run 
   through from the full band. 
   FORT KNOX, KING SOLOMON - Full band version of 
   this seemed to fill out the sound quite nicely 
   versus the studio track.
   CLASSIFIEDS
   WANTED WAS - Nice Bob solo here; excellent to 
   hear the rare B side track.
   ART CRISIS - Bob seemed to enjoy singing this 
   quite a bit, judging from his delivery!
   ANYMORE TIME BETWEEN - Superlative and powerful 
   version of one of my favorite tracks from the 
   'hubcap' album.
   SKINTRADE - A bit mushy sounding, and not as 
   impressive live as I had thought it might be.
   ETERNALLY FRIED - An astonishing ethereal 
   soundscape for this track; a great 
   arrangement / adaptation; I found myself 
   literally shaking my head at the power of 
   this one.
   ROLL OVER AND DIE -  Bob sang this with a 
   wide-eyed haunted expression; it sounded 
   strong and fresh.
   LONELY AFTERNOON
   EGOVERRIDE - Odd, somewhat murky arrangement 
   of a powerful song, but the gang vocals as it 
   progressed gave it a certain unusual appeal for me.
   REFLECTING POOL
   DEEP KARMA CANYON - Strong upbeat closer; again, 
   fine use of the full band's skills.

Encore 1:
  DISAPPOINTED - Nice fast rendition of this one;
  again, Bob's animated singing and gestures were 
  enjoyable to watch and hear.
  HANGING TREE - Slow paced but gradually building 
  to a roiling boil; Bob's haunted wide-eyed 
  expression returns.

Encore 2:
  SWEET SERENE - Appreciated this appropriate 
  encore track; sounded almost majestic here.
  SEE A LITTLE LIGHT

Overall, the sound was excellent.  Jim Wilson's 
bass and Matt Hammon's drums sounded great and 
were handled with skill as well.  I thought Bob's 
guitar could be mixed a bit louder for my taste,
though.  Bob's voice was strong and sounded great,
and the harmony vocals from Michael Cerveris and 
(periodically when he wasn't hammering the bass!) 
Jim Wilson were a nice complement.

The Columbus crowd seemed quite good, although I 
wasn't sure on numbers from my vantage point.  The 
venue looked fairly full, and the audience seemed 
attentive and enthusiastic, warming up as the show 
went on until they were at a fever pitch at the 
encores.  Bob himself seemed to appreciate this, 
running across the stage at times and looking like
he was thoroughly enjoying the show, and even 
making some comments at one point about local 
radio culture.

Finally, Bob, if you're out there, I'd like to 
thank you personally for visiting this area of 
the country, even though you've not always been 
fond of it in the past.  This show was everything 
one could ask it to be, powerful, electrifying, 
emotional, and even fun.  Thank you for the chance
to share in the experience, and above all, thank 
you for always doing your music your way, and for 
upholding a level of artistic integrity and 
achievement that I aspire to.  I hope to see you 
again, in whatever form you chose, in whichever 
place you select, playing whatever material you wish.

-------------------------- 

From: emanuele.2

Columbus show...uh, wow.
I thought Varnaline had one good song, their set closer.  It was 
pretty cool.  

The Rrreally Big Show:  Highlights:
Anymore Time Between, Skintrade, See A Little Light, Hanging 
Tree, Wanted Was.  But everything kicked mucho ass.

What Bob said after "See A Little Light" was, "It doesn't get 
any better than this, good night."      

His comments about CD101 were, "One of the five or six 
stations in the country that seems to genuinely like my music."  
He's right, too.  I've heard "It's Too Late" played on that station, 
"See A Little Light,"  and they have "Who Was Around" in heavy rotation 
right now...along with Liz Phair, They Might Be Giants, Hole, other cool 
stuff.  A great station, no question about it...I've heard them do top 20
requested countdowns where the top 3 were Wilco, Liz, and  TMBG.  Hell,
I've heard Frank Black's version of "Hang On To Your Ego" on there,
"Silver Rocket," all kinds of stuff that you'd think would only be on a
college station.  They only occasionally play Matchbox 20 and 
when they do, the jocks make fun of it.  Nothin' but cool.
After the show, stood around till he came out.  Talked to 
Cerveris a little, too.  He was really, really cool.  I asked him how 
long they'd practiced before touring, and he said two and a half
weeks...unbelievable that they could be so tight in such a short 
period of time.  He credited Mack(drummer) and the fact that they jelled 
quickly.

