I don’t think any BW&B tunes were played this tiime. Instead they were favoring a number of new TH songs. I took home a copy of the set list that Matt had and it reads as follows, with my notes as to whether or not they actually played it…
Alone
My Return
Yes
Dreams
Queen of Tomorrow
Call Me
Troublemaker
Spirit of Life
Forgot
Never Mine to Lose
Soundwaves
Telephone
Stay With You
the following songs were on the list in small lettering at the bottom as potentials but were not played, probably due to time lost due to Jacque’s amp needing to be replaced, onstage banter, guitar tuning etc.
Searchers
Stay Together
To Love Somebody (cover tune, as in “You Don’t Know What It’s Like…” as played in Philly last time)
Descender
Goodbye Good Life - definitely missed this one!
Good show. I think the last Brooklyn one was even better, but this one was cool because I got to meet Jake Slichter, Kara’s brothers, Blane and Blane’s lovely friend who was hosting his stay in New York. And it’s great that everyone at Union Hall seems to know that they are required to relinquish the front of the hall to me and Kara and our crews! It’s like we have our turf and no others dare to tread upon it!
Ha! Dan beat me to the punch. I saw this post, and also had taken a copy of the setlist. I thought I’d get to offer some breaking news, but I decided to wait until halftime of the Big 12 title game to reply. Snoozed and losed. My first reaction was that the 1st Brooklyn show was a bit better, too, although I think that the music was definitely more refined and interactional (is that a word?) this time. Instead of capo’ing his acoustic at the 10th fret or so for Soundwaves, Matt pulled out his Les Paul and electrified it. I thought that was great. I do think that they played Never Mine To Lose AFTER Telephone, despite what the setlist says… for whatever that’s worth.
For the moment, I also have to beg time to catch my breath. For some reason, I think I’m back in college when I see these guys, and that monsoon/hurricane that Kara speaks of was a brutal way to fight off a hangover. However, I do remember that Matt told Kara she was in violation for something. Maybe the 2-year-old comment has something to do with it? Grr! Was great to meet Dan - I’m assuming that Henry waits until tomorrow, Dan? Or maybe you’re en route.
I also remember that the preceding band, The Old Ceremony, made a comment about Minneapolis and the Twilight Hours, and Matt was forced to respond when Jacque had to borrow their amp. Good stuff.
I also should mention that all the guys in the band were very accessible and just as nice as can be. Jacque, Steve and Dave deserve any and all hoopla they get.
...actually…I was in violation because I sang the chorus of Rebecca between songs….I couldn’t help it….that song haunts me….and makes me laugh on the inside!
It looks like the new TTH songs are trending into the sets with more and more frequency. They are also refining, experimenting and improving them. This is a very good thing and it’s building anticipation in me for the sophomore release from our twin city rockers! I’ll have to go back and read some of Eric’s comments from the Omaha show; I think he said Matt mentioned timing of later this year? (or was it early next year?). Anyway, it cannot be soon enough!!
Kara, it cracks me up that the you were egging on the younger Wilson with lines from ‘Rebecca’. I plan to yell for it all night from the balcony of the Pantages!
Have a great Sunday everyone. Cheerio! —Robbie V.
P.S. Dan mentioned meeting Jake. As I was repacking some of my suitcases over in Germany yesterday (I have to start thinking about moving everything back home early this Summer) I came across my copy of “So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star” that I picked up in Rotterdam. I did a quick search on the internet for write-ups and reviews and I came across this NPR interview that Jake did 6 years ago. Anyway, some of you have probably heard it but I thought that it was an interesting 8 minutes!
Whew….I feel well-rested and ready to go after 10 hours of un-interrupted sleep…man, I feel bad for the TH’s stuck in the airport overnight in Chicago due to this monster storm…that would take me at least 3 days to recover from….I love going on the road because so much happens in such a short period of time compared to my usual routine….and I’ve come to understand that I must have a bit of a wanderer in me….maybe that’s why driving to minneapolis is so much more appealing to me than flying (especially when someone else is assisting in the driving part)....it’s time well-spent….
...Well, here’s my little re-cap…I left my house around 1:30pm with plenty of time to get to the Train Station in lower Bucks County to pick-up my brother Eddie at 4:30pm…so I was able to stop at my sister’s house to play with Pearle, the new puppy in town and see her two little kids who are 8 and 7…..the precipitation at this point was very light if it even existed, but definitely cloudy…It took me about an hour and a half to drive 63 miles to her house, and then it took me an hour to get to the train station from there which is about a 20 mile drive because of the rush/hour traffic and general congestion of suburbia….I must say since I live in rural conditions, I forget about the traffic conditions where I grew up and I’m alway so aggravated after 15 minutes of traffic hell….at this point I’m only about 8 minutes late to the station and Eddie is standing in the rain which is still in the drizzly stage…so at 4:30pm we seem to be on schedule….we bumble our way trying to figure out how to get to my brother Scott’s house in North Jersey where we’ve decided to spend the night instead of a hotel because he offered and it’s free and I can’t really justify that expense…..of course it’s the worst rush hour traffic ever with rain and friday and 5:00pm, but we manage to get moving after an initial “do you know how to get there panic”....google maps are only so good and a real map which we had takes exceptionally long to decipher especially without your reading glasses….I mean, I was driving, but Eddie isn’t too good with maps in the first place….so we make a call to scottie and he directs us on a “short-cut” route which ends up to be perfect…although we had a James Bond moment driving fast on 95 with our google map telling us to exit immediately and scott saying hold on…i think there’s a better exit in about 2 miles even though he wasn’t sure there was an actual exit…but there was.
