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Re: Going to the Show (1st Ave)?

Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:00 am
by Sometime to Return
First of all Benedict Arnold..err--David Pirner :P :P SKOL Vikings!!

David... Who Dat who won in New Orleans last year? 8-)

I really thought this was a great show; I liked it better than last year's Christmas show. But; then again, other people I spoke with after the show commented they liked last year's show better. Anyways...

Didn't write the set list down; but it went something like this.

Just like anyone
Bittersweet heart
All is well
Whatcha need
Never really been
Oxygen
Sometime to return (thank you!!)
Close to the Stars
Cartoon/ Gone til november
Easy Street
Lately
Runaway train
Black gold
W/out a trace
Misery/ silly love songs
String of pearls
Slowly Risin'
Stand up...
The Final Solution
My generation (The Who cover song)

Listening to Fishbone as I type this; Love these guys...

Anyways; I thought they had lots of energy. The place was stuffed.

Dave.. how do I say this.. didn't appear "lit up"; which really helped. The last show at Clear Lake; did he and I think it effected his performance. Just my $.02.

In case you didn't know; Michael Bland is a pretty good drummer. ;) :o We are lucky to have him in the band.

Tommy... Well fantastic bass player; not such a good joke teller. :lol:

Lots of merchandise.

Dave dedicated a song to Bob Stinson; class act by Dave. Almost enough to make a grown man cry. RIP Bob. He; also dedicated a song to Karl. We all raised our drinks. RIP Karl. Both dedications brought huge responses.

If you are going to the show tonight; definately get there to see The Tomatoes. I din't know any of their stuff; but they opened with a song called (not sure of the exact title) "can't stop the jam." Check it out.

Briefly talked to Woody; the drummer from The tomatoes after the show. Great guy; good luck Woody, you have a new fan. Come back to MPLS; heding down to the electric Fetus today to pick up some of your music.

Anyways; he did confirm the Soul Asylum is planning a full cd; not an EP I wanted that clarified, and the plan is to have is out in the spring.

Re: Going to the Show (1st Ave)?

Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:08 am
by Sometime to Return
Sorry for the double post...

Anyone that hung out longer after the show last night; did theu guys finally show up? Tracy ? (sorry if I spelled it wrong..) If they did; share anything you'd like.

Merry Christmas all!! God bless each and everyone of you!!

Re: Going to the Show (1st Ave)?

Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:11 am
by zany
soooo.... from your approximated setlist i'm assuming that means there were no new songs played?

thanks so much for the early report!

Re: Going to the Show (1st Ave)?

Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:22 am
by PROMISESBROKEN
It was a good show, but certainly not the best I've seen them play. Let me just say how bummed I am that we didn't get to hear any of the new stuff. :(

It was obnoxiously packed, which I've come to expect with this show every year.

A decent selection of shirts, but not a specific shirt for this show.

Also, I don't know if the guys even came out to chat after the show. My hubby and I hung around a bit, didn't see the guys come out, so we headed over to the Entry to check out the last 4 or 5 songs from Red Pens (awesome by the way, my ears are still ringing). When we made our way back to the mainroom, people were still standing around but the band was a no show. Did they ever come out??? Anyone?

I think I must be spoiled by too many amazing shows from these guys, cuz this one just didn't do it for me. :|

Re: Going to the Show (1st Ave)?

Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 3:52 pm
by Miss Fitt 2
Sometime to Return wrote: If you are going to the show tonight; definately get there to see The Tomatoes. I din't know any of their stuff; but they opened with a song called (not sure of the exact title) "can't stop the jam." Check it out..
The Tomatoes opened with "She Wore a Yellow Gas Mask." I didn't write the set down but here's what I remember them playing:

She Wore a Yellow Gas Mask
Teenage Roosevelt
Death to Radio Indie Pop
Fight Song
Johnny Fly
I Gotta Dance
Vendetta
Standing Right Next to You
Skinny Ties and All
Where Have All the Commies Gone?

You can check out videos here:
http://www.thetomatoes.net/video/

Re: Going to the Show (1st Ave)?

Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:57 pm
by AlyssaJones
This Friday night was by far the best night of my entire life.

First off, I just want to say that I LOVE MINNEAPOLIS! It's such a cool city. The Skyway is awesome. I finally got to do the one thing I've always dreamed of: listening to "Skyway" while walking through The Skyway. I'd love to tell you all about my fun times getting lost high above the busy little one-ways, but I'll bore you some other time. :P

Anyway, about the show...

The Tomatoes were pretty good. My favorite song they played was Death to Radio Indie Pop (or whatever it was called).

I had my spot secured right up at the very front against the fence, but then somebody who shall remain nameless came up and literally pushed me out of my spot. :x It turned out okay though, because the guy I ended up standing behind grabbed me and pushed me up to the front. I don't know what his name was or if he posts on here, but if you're him and you're reading this, please know how extremely grateful I am for giving me that spot! :D

I was so glad they played Sometime to Return! It was a great set list. They dedicated Easy Street to Bob Stinson. I was really hoping they would dedicate a song to him as well as Karl. They did Without a Trace for Karl as usual. During those two songs I was laughing and crying. I've never been so sad and so happy at the same time.

I honestly wasn't disappointed by not hearing any new stuff. Dave said, "We'll spare you the new material," and there was a big group "awh!" but if they're not comfortable playing it yet, I guess we'll just have to wait for the new album.

I loved singing along with everybody in the crowd. My favorite part of that was when Dave would step away from the microphone and just have us sing for him.

Tommy did My Generation which I loved because I love Tommy, but you all know that. :P I also loved that disgusting joke he told. Not that it was funny, I just loved hearing it from him.

