Reviews by...
Trace
John
Jess
Lisa
First off, I just got home from the Athfest @ four hours ago - it's 8 am here - so I'm a little ragged. Did anybody catch the cybercast of the show, and is it in a format that can be played back? or was it a live-only feed?
The 40 watt is a kickin' venue, for those of you who haven't been there, (I hadn't till last night)and possesses possibly the world's coolest bartenders. There were four or five other bands, all good, but of course Kitty was the stand-out (boy, is she good)as well as a band called Je Suis France, who are just completely bent. With all these other bands playing, it was a loooong show, so Dave didn't go on till almost 2 am. But -and I'm gonna do the star-struck thing here - he kept coming out front to watch the show. I was parked on the bar for most of the evening, and at one point I looked up to my left and he was standing right next to me. eeek. I controled myself fairly well and didn't choke on my cocktail. I am sorry to say that some other people didn't, and while I devoutly HOPE that the guy with the curly blond hair and carrying the four-foot cardboard Heinekin sign around the bar, following Dave and screaming, "Sweet Thistle Pie, Man!" over and over until he(Dave)finally ! had to go hide in the back is NOT on this list, if you are: you're an a**hole. Get help.
I was pleased to note that quite a few folk had come from out of town for the gig. I met one couple who put my pansy hour and a quarter commute to shame, having driven in from Chattanooga TN, 3 1/2 hours. In the pouring rain, I might add. Good for them. The guy said that his girlfriend is a borderline Dave stalker, so they have a rule: no shows more than 500 miles away. (The girl was super cute, too, so winnage for Dave there.)If YOU are that guy, I was the girl with the large and annoying camera who talked to you by the stage.
Anyway, Dave's set (the point of all this, and there was one) was awesome despite the late hour. It was just him and a drummer (not Frank F) and included a TON of GB's stuff (which no one in the audience knew the words to - philistines), some Golden age, and a boodle of Camper stuff, over which people in the audience were loosing their minds. I, myself, NEVER expected to hear "Light from a Cake" done live in my lifetime. (And Dave, I never would have known you hadn't played it in eleven years. Five, yeah.;) ) I know it's not good to live in the past, but of all the people I talked to after the show, every one of them said, "AAAgh! did you hear all the Camper?" or some variation thereof. So Dave, you made a lot of folks verrrrry happy.
trace
(pull up a chair -- it's a long review)
Jessica and I are back in Virginia again after trekking down to the 40 Watt Club in Athens, GA for the David & Kitty show.
I saw Tony's post about a few of us being out on the internet thanks to the ibnt.net (or whoever -- I'm tired). So I 'spose I'd better start that 15 minute timer. : )
Anyway ... Jessica and I rolled into Athens after a long a$$ day of driving south. We pulled into the 40 Watt parking lot and rushed to the door at about 9:15. Once inside we discovered the wonderous 40 Watt Club. We immediatly found a couple of really, really comfortable chairs (and I think Jessica ended up taking a nap -- it's a long drive from Richmond).
So, this was Pitch-a-Tent night at the 40 Watt Club which means they had a ton of Pitch-a-Tent stuff available - including a Pitch-a-Tent t-shirt. Also picked up a Kitty t-shirt and a few cds - including Kitty's cd - which of course sounds great.
Now .. to the music .. the first band was the Captains of Upholstery (sp?). This band is made up of former members of Sticky and a couple others I guess. Sticky appearently fell apart when Chaulky went out on his own. (Info via Velena at the 40 Watt.) I would tell you more about Chaulky, but as I was pulling the cd out to listen to it on the way home there was an accident. Jessica's car doesnt have AC, so the little insert for Chaulky took flight - right out the window. So, it you happen to see the insert for the Chaulky cd somewhere along I-85 North please get in touch with me. : ) Anyway ... the Captains were pretty good basically.
After the Capts left ... (please remove small children from the computer area now please ....)
Another band took the stage ... uh, "je suis France". They were dressed like wizards (actually they looked like the Elbonians from the Dilbert TV show) and they erected a curtain in front of the stage. Ah, the wonders of cheap pvc pipe and bed sheets. They had written the name of the band on the sheets ... incorrectly. Yeah, it was sorta backwards and looked a little dyslesic (like I can spell ....). If this wasnt enough ... (and believe me, it was) ... they had to go - go dancers atop the speakers on the side of the stage. Calm down guys ... these were male go go dancers. Picture two guys in jean short cut offs with sleaveless jean jackets on. Oh yeah, holding their hineys (Heinekin beer that is). This pair would occasionaly jump down in front of the dumbstruck crowd and do little dances. I would say all sorts of terrifying mean things about the band, but these two guys redeemed the whole band. Barely. In the middle of their second song the impromptu stage curtain (which was still closed) started to fall. Right on the band - but they kept playing somehow.
