comments on Dec 1 Chicago show

[FogLight]

I had a lot of fun at the Empty Bottle last night at J’s acoustic show. I saw so many people from the bulletin board: Half-Man, throbby brady, Matty Qui-9, Hatchetface and his two buddies, etc. It’s like we had a little freakscene.net gathering up by the right side of the stage. I am still amazed that Hatchetface and crew drove all the way from Tennessee to Chicago for the show! That is a lot of driving, man, only hard core fans would do such a thing. And it was great to see you guys again.

Again I lucked out and saw J before the show. My buddy and I ate at the restaurant next to the Empty Bottle about an hour before the doors opened, and we saw J in there with his girlfriend. I said hi and asked him how his back was. He said it was “all rightâ€

[Cloud9]

Hey Foglight

Thanks for the review

Looking forward to the pics, please post them
& it would be great if u can put that show online

Thanks

[Halfman]

Howdy,

What a great experience!!!! The night started off pretty funny outside the venue. The folks had us shift the line a few times and we thought the order would flip on the first come first serve. Another funny thing was that everyone in line was told there would only be one hundred tix instead of two hundred at the door. Never did hear why 100 tickets mysteriously dissappeared like that…. One guy came by on foot asking who was playing. I told him. His reaction "Ohhhh." and he walked off. Everyone just cracked up. It was kinda like the eternal question of "Who is J Mascis?" was answered once and for all.

Met Hatchetface in line. Like FogLight said, it was amazing that he drove all the way up non-stop from Tennessee. Matty showed up later with his pal Ryan (sorry about the name gaff earlier [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] .) Went inside ran into Hatchet again. He put us in touch with FogLight, his friend Al and Throbby. The Chicago contigent was complete.

Spa Lounge opened. Not too bad really. A good choice to start things. Pinebender was next. These guys impressed me at times, and at others it seemed like they were holding back. The drummer had a really small kit, but he really got a lot of mileage from it. The lead guitarist seemed to be really concentrating throughout, trying to get things right. He had a nice chain of pedals and such . The singer/rhythm guitarist/leader was kind of hammy. I would recommend checking them out if you get a chance, They rock.

J came on at about midnight to cheers and chants of "Neil Blender" and "alien workshop". I am kicking myself I didn’t ask him if aerobics are helping him get back in shape [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] .

He started with Thumb. J’s vocals were very clear from the beginning. From there, he sang Blowing it, getting the guitar action warmed up. I didn’t know the next song, but his solo here was great, even adding a few slaps on the guitar body mid-solo. He followed with Same Day, a song I hadn’t heard until this time, but just knew it was so. His solo here made me think "Jeez, this is an acoustic show. you can’t do that here!" Torrential.

Ammaring was next. What a great way to hear this song for the first time! You guys are right about the solo in this song. Woowee! Little Fury Things was next, followed by Flying Cloud. The next song I could sing along with, but couldn’t get the name of it until the end, "Keep the Glove". Been a long time since I heard it. Kudos to FogLight here for the request. Thrown Down was next, followed by Repulsion. J’s yelp at the end of the song was pretty funny.

To digress, J was in a good mood as FogLight said. Something happened back in the crowd and he said something like "Looks like things are breaking apart out there." or something like that. At one time, he was looked like he was testing the mike or screwing with the crowd. The only sound that came out was a muffled "urghmf" or something. J quipped "I sound like the Strokes." and did it again.

After Repulsion, he switched guitars but the second one was broken. He apologized and launched into another song I hadn’t heard, perhaps On The Run?
Waistin came next and it seemed like the broken guitar got him pissed. The solo here was molten. Not You Again was next, followed by a beautiful Get Me. J took requests and played a bit of The Lung before giving the crowd a nice ride on The Wagon. The last song was So What Else Is New. The vocals, solos and arrangement all came together here for a perfect ending.

Thanks to everyone for making a 10 year wait worthwhile. Hope to see you guys again at the next show.

Tom

P.S. A couple of ladies in the crowd took the website address and said they would check it out.

[img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[ December 02, 2001: Message edited by: Half-Man ]</p>

[throbb]

alors!

here’s the complete setlist for anyone who cares:

thumb
blowin’ it
quest
sameday
keeblin
amma
little fury things
flying cloud
keep the glove
throw down
repulsion
on the run
waistin
not you again
—-
get me
lung (for about ten seconds)
wagon
what else is new?

The highlights were quest, amma (always a favorite, but I definitely like it better electric), on the run (I’ve had it in my head since the show), not you again (really fierce version of this, better than martin & me), real nice sing along version of get me–everyone in the place joined j which was kool! wagon & what else is new were also wonderful.

it was great getting to meet so many people from the website. thanks to the tennessee guys for letting me cut with them. (sorry to the people i cut in front of) we had a little corner by the stage like foglight said, but i wonder what happened to mat, he disappeared pretty early on??? thanks to the person that gave me the tamale–it was delicious and my favorite food!

things got weird when i left the show. i shared a cab with a raspy voiced marine guy that was at the show and he was complaining about the opening bands. (i wasn’t as impressed as half-man.) we went to this bar that stayed open until five in the morning. lots of drink going on and the crazy stuff that happened probably isn’t worth getting into. it was the craziest bar ever! this crazy old OLD lady owned it and she was running around all over the place. i met a nice looking girl with a nose ring, but she was making out with some other guy when i came back from the bathroom. oh well!

when i went back to my hotel i was offered twenty dollars for beer from some lions fans. they asked me if i was a lions fan and i told them "hell no" and then went into how the bears were going to kick their sorry winless asses all over the place. and we did, ha ha! sold them some beer i had for a rediculous price (only because they were lions fans) and went to bed. i was up until like six in the morning and am still hurting from the experience. lots of fun, though! just what i needed.

i’ll have pictures posted as soon as i get rid of the other five i have left.

cheers!

tb

[SG]

Thanks for the reviews and set list,sounds like you had a good time,cool that you got to meet each other.

