June 23, 2001 -

Reviews by...
Dan
Matt and/or Soledad

Otto's was a great show! Frank singing "Happy Birthday To Me" for his own birthday was hysterical.
Johnny's solos absolutely blew us away. The guy is just oozing with personality.
Brandy looked like she was wasted, pissed-off, or both. But she still sounded good.
David sang and played incredibly as expected. I didn't notice any broken strings, but the view was partially obstructed by the 4 1/2 foot barricade wall that was constructed in front of the stage. (The stage was a little low for the enormous barrier that looked like it could stop a freight train cold).
The only disappointment was no St. Cajetan, and I don't remember Sweet Potato being played either.
I couldn't believe there were at least 2 fights that night-- one in the men's room and the other right in front of the stage. The men's room was as nasty as I remember it ten years ago, except for what looked like a fresh coat of paint over the urinals and a few new layers of messages on the condom machine. I was impressed when David shared his disappointment with the fight in front of the stage and told security that they were taking away the wrong guy. (The other guy started the whole thing) (Maybe that was why they built the great wall in front of the stage).
This was my first opportunity to see Cracker live-- it was everything I had hoped it would be, and more (with the exception of St. Cajetan--I thought for sure it would make it into the encore.
Great show, Great time.

-Dan

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Here's the setlist from the DeKalb show on Saturday, in a half-assed attempt at the order in which they were played. There were quite a few surprises, both pleasant and not-so-pleasant.

Heaven Knows I'm Lonely
Euro-Trash Girl
Wedding Day
Loser
Happy Birthday To Me (birthday boy Frank on lead vocals)
Sweet Thistle Pie
Dr. Bernice
I Ride My Bike
Take Me Down to the Infirmary (false start, never continued playing)
The Golden Age
Mr. Wrong
Been Around the World
Teen Angst
You Bring Us Down
Get Off This (D'Angelo-style this time)
This Is Cracker Soul
Seven Days
Lonesome Johnny Blues
Ain't That Strange
Low
**encore**
One Fine Day

Otto's has a pretty small floor, with a cozy balcony in the back. They disgrace the fine beers they have on tap by serving them in very large, hard plastic cups, and sell them to patrons who are there just looking to start fights. Thank god they had Spotted Cow in bottles.

Billhouse, the opener, were a pretty tight band--definitely better than most of the crap I hear on the radio. When Cracker took the stage, David seemed slightly bewildered, and said that they'd never been to DeKalb before, and definitely not to Otto's. But the first highlight of the night was Frank being told he had to sing Happy Birthday to Me, in honor of his 39th birthday. The band and crowd helped him along with the lyrics, though he never seemed like forgetting them, and even managed to sing it without exactly duplicating David's style. Unfortunately, after this time the rowdies started shoving into me and everyone else nearby. Chief among them was this guy in a SPAM t-shirt, who was so determined to make a spectacle of himself that he's not worth devoting any more time here describing his antics. Maybe he was just mad that my friend Jeremy and I didn't flirt back with him in the beer line earlier--how could he not notice my wedding band?

Highlight #2 was I Ride My Bike. Not only had I never heard it live before, but Johnny did a bunch of things with the guitar I had never heard before. Sorry, if I was more of a gearhead I could describe it better, but that'll have to do. I think they were so winded after this one that they did false-started on Infirmary and never came back to it.

Highlight number three was the three new songs, including You Bring Us Down this time.

If I could have seen this show in a bubble and just experienced the music, and not the rowdy contingent of the audience, it would have been spectacular. Unfortunately, by the end, with people like SPAM guy, and this large man yelling for Useless Stuff all night, trying to agitate others by knocking around into everyone else, some people near me (just to the right of David) who came there for the music just left early. Then, when just before and during Low, about 3 or 4 different scuffles broke out, as the locals rushed the front of the stage for the one song they knew. Maybe one bouncer came out to break it up. When they finished Low, David said they had the wrong guy, and helped identify the major instigator. Only after all this did a group of about eight bouncers come through. I was surprised they even came back for an encore, but I'd be more surprised if they ever play Otto's again.

Still, it was worth the Cracker experience.

--Matt

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