Reviews by...
Todd
Matthew
Chris
Key Lyme Pye
Jess
John
Primarily I'm ticked at the guy who jumped onstage (I hope someone beat the hell out of him for ruining the show) but I wish the band members, who seemed to have something against Atlantic City in general, would have just cooled down and realized that some people (IE me) had driven 3 hours to see them and weren't brainless AC scum like they thought.
As I said, the show was amazing up to that point, and the band was very tight. Kenny on accordion was awesome. Johnny was his usual guitar hero self. It's such a shame.
Tragedies have been preventing me from seeing them for THREE years, and now this. Add $13 in ticketmaster service charges for 2 people, and this amounts to a huge bummer.
Unfortunately, the night was marred by some asshole who decided to climb up on stage and lumber menacingly in Brandy's general vicinity. He was about as threatening as those little plastic bears that you squeeze honey out of, and probably about as clever. Johnny said after the show that it was a good thing he didn't see the jerk up there (for his sake), but I think Brandy probabaly could have handled him. Anyway, he didn't do any damage other than to cut short what was turning into a really terrific set.
My tape sounds great, Michael Jones was there with his ridiculously nice equipment, and I'm sure his sounds great as well. The same idiot that charged the stage was standing next to our mike stand screaming and clapping, but I think it will turn out ok.
Yours,
mjr
We (2 Johns: 'Cursion' & Finch, Jess, & I) arrived at the Casino just in time to catch the start of the opener...a rocking band, with a great big, full sound. For some reason the name is escaping me (it is a multipart band name and it is early so...) I DO remember Cursion John mentioning though that the opening band USED to be known as "The Caulfields" or something like that. We were ushered to our seats (even though the tickets said "no seating" -go figure) in the back since we got there right as the opening band was starting. Right then and there I knew this show experience was going to be different. That was my first Cracker show where I sat down (there were seats at the JMU show 10/30/98 but I'm not counting that because we did'nt stay seated). This place had long rectangular tables and each had a candle on them. It was a very classy place, I thought. Polished brass rails. Great sound/lighting, impeccable "production values" (I quoteth David). It just was an adjustment seeing the band perform in such a place. I sorta liked it though because it was a change of pace.
There was a wry comment on how the "guido factor" was in full-force. I'll let John explain that one if he so chooses :-) Jessica kept the set list. Fine set...but then again, any set that contains St.Cajetan can't go wrong in my eyes. Really, all this talk about variety needed in the sets played, I think it is important to remember that new material is already being incorporated and fan's input IS being taken into consideration. At each of the shows I attended, most recently (D.C.,Phil.,and again in AC Sat. night), David explicity mentioned that they had asked for requests for songs they don't normally play. Saturday night was no exception, though because most of the audience seemed to be more familiar with Cracker: the radio-hits, the shouted out requests (and I couldn't hear a lot of what was said from the audience because we were seated in the back) were more hits orientated. It did seem as though David took the audience to task for this...but to me he was matching attitude with attitude. Believe me, there were some real asses in the audience.
Lost $10 in my first ever go at the slot machines...oh well. Those things can be dangerous! Casinos...what a place to just people watch. wow. an interesting mix of humanity indeed.
~chris~
Cracker came out and played great!!!!!! Euro-Trash Girl and Dr. Bernice were played early on, and it sounded really good. Near the middle of the set, David let us know that he'd rather not play "Low" since they play it every night, but with the crowd's roaring displeasure about his decision, he decided otherwise. And that was basically the beginning of the disaster. As "Low" was being played, some immature little punk teenager (though he claimed he was 21) sitting right in front of my table, jumped on stage, turned around, and dove onto the table he was sitting at. I guess he wasn't having too much fun since he had to create his own little death trap. Security shoved him out the door, but then 2 minutes later, he returned to his table. I cannot believe they let him back into the concert!!!!!!! Well, as soon as David had an opportunity, he really made fun of him in front of everyone. David told him to go right outside to Atlantic Avenue alone and get the bleep kicked out of him. Needless to say, the kid shut his mouth for the entire show! Hehehe!
Johnny sounded great!!! His guitar solo's were really perfect and it really works up the crowd. I could say the same for the drunken guy standing in the front tier. Everytime the music picked up, the guy stood up from his chair, and mimmicked Johnny's every move. I was very impressed with "Seven Days". It sounded great. The guys (and gal) took a break, and everyone wanted an encore. They came back out and played 2 more songs before calling it a night.
It was very tense on the stage since 2 girls tried to climb up and I can tell David was thinking, "I think we're gonna wrap it up early for security reasons". So, they finished the nite with, "Another Song About The Rain." As we were listening to this great song, we were distracted by, yet another drunken a-hole who jumped on stage, danced around LP, and messed up her hair. He was escorted away.
Many of us thought that Cracker was just going to stop in the middle of "rain" and walk off the stage, but they finished up. Total set time: one hour, 45 minutes......and roughly 15 songs, if that. Compare that to their other shows lasting 2 1/2 hours, well, you can kinda understand that security wasn't doing their job and Cracker was a little pissed.
Overall, it was a terrific show put on by Cracker, but, a bunch of people in the audience dampered it for the rest of us. So, I don't blame you David, New Jerseyans really can be a-holes sometimes.