[AGAP]

Hey,

Thanks tons for the reviews and set lists, sounds like an amazing show…like I should be surprised [img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Gotta love that lions beer story [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] BEARS 9-2

Allison [img]images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img]

ps really looking forward to the pics…and hopefully some sounds from the show [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[ December 03, 2001: Message edited by: Another Girl Another Planet ]</p>

[Chicago_Fog]

Hello everyone. I just read the reviews and wanted to throw in my own 2 cents. I managed to be the guy standing directly in front of J. I was right against the stage. (sorry I know my girlfriend and I are tall -we had on the Independent gear-) but I couldn’t resist. J was amazing. The broken guitar string seemed to change the nights mood in my opinion and the crying drunk girl next to me having a violent spaz attack more than dampered my good time. Did anyone notice that J had the lyrics to "On the Run" written down on a piece of paper at his feet? After J stepped down the first time my girlfriend swiped it up. Its totally J’s handwritting. Should make for quite the conversation piece! I am going to get it framed. If anyone wants to swap photos or recordings of the show…[email protected] Just shoot me a message! I’d love to hear from you! All in all the show was intimate and very fun.

I got offered that Tamale too!

[ December 03, 2001: Message edited by: Ryan Atkins ]</p>

[Cale]

Foglight, What kind if gear did you use to tape it? If you like, I can transfer it to cdr for you, I have a lot of experience w/ doing it correctly. I wouldn’t mind helping a brother out [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[bobocap]

Foglight,Half-man, Throbby and Ryan,

Thank you all for the great reviews!

I too am interested in how you taped the show. Does J allow that??

Bobocap

[alried]

So I am kind of new to this site, at least registering wise. I check it out now and again. And I just want to add my two cents about the Chitown show. First, I got lucky on the outside when someone forgot their ID so had to leave which left myself and some other lucky sole witha chance to ge tin. My take on the opening bands is about the same as posted previously. I enjoyed the 2nd better at times, but that could’ve been jsut because j would just go on sooner. Anyway, J was incredible again. It seemed like he had the first 9 songs or so scripted then got a little freeer than in Ann Arbor on Friday. Both were equally spectacular. I really like the Empty Bottle, but about the 3-4th song the feedback on the left of the stage got pretty bad. The speaker was going nuts, which prompted J to question everything and start checking mike sounds. Maybe you couldn’t hear it on the right side of the stage, but it got bad. He got a little more talkative withthe crowd, which was neat.

Does anyone know where to get ahold of copies of either the Ann Arbor show, Chicago show, or Cleveland for that matter, I would love to snag one. ????? [img]images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img]

[FogLight]

Cale:

I taped the show with a little hand held Panasonic Microcassette Recorder (model RN-404). I am able to convert it to mp3’s on my computer but I need my friend’s help. Hopefully we’ll get to it within the next of couple days. At previous Fog gigs I’ve made recordings that came out pretty bad since I was in front and it was so incredibly loud, so I didn’t bother trying to do anything with it. But with this gig it may come out decent. We’ll see. If you want I can snail mail you my tapes after I’m done with them.

Bobocap:

I’m pretty confident J is cool with people taping his shows since every one I’ve been to, people have taped pretty much out in the open and haven’t taken any guff from anyone. At Saturday nights gig there were people taping all over the place. The girl next to me had a big recorder with a full-size microphone that she put on the stage. She kind of covered it up with her jacket, but it was pretty obvious. I’m bet her recording came out good, maybe we should track her down and get her to post her recording…

Elcat:

The feedback on the right side of the stage wasn’t too bad. If J hadn’t said something I may not have even noticed. It was probably just that one speaker.

Later-
FogLight

[AGAP]

Hey,

Elcat sounds like you got to check out the Blind Pig show as well as the Chicago show…not bad at all!!!
Welcome to the boards (as a member this time [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] )
you can post your request for recordings/trades here

http://www.freakscene.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=5&t=000046

You can also check the ftp forum on this site, someone uploaded a good quality recording of the Hultrsfred Festival from Sweden.

Bobocap, Fog Light is right seems J doesn’t mind about the taping bit, lots of reports of people taping…just need them to post some here for all to enjoy…PLEASE [img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img] Actually J was recording a few of the Fog shows, rumor is a live recording may be coming out some time…fingers crossed [img]images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img]

Great to get some many reviews/spins on the show…gotta love that.

Allison

[Cale]

FogLight, if you want to mail me the tapes, I would be more then happy to put them to cdr for you. I hate MP3’s, so I would like them to be the best quality for listening [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] .

I will email you about this, Thanks.

[rosa]

<blockquote><font>quote

Quote:

…. One guy came by on foot asking who was playing. I told him. His reaction "Ohhhh." and he walked off.

I’m sorry; I know this is kind of irrelevant, but reading this cracked me up.

After I saw the Fog in April, I was standing outside in the rain, waiting for my ride. Some really young kid came up to me and was trying to make conversation; he was like, "Who played tonight?" And I said "J Mascis". The kid kind of looked at me funny, then said, "What is that, some rap shit?"

take care
rosa

[ December 07, 2001: Message edited by: rosa ]</p>

[Chicago_Fog]

FOGLIGHT: Did you have a "More Light" T-shirt on at the show?????

-R

[ December 07, 2001: Message edited by: Ryan Atkins ]</p>

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