July 4, 1998 -

Reviews by...
Roy
Jess
Chris

Just got back from the Cracker Mayo show in Richmond VA. They played about 1 hr 45 min. Here is set list: (not in this order, my memory isn't that good)

3 new ones, one having to do with ruling the world, 1 traditional song, it sounded German, had the accordian in the background too teen angst crackersoul mr wrong st cajtan (johnny broke it down beautifully) eurotrash girl (also with the accordian) low get off this

lonesome j blues

loser (the GDEAD one off KH, not Beck)

I ride my bike (song 88 on KH)

I hate my gen

100 flower power max

sweet thistle pie

useless stuff

& PICS OF MATCHSTICKMEN!!! The 1st time I've heard it live.

However, last show I went to though on Jan 2 in Norfolk VA they played more CVB than I have ever heard them do. In Jan they did Take the Skinheads Bowling (closed with it) Sad Lover's Waltz

They didn't play Low or Get Off This til near the end, & I can honestly tell you, if they didn't play them I wouldn't have missed them. It was such a vonderful show. Well worth the $8.50 & the 250 mile round trip & the $15 my truck sucked out of my wallet for gas. The whole audience seemed to be REAL fans almost all singing word for word, at least up front where I was.

Also before the show Bob Rupe stood near the gate with a lady & chatted with fans for a while. He was nice.

Also, as in true Johnny fashion, his hair was perfect. You really can tell the man used to do hair :) He also had this real cool button up shirt. It had a somewhat oriental dragon on it, quite spiffy.

Also Cowboy Mouth wasn't bad. I had never heard of them besides one song until today. It's good drinking music.

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I'm back from the Mayo show and I thought I'd give my impressions as well. We got there at 2pm when the gates opened, which was a mistake! The 1st band didn't go on until 4pm. It was Spike the Dog. I believe Mark Linklous' brother Matt is the singer for them. They were pretty good. They have a violin player and an accordion/keyboard player. Then we sat out in the blistering sun some more and then Flat Duo Jets came on. Just a guitar player and a drummer. They were alright at first but then they just started getting on my nerves, cause the music was pretty repetitive. They played for a long time. Then came Cowboy Mouth. They played well etc. but I just don't like their music. They kinda struck me wrong because they kept goading the crowd to dance and sing and yell etc. I mean it's alright to encourage a little of that, but they KEPT ON AND ON. I mean if the crowd wants to it will. They were there to see Cracker, not Cowboy Mouth, for the most part... I was embarrassed because I was on the front row at this point (claiming my spot for the Cracker show) and had to pretend to yell and dance etc. It was quite uncomfortable...

Now for Cracker. They came on at 8pm and opened with 100 FPM. They were playing well and they looked like they were enjoying themselves... here's the rest of the set list as I recall... somewhat out of order...

 This Is Cracker Soul 
 
 St. Cajetan 
 
 7 Days (*new*) 
 
 I Ride My Bike 
 
 I Hate My Generation 
 
 Teen Angst 
 
 Pictures of Matchstick Man 
 
 Low 
 
 Get Off This 
 
 Loser 
 
 Sweet Thistle Pie 
 
 Shiner Song 
 
 Useless Stuff 
 
 Been Around (*new*) 
 
 The World Is Mine(*new*) 
 
 Lonesome Johnny Blues 
 
 Mr. Wrong 
 
 Eurotrash Girl 
 

The show was great! I think I got some good pictures if they turn out... You can see them here. These guys are just so great...The sound wasn't perfect... I think the farther from the stage you were the worse the sound was, but what do you expect from an out door stage. I still thing Been Around is just a totally AWESOME song that just knocks me off my feet. Oh Kenny was with them on keyboards on accordion.

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Finally made it to this one...saw the Jan 2nd Boathouse show and was in near withdrawal... Had a great time despite the wait and the heat (I too made the mistake of going WAY early). The other bands weren't too bad although I did miss most of Spike the Dog. The Cowboy Mouth cheerleading/pep rally act kinda wore on me after awhile too.

Seem to me to be more talkin' than singin.' All psyched for Friday's town point park concert!!!

One last note I have to share: at one point Bob Rupe threw his guitar pick out in the crowd at random and it just happened to land in this beer cup that this guy was holding. 2pts for Bob! Great concert :-)

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