Eventually they left the stage.
Next was the Wee Turtles -- they were good. They were better than the Captains. These guys did have a cd for sale, but I didnt pick it up though. The Wee Turtles seemed to have several songs relating to the Fantasic Four (of comic book fame). Their lead singer really liked his Kitty tshirt too.
Eventually Kitty took the stage and wowwed everyone. She was in a short black dress and had little stars drawn on her in a few spots. There were also glittery stars all around the club - and of course on Kitty's new cd. Kitty did a couple songs alone (including Breathe (!!) [you'd have to know Kitty's music to appreciate that ...]) and then brought out her band - a bass player and a drummer. A note about the bass player (I think it was the bass player), he was able to get some multimedia stuff together for Kitty's cd - I havent had a chance to look at it - but it should be pretty neat. After a couple more songs (including Princes) : ) she brought out a couple more friends.
I snagged a copy of her set list (printed on 40 Watt club paper) and it says:
Spit Breathe ********* Doctor (not available on any album yet) Princes Another Day Let Me Climb How I Know New York Years ****** CelebrateKitty closed off her part of the show doing Celebrate on stage alone. That's also the name of her album. Jessica and I listened to the album on the way back and it sounds great.
Oh, during Kitty's set someone was taking pictures of her -- but Jessica was in the way. I'll let her tell y'all about that later though. : )
Finally (just after the last call for drinks message) David Lowery took the stage. Wow! It was just him and his guitar. He had a little casio type thing on the stage for effects (just regular effects -- nothing like Sparklehorse). There was also a drummer (not sure who he was), but he was just in the back providing a little extra music. David's set was pretty short (only 7 songs), but it was great! He opened with Lottery from Key Lime Pie and amazed everyone. He goofed up the lyrics, but caught up to himself -- the end result was I think the song was a little longer than it would have been -- so I'm not going to complain. David also did Light from a Cake (also from Key Lime Pie) to everyone's amazement. It was incredible to hear those two -- certainly worth the trip down (where else am I going to hear Camper songs these days?). David also did Hal. from the GB cd -- I've never heard that one live - again very happy to have made the trip.
David seemed to cut the set a little short (though it was something like 2:30am when he stopped). The crowd seemed to have a few other things to do while David was on stage. I was right next to the front of the stage (perhaps you saw me -- glasses and dark hair in a pony tail) -- and there were a couple people next to me talking about who the )*(&*&^^% knows. They were very into what they were talking about. They werent the only ones either. There seemed to be a steady noise from all the people in the club talking. So this might be the reason cut the show a little short. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the set was .... DAVID LOWERY DID NOT PLAY **L*O*W** !!!
This was my first Cracker show where I didnt hear Low !!
Jessica has the set list some where around here, she'll post it with her review.
Oh .. Jessica and I ran into Mark (mango) & Karen (from PA) and it was great to see them again. We should be running into each other again for the shows next week! : )
Anyway ... I'm beat. I'm tired. I've been doing way toooo much driving.
Pardon me while I go collapse somewhere.
Later ...
John
Well we left my work at about 2 in the afternoon (work is about 30 minutes south of Richmond, VA). We were hoping for 1 but there was this crazy lady that came in right at closing (1) complaining about some stinky pills... Anyway so we hit the road and drove and drove and drove. I let John take over when we were halfway through NC... We were very hot and sweaty and wind blown, since, as has already been mentioned, my CRKRSOL mobile has no air conditioning. BUT I can't drive a stickshift so it was either suffer the discomfort or have John drive the whole way, which would have been impossible.
So we get to the club right after 9 pm. Just in time. We collapsed in some very comfortable chairs and rested. I gave John money to buy stuff (t-shirts and Kitty's CD) and he ran into Mark and Karen while doing that. =) All beefier the show they played Lauren Hoffman's FROM THE BLUE HOUSE CD through the PA which was cool.
Re: all the opening bands... um... well the Captains of Upholstery were good. An then came Je Suis France... strange. and bad. very bad. I was so tired too... and I uh... took a little nap... hey, those chairs were comfy! Then came the Wee Turtles who weren't bad, but still I napped a bit...