...so we’re about 1/2 way there and I’m starving because I’ve decided to just eat an apple and a yogurt for lunch until easter which is actually working out quite nicely as long as I can get some dinner by 6pm or so as I am pretty hungry by then…in fact…I think I will continue to eat in this fashion although lunch is typically my favorite meal and I do miss a nice sandwich at lunch, but I knew I needed something as I was pretty sure to be drinking a beer or two…so we stop at a Taco Bell…and Eddie orders a coffee and the manager says…“we don’t serve hot beverages”...and it didn’t really compute, so he says again…I just want a coffee..and the manager says…we don’t serve hot beverages…which I didn’t know about and seems a little weird…..but hmmm…you learn something new all the time….so with a bean burrito and some sort of taco we continue our journey north with scott calling us every15 minutes to make sure we’re still on our way…which is funny because he has a 2year old and is only 2 years younger than I am, so I’m sure he was quite desperate to get out for an evening….meanwhile…eddie and I are in that joyous stage of expectation for a great night and finding eveything ridiculous…
We make it to Mountainside by 6:30pm and by now it’s raining lightly but steady…We say hello to the family and little Patrick who is having his dinner…scott has made eddie a pot of coffee which we all believe we will need as I’m sure we’ll have a later than usual evening ahead of us…I see that I will be sleeping on the living room couch and eddie will be in the “study”.....and by 7:15 we are headed East to Brooklyn….I’m sitting in the back next to the baby seat with a 24oz mug of coffee….it’s quite luxurious not having to be the driver…traffic is not bad and by 8:00 we’re parking in the garage about 2 blocks from Union Hall…
...so it’s cold and rainy and we make our way into Union Hall to check-out the scene before finding a place to sit down and eat a real meal…it’s quite cozy upstairs with the fires and bocce and all the “beautiful” people in the place…it’s really a yuppie kingdom upstairs if they still call themselve that…..quite a fashionable part of Brooklyn these days…lots of scarves woven carefully in place…people sitting in the corner with notebooks and pens….I’ve never been in a position to sit in a cozy bar w/ notebook and pen…we saunter downstairs to check-out the scene and I inquired about the anticipated timeline of bands…the hostess said that the TH’s would probably go on around 11pm….geez….so we leave and go around the corner along 5th avenue to a really upscale deli-sandwich place…..the sandwiches were divine and came wrapped in an entire section of butcher paper with twine ribbon that was almost impossible to open without a knife…which we didn’t have…there’s nothing worse than being really hungry and not being able to open your food packaging…we had a good meal and I think I had a delicious Irish Red beer….it was one of those places with chalk-board menus written all over the place and if you’ve never been there it’s just overload and deciding could take an hour if you have that luxury and don’t mind being stared at whilst trying to make a decision…I went with the tradition italian which was a good safe choice…now we were ready for the party….we made it back to Union Hall around 9:10 and just missed the first act…the place was pretty crowded downstairs already and the hostess mentioned to me that she was glad we returned early because she was mistaken and the Twilight Hours would be going on at 10:30pm…I found it nice she remembered me and was concerned about our timing….
So we had another round, a sierra nevada for me this time….and headed towards the front to see the second band who I’m not sure of the name, but they played really really loud and we were in front of the speaker which was not a good choice…the place was pretty packed and they were pretty good…the band guy in front of me played bare-foot…what is that all about?....there was a maraca and a vibraphone, I was hoping for a vibe-dual between Steve and this guy….I remember a song about Plate Techtonics….we ran into Steve and John and Matt in the crowd…and I quite literally bumped into Boogie o"Woogie who is the tallest fan I’ve met yet…I think he’s taller than John…he politely stands in the back as he has no problem seeing the stage from his vantage point I’m sure..the stage was so crowded with all their equipment…I think there were 5 guys in the band and 25 musical instruments….and 20 of them were mallets for the vibraphone…I’m not sure what they’re called…sticks with round balls on top for hitting the vibraphone…here is where my musical buffoonery is quite evident…I kept thinking…wow this music is really loud and I knew it wouldn’t bother me at all if the Twilight Hours played that loud…in fact I’m sure I wouldn’t even notice….I headed to the “co-ed” bathroom which I had forgotten about and actually works out very nicely if you can get used to the “seat left-up” scenario that never occurs in a proper ladies room….I was done with the 5 dollar beer and had a PBR next which certainly flash-backed me to various rock and roll outings in the 80’s….there’s something about hanging around a club in great expectation of seeing your favorite band-mates on-stage…I wish I could have 10 hours of that as it all seems to go by so quickly once things get started….