Jim got me something to drink before the show, I stated, "I have way too much respect for this club just to throw this on the floor, but then again I don't want to hold it all night." So when I was done he took it out of my hand and put it on floor for me cause I felt a little bad if I littered it... but when the show ended and everyone cleared out, I took one look at the floor and I sure didn't feel bad about not wanting to drop that drink anymore! It was covered in cans and bottles and broken glass. I kept saying "oh my god, look at the floor!" I really didn't expect it to look like that, but then again, where else were people gonna throw their shit?

I bought a shirt and went right over near the backstage area. One of SA's roadies put something in my hand and I looked at it and realized it was a guitar pick. I was like, "What is this? Did one of the guys use this tonight?" and the guy was like, "Yeah, it's Dave's. That's what you get for standing in front all night." Then as if that wasn't enough, this guy named Brian who's also from Pittsburgh ended up with Tommy's and he gave it to me! AND THEN the roadie that gave me the pick gave me the discarded top piece of one of Michael's drums!

Tommy popped out of the backstage door for a second and I called his name, but he just glanced at me, crammed a piece of pizza in his mouth and went back inside.

So I was waiting and waiting for any of the guys to come out, and finally I saw Danny and he was kinda absently looking around and I asked him for an autograph and he was so sweet and polite! I shook his hand and he signed my cassette for me.

Then Dave finally came out! He was so tired, but he was sweet enough to sign my Horse tape and talk to me for a second. But god, the poor guy was so weary, and I really appreciate the autograph. Then my mom gave him a copy of that poem I wrote about him and I was like, "Don't give him that!" and Dave said that if I didn't want him to have it he wouldn't take it, but I decided to let him keep it. I gave him a big hug and just said, "I love you so much." Then he put his hand on my shoulder and I can't for the life of me remember what he said, but I think he just thanked me for coming out and told me to have a good night and stuff. I can't get over what a gentleman and a sweetheart he is!

Michael came by and he signed the drum top, and finally someone who was backstage took my Pleased to Meet Me tape for Tommy to sign and on it he wrote, "Where are ya Sara?"

While I was in Minneapolis I also visited Karl's grave and the building where Twin/Tone used to be. 2541 Nicollett Avenue South doesn't really exist anymore though. There are two new-ish looking empty buildings where it would have been.

I start my new job on Monday, so I guess I'll have to wash these black X's off my hands soon :( I'm afraid to look at my bank balance and I really don't feel like unpacking my bag, but I'm still happier than I ever have been in my life.

Thank you Soul Asylum.
Thank you Jim.
And thank you if you read this entire gigantic post!

Re: Going to the Show (1st Ave)?

Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 9:28 pm
by Miss Fitt 2
I was just getting ready to post when I saw Alyssa's post and it made me so happy!

Alyssa, I'm so glad you had such a great experience! And I'm so happy you got your spot back and that you got to meet Dave.

I thought it was a great performance by the band. I do have to confess that I was a little disappointed by the lack of any special set material. I can understand them deciding they weren’t ready to play the new material, but I think of the holiday show as something special and I wish they pulled out a couple of other tracks that they don’t usually play. I don’t think anything will compare to the 2007 holiday show (Good lord, what a gift that was!), but I thought they might play Stranger and maybe some other older tunes. Stranger has been on my most-wanted list forever and I was heartbroken to miss it at the MN Zoo show. But I consoled myself by reasoning that they’d probably keep it in the set list, at least for a while. I had hoped to hear it in Gretna, then in Milwaukee, and was disappointed on those occasions, but I was sure it would surface in the holiday show. Sigh.

But as far as their actual performance, I felt like they gave 125% and put on a great show. Their energy was high, they were funny, they were gracious, and they were good-natured when things went wrong. The interruption of Never Really Been by Danny’s rogue guitar was priceless. And I thought Dave’s line after playing Runaway Train was very funny and shrewd: “We considered playing Hang Time in its entirety, but then we decided to do that song instead.”

And I know this will sound geeky – and just plain weird considering how many years I’ve been listening to them and how many times I’ve seen them play – but last night was also one of those times where I was struck all over again by how truly extraordinary their songs are. Just one extraordinary song after another. So, as much as I would have liked to hear some other songs, I would have hated for anything to get cut. (Well… maybe one song could go. ;) ) I guess my solution would just be for them to plan for half an hour longer. :)

Seeing Dave come out in a Saints t-shirt for the encore made me smile. Even though he had his outer shirt buttoned up, I recognized the tip of the fleur-de-lis right away. (Geaux Saints!) But at the same time, I thought it wasn’t the best choice while playing for an audience who takes pride in him as a native son and hometown hero.

Having the Tomatoes open was a bonus. Soul Asylum has had some decent bands open at the holiday shows (I went out and bought a Ouija Radio CD after the 2006 show), but I have to confess I usually just endure the opening acts. But it was great to have an opener that I also wanted to see.

I envy the folks who are seeing them right now!

Re: Going to the Show (1st Ave)?

Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 10:01 pm
by mystic_spiral_3
I really enjoyed reading your post, AlyssaJones. It's always fun to hear about someone's first concert at First Avenue and how it's "magical" for them like it was for me. (Sorry if that's a sappy word, but that's how it was for me.) I'm glad you had a good time and got to meet the guys!

Re: Going to the Show (1st Ave)?

Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 10:07 pm
by zany
thanks for the great reviews all
sara i love your post - thanks sooo much for sharing so i could live vicariously through you!! :) :) glad you had a great time

Re: Going to the Show (1st Ave)?

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 8:44 am
by zany
oooh videos are up (thanks jOhnnyquestions!!!)


easy street (with part where dave says they'll spare you the new stuff)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9v6ZdIDJ6s

all is well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETp1DlKT ... re=channel

sometime to return
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UQu6F_m ... re=channel

my generation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7gW4mlK ... re=channel