1.Been Around the World
2.Eurotrash Girl
3.Dr. Bernice
4.Lonesome Johnny Blues
5.Sweet Thistle Pie
6.7 Days
7.Movie Star
8.Teen Angst
9.Big Dipper
10.Low
11.Get Off This
12.Loser
13.Trials and Tribulations
14.How Can I Live Without You
15.Be My Love
16.St. Cajetan
*encore*
17.Another Song About the Rain
comments ....
The sound was amazing and they were playing great. In ET Girl, David messed up the lyrics to the "Called my mom from a pay phone" verse I wonder if it had anything to do with the crowd's total lack of involvement in the song (none of that sing along stuff you normally get with ET Girl... it was quite bizarre)
In Dr. Bernice, Kenny was out of the "keyboard cage" and was moving around a lot with his accordion. He was playing great and the crowd did respond. It was cool in the hot desert night part cause Kenny and Johnny synched up their motions.
Before Lonesome Johnny, right after David said Johnny was going to sing a song, someone in the crowd (Matthew) called out "Johnny, you're better than Elvis!" Oh, and Kenny had a little solo in the song on the accordion... neat!!
I wasn't until Sweet Thistle Pie that I realized that Brandy has an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING voice. I can understand now what Johnny was saying about estrogen power etc. She sounds GREAT!!! Also, she was dancing around a lot and really getting into the songs and really just performing well.
After STP David made some comments about how they were going to put on a normal Atlantic City type show but their dancers got sick and couldn't perform. He then asked the crowd if they wanted to hear The Good Life or 7 Days then he and Johnny decided to play both at once, Johnny doing the lead to one, and David doing rhythm of the other (a la They Might Be Giants) and they decided that that didn't sound too bad. After that David commented on how different it was to play this type of venue and he commented on how great the production value was. He said he could actually hear Kenny. He said "You mean Kenny plays on this song?" and the wondered if he should tip him...
Anyway, the crowd opted for 7 Days and that's what they played...David looked very energized and into the music, in Teen Angst he was really dancing... Big Dipper was beautiful, and the great sound really helped elevate it... After Dipper, David made a joke about how if they played Low then, everyone who was there for just the hits would leave. He made some remarks about "Normal Jersey Politeness" and ragged on the crowd a bit. I'm not sure what the crowd was saying but I know they seemed un-enthused about the non hit songs... David then said they would play all of the hits and then they would do "all of the cool songs" after the people left who just wanted to hear the hits. They then launched into Low. There was the moronic stage diver who thought it was 1990... (he was probably in middle school in 1990...) Oh, and David walked out onto one of the tables during Low...
After Get Off This, David asked the stage diver (who was let back in after being escorted out) if he was one of the Gambinos since they let him back in after that. He then told the guy he "really knows what being a big man is all about" and started talking about how it's always like this down in Jersey. David then said the rest of the set was "ribbed for our pleasure".
After How Can I Live Without You Johnny said "We're enjoying ourselves quite a bit at this point."
During Be My Love, towards the end when Kenny has his keyboard solo, he got a creepy candelabra set up and lit on his amp. It was all very phantom of the opera-ish... =) Very funny and appropriate... =)
During Another Song about the Rain, David played his electric, not his acoustic... Johnny was playing an awesome solo and David was dancing and getting into the song, and then that stupid drunk asshole had to run up and ruin the moment by crashing the stage and messing with Brandy's hair. The security guys really had their thumbs up their asses that night.
Understandably, immediately after the song finished, they stormed off stage an were not going to return. Woody followed the guy out of the place and threatened him with pressing charges if the guy ever did that again... We all agreed that the guy would probably end up in jail one way or another that night (he was shit faced drunk, after all...)
But the show was really great despite all that. I hope it didn't rattle Brandy... I'm quite certain she could've taken the guy... =) I think Brandy is an excellent addition to the band, especially with her super voice! I can't wait to see her in I Ride My Bike now...
well that's all I can think of and I have to get to class soon... I hope John fills in my blanks...
jess
I'll try though ...
It was interesting watching Cracker from a distance. It didnt feel right though. Cylde wasnt even around to bribe to get a better table which was sorta bad. (Coach House reference for those keeping track)
It was weird and good to hear them get Low out of the way earlier in the set. There was a guy at a table near us shouting for Low ... and they played it. He looked quite bored with the rest of the show. Poor guy. : ) Maybe he'll develop a wider musical taste of one these days. (That or buy a white baseball cap...)
Oh about Brandy's voice - it came out of nowhere during Sweet Thistle Pie and it was incredible. I used to think that it was great to hear Joan & LP doing backup on that song ... then a thought entered my mind - Cracker will be able to make STP sound like that ALL the time now. Wow.
About the asshole that grabbed Brandy.. I think that David should hire C2K people for security. I am sure that we would have stopped him from getting up on stage - failing that we could have held him down while Brandy taught him a lesson.
One of the more memorable moments of the night was when Woody appeared before the show and sat down at our table. He had a frustrated look on his face and told us that the Guido factor was through the roof.
After the show a few of us had some drinks in the huuuuuge hotel, and then went down to the slot machines to throw away some money. I blew away $7.50 and then Jessica blew away $2.50. I'm not sure if Jessica spent my money or not though... Chris is the Winner of course : ) She blew $10.00. John Finch was the only one that rode back with us that was able to resist the urge to throw money away.
We finally got out of there and drove home ...
One question .. why are there so damn many tolls when you head north from DC? I think we blew $20 in tolls. When you head south from DC there arent any toll roads.
John