Bob came out, talked about wrestling, got bugged by some big 
sweaty drunk guy, hugged a couple people.  He told one guy where 
to find the "Love Is All Around" cover and I asked him if Joan Jett 
had ripped him off...he didn't know what I was talking about, so I 
told him about the WNBA thing.  He flashed me that smile.  I didn't 
push him for an autograph, but he asked before he left if anybody 
else had stuff and I gave him my stub. Shook his hand too...I can 
die now.

By comparison, Frank Black strode through a crowd at the 
same venue, yelled, "I ain't signing shit!"  and got on his bus.  I like
Teenager but last night couldn't have been more perfect.  Cerveris 
said it had been one of the better shows...we are blessed.

No ringing in my ears 15 hours later, and I was stage left.  
Unbelievably cool.

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From: Matthew W Gerstner 

WOW.  What a night.

We begin with Varnaline.  Other folks on the Sugarlist have reported
their performances "dull".  I kind of pride myself on having a long
attention span, so I always try to keep an open mind about
bands/movies/books, etc., that anyone makes this accusation about.

And so, the vote is in, and ... well, I met them after the show, and
they're really nice guys ... let's just say that they need to come up
with a few more hooks.  The last three songs of their set were a definite
improvement, when they abandonded their alt.country stylings and
submerged the crowd with feedback.  I'm sure they're more enjoyable if
you've heard the songs first.  The coolest thing about their performance
was watching the drummer.  Think of a dorky 10-year-old, sweatily and
exuberantly trying to imitate Animal playing drums for Dr. Teeth and the
Electric Mayhem on "The Muppet Show".  He also had late 70's/early 80's
baseball cards plastered all over his bass drum; I picked out Bill
Madlock, Pete Rose, Ron Guidry, Rickey Henderson, Robin Yount, Bruce
Sutter and Mike Schmidt.

No time for such idle thoughts during Bob's set.  This was my fifth time
seeing Bob (1 Husker, 1 Sugar, 2 solo acoustic), and this performance
left all of them in its dust.

Opening quote:  "Good evening.  We're going to do our best to entertain
you tonight, because that's what we're paid to do."

"Moving Trucks", "Taking Everything", "First Drag of the Day", "I Hate
Alternative Rock" : From the get-go, Bob is going BTW, sweating like an
ox, playing full-bore, garage band style, Replacements-style.  "Just
rocking out," he'd say later, "not trying to sell any records, just
letting it all hang out and playing.  It feels good."  I am so ecstatic
he's able to go out his way, and feel so positive about it.  "First Drag"
and "I Hate" were super-sloppy, much better than the controlled album
versions.

"Fort Knox King Solomon", "Classifieds", "Wanted Was" : By this time, the
sound guy finally got Bob's vocals to audible level; it never got quite
high enough, but what the hell.  By the end of "Wanted Was", the sweat
stains around Bob's neck had reached the stains around his stomach to
form a channel.  (By the end of the night, of course, he was 100%
soaked.)

"Art Crisis", "Anymore Time Between" ...