When Kitty came on we got up and stood at the stage to watch. She was really great, as has already been said... She has so much emotion in her songs. They just hit you viscerally. Some of those lyrics. Wow. =) And her voice is also really great. A couple of songs into the show I felt a tap from behind on my shoulder and I turned to see John pointing to my right, behind me, so I looked up to see David Lowery with a camera. I, of course, being the moron that I am froze like a deer in headlights with a dumb smile on my face, with some help from John's pulling me back I managed to get out of David's way so he could get a photo of Kitty. (Not quite as bad as Jill's Bob incident, but made me feel dumb none the less... =) Uh... after a few songs, Kitty brought out a guitar player and a dobro player and they helped fill out the songs a bit, but I still think they sound better with just her on the guitar. Ummm "Breathe", "Spit", "Celebrate", and "Princes" particularly grab me right now from the CD... Anyway, Kitty was great and the crowd loved her too. =)
And then David came on. He didn't play completely acoustic as the show was billed. He was playing his green Charvel and used various effects with it. the setlist has already been posted but I'll do it again, with a few comments...
1. When I Win the Lottery wow how cool! I mean, since I never will have the chance to hear this live again it was awesome to hear. I totally did not expect it! =) Ummmm so he messed up some of the lyrics... it was still really cool and fun to hear. =)
2. Big Dipper always beautiful, and this time was no different. There was I think some tape loop playing to fill in some of the gaps where the guitar solos would normally be... it sounded great.
3. River Euphrates Knew this might be coming since Mark and Karen clued me in by mentioning that they heard him do it in the soundcheck but it was a big surprise anyway. Very slowed down, very cool. Cleared up a lot of the lyrics I wasn't so sure about before (ie. "she digs microwaves" "she thinks she's the nile") Very cool and he even got in the screaming at the end. =)
4. Been Around the World my favorite Cracker song... I always love to hear it. Those first few bars just make something drop in my stomach or something... it was no different this time...
5. 7 Days This one was very much like it's done with the rest of the band, only without them. sounded great...
6. Hallelujah !!!wow!!! This was absolutely beautiful. It rivaled Big Dipper, even, in it's beauty. I am thrilled to have been able to see this one live.
7. Light From a Cake WOW! one of my favorite Camper tunes. it was so cool to hear it live, though it was much different without the violin going in it. David said he hadn't played it in years, but I think it sounded great. Of course I have an untrained ear, but still, it sounded flawless to me. =) no lyric problems at all too. =)
and in general, I was so glad to be at the show. I am totally sapped of my energy. I believe we made it half way through SC before we stopped for the "night" at 4 am. I almost flipped out driving back after some heavy traffic and then rain on the way back, and John kindly took over from there... Um... I loved the show and I loved seeing everyone, and I'm curious to see the footage of the cyber cast, especially the back stage stuff... any word on where/when that'll be available?
and... I can't wait to do it all again next weekend for Fletchers/Port O Call/and the BBQ thingie!
Trace, I wish we'd have known which person was you we could've said hi... All any of us could seem to remember is that you said that you'd be wearing combat boots... and there were a couple of people there with those as their foot wear... um and I think you got part of my head in one of your shots of David... =)
Here's my review of the 40 Watt Show.
I was just siting down to do some work on the computer when Rich wrote to the list that the show was gonna be on the internet and there was gonna be a chat room with the AOL chat client. Well, Matthew was at his office burning the last few Om Eye CD's (so, he'll get those in the mail ASAP, if you are, like me on his branch) so he joined, Rich and me in the chat with one other person, who's name I never did learn. (you use nick-names). Oh, yeah, there were only 4 people there . It seems c2kers just can't be kept from a fix of our favorite music. We were all impressed the streaming they used, it was the best I've seen.
As for the opening bands, well, I guess John covered it. I'll just add that I, somehow, ended up chatting with a few fairly drunk couch commandos, or Captains of Upholstery. Not worth repeating.
I was totally awestruck by Kitty. I have just heard the 2 mp3's that are on the Cracker site. So, I was unprepared for her set. Everything that I have read on the list so true, but she is so much more. I just can't wait for the CD to go on sale at the PAT site. You can download, what I think is, the whole CD. There are some problems with the encoding of Another, Breathe, and Celebrate. So there are glitches which are annoying, but the rest is so good --- go get it.
David's set was just as awesome. I really liked hearing the old CVB songs again. In retrospect, it kinda makes me feel a little old 'cos I remember them from way back...... I especially enjoyed hearing the songs solo, a unique perspective. I think there might be a rebroadcast, or a way to get from ibtv.com but no word yet on the site.
Oh, yeah, David didn't stop by to chat, so I never got to ask Matthew's great questions (sorry Matthew).
Tootles --- Lisa