** Editorial on moshing at Bob shows **  If any of the 12-15 drunken frat
boys who were standing behind me are reading this now: From the big
grouchy guy in the yellow T-shirt, FUCK YOU.  Haven't we reached a point
where this just isn't fun anymore?  It's like they were tourists; "Hey,
it's a punk show tonight!  Let's get piss drunk and slam-dance!  Cool!!!"
Not cool.  I guess they didn't notice (or care) that there were a lot of
women standing in the front who didn't appreciate getting their faces
smashed into the monitors.  My new friend Christine was at the lip of the
stage, trying to flag down Bob so she can hand him a note she'd written. 
My other new friend Theresa was right behind her, trying to dance and
have a good time (while wearing open-toed shoes).  And because a handful
of morons had to go through the "punk show experience" so they could
laugh about it with their friends afterward, I had to expend a great deal
of energy at a show by my favorite performer in the whole world,
functioning as mosh-pit goalie so my friends didn't get slammed around
too much.  (Being 6'2"/280 is a blessing and a curse.)  I'm sorry, but I
would have like to have enjoyed the uptempo numbers without having to
concentrate on keeping my balance and trying to maintain some order.  I
finally got to hear Bob sing my favorite song last night, and during the
first verse, some 165-pound shithead tried to crowd surf and landed on a
110-pound woman who was standing beside me.  Way to go, fuckface.  So, to
the aforementioned assholes (you know who you are): Next week, Blink 182
is playing the same venue.  You wanna mosh?  Go to that show, and mosh
your fucking brains out with the rest of the adolescents.

(Sorry.)

... "Skintrade", awesome feeback interlude, segue into "Enternally Fried"
: Great atmospheric, ambient piece.  Just beautiful.  The couple behind
me must have thought so, too.  (Ah, l'amour.)  I'd never heard this song
before; I'm going to have to scour the earth for the Egoverride single
now.

"Roll Over and Die", "Lonely Afternoon" : I'd never really liked LA, I
didn't think it had this much life in it.  Very cool.

"Egoverride", "Reflecting Pool", "Deep Karma Canyon" : Unrestrained joy -
from the stage and the audience.  (I should try to make "Reflecting Pool"
my theme song for living, huh?)

First encore : Bob comes out, thanks some local radio station, and then
says, "We got started late, and there's some bullshit curfew that's got
to be enforced, so we can only get two more songs in for you.  Sorry,
we'd like to play more than that."

"Disappointed" : Super-fast, super-loud, totally unchained.

"Hanging Tree" : Played at 3/4 speed.  Grinding, maximum intensity.

After that, the crowd went absolutely berserk.  Lemme tell you, as far as
enthusiasm goes, Ohio crowds have Pittsburgh crowds buried in a sack. 
They would have none of this "abbreviated set list" crap.  Bob came out,
plugged his guitar back in, and sheepishly told the throng, "OK."

"Sweet Serene", "See A Little Light" : Everyone I bitched at the whole
show took their turn plowing into me from behind.  The encore was so
wonderful, I really didn't care.

Afterwards, Christine was hell-bent on meeting Bob (the stage manager had
taken her note and promised to give it to him, but that just wasn't going
to cut it.)  So we hung out behind the venue.  I decided to run back to
my car to get a CD that I could ask him to autograph.  When I came back,
Bob was out, holding court (the unsinkable Christine front and center).

Let me tell you, Bob Mould is total, 100% class to the tips of his toes. 
He was obviously exhausted, but unfailingly pleasant, shaking hands,
signing autographs (including my BSOR CD; "Wow, I had hair then"), giving
hugs (Christine got hers), answering inane questions (I think someone
inquired if he was going to be producing Hanson's next album).  I asked
him if "High Fidelity" was going to be included on the next album; I'm
sure he's been asked that question a million times, but he seemed glad to
be asked.  (For the record: He's not sure, he's got a bunch of songs that
he's excited about, he's not sure what his next project is going to
entail, but he's looking forward to tackling it.)  I told him I'd fallen
in love with HF when I heard him play it in Pittsburgh last year, and he
smiled and said, "Thanks a lot.  Thanks for saying so."

Afterward, I made the long drive home, pulled into my driveway at 3:30 in
the morning, and still couldn't sleep for two hours after that.  I felt
like a teenage girl at a Backstreet Boys concert or something.  WOW. 
What a night.