The second band ends their set and clears out the stage and I’d say a bunch of people left the crowd because it was much roomier and more comfortable for Twilight Hours fans….i would say the crowd was less than at the first show, but not by too much…it was still a full room….but not in a sardine-like way…Dan’s friend had plenty of room to conduct and sway along to the music…I was thinking as the Twilight Hours were playing how much more together they seemed to play as compared to the previous band…they are really gelling quite nicely and they all seem comfortable with the parts they play if that makes any sense at all….I don’t know anything about capos and bridges and that musical stuff…but Matt and John had brown guitars! I’m not sure what song it was maybe My Return, when the smell of some plastic burning became evident….apparently Jacque burned through an amp and now I’m totally out of my league describing exactly how that could happen but the replacement amp looked like something from the 1970’s…I think they went into Dreams after that incident…the songs sounded tremendous and I was anxiously awaiting to hear Troublemaker which I must say sounded really good…I do like the new version and the lyrics “I want to fly into the sky destroy your world and get you high” are still in the song which is a good thing…..it was really quite catchy….Soundwaves is incredible and I didn’t even notice that Matt switched guitars to go electric….and I was trying to pay attention to that sort of stuff….it was great to hear after knowing the song a bit better and being able to sing-along in my head….Telephone was great and Matt missed the “pixelated man” line and sang “it’s hard to understand twice”...I hope that was an oversight, because the Pixelated man line is such an outstanding lyric….!!! Did anyone else notice that?
They did throw in Never Mine to Lose as the last song before the encore after Telephone…and then left the stage to huddle by the portrait of a young girl with severe bangs…as we cheered them back on for an encore…
I think it was at this point that I quite boldly and not in my usual manner did I start singing “ahhh Rebecca, baby doll inspector”....between their songs as a little hint that maybe Matt would say something about it….requests were flying in and he mentioned something about “not playing the back-catalog” only the “front catalog”...and then he mumbled something about “little children” and obviously I was in violation of that memory by innocently singing the Rebecca song….I think he is secretly pleased that we all have embraced such a lovely little “nursery-rhyme”
I think they ended with Stay With You….but did they play another song before that….can’t remember….anyway…Jaques is really making more of a statement onstage with the guitar and that’s great to see….Steve was blocked from my view by Matt and overshadowed by the portrait of some Great Granny….and Dave was sitting comfortably on his tiny keyboard that looks a little unstable but the sounds that emanate are outstanding….I know I was smiling ear to ear the entire time…singing and be-bopping along to all the songs…enjoying dan’s friend swaying and orchestrating….it’s such an incredible joy to me to be there for these shows and I have the memories bottled-up now forever not to mention being able to re-read these truly long posts of mine….sorry I seem to be on a non-stoppable typing binge….Dave had on his black t-shirt and black jacket that seems to be his usual garb…and I actually wore the same shirt as at the last Union Hall gig…which is probably a fashion faux-pax..but who cares….Jaques and Matt’s fashions were flip-flopped with Matt’s plaid pants and Jaques plaid shirt…and then Matt’s black shirt that appears to be purple sometimes…it may be the same shirt from the Cedar gig….and John had on a casual faded black jeans (Ithink) and a stone-colored button-down with a lanyard of some sort around his neck…His shoes looked like slip-ons and similar to my own shoes I was wearing…basic brown…Matt’s shoes I can’t remember…it was a lot of fun….
...we left the club earlier than I would’ve liked…I could’ve stayed at the bar for another drink, but my ride was ready to go as is usually the way it goes…there was no traffic and we got back to scott’s place around 1:30am ...I think they stopped playing around 12:05 and we left the club around 12:50 or so….so there was no traffic on the way out which was great…a little rainy…
Needless to say I couldn’t fall asleep too readily as my ears were ringing a bit and the coffee and beer were coursing through me and little Patrick was making sleepy noises throughout the night…I forgot how active they are in the morning showing us all his toys…getting out all his puzzles and books….toddling into all the furniture and tumbling all around….soo cute bouncing around like a pinball…it was great to see him….and it’s quite a change from him to weekend mornings in my house where Katie doesn’t make a peep until 11 or so…..and I got home around noon after driving the NJ turnpike in that monsoon and dropping eddie off downtown Philly….It was a great 24 hours….
...oh and Matt did mention that the duo show is just going to be he and dan on-stage….no one else…a true-duo performance…!
! Was great to meet Dan - I’m assuming that Henry waits until tomorrow, Dan? Or maybe you’re en route.
The Henry Rollins spoken word show was last night (Sat) at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza and was a nice finish to a fine weekend of going out. That guy is funny, insightful, and hyper.
I hope your stay in NYC was good all around and I have a return gift for you by the way.
So, who’s going to be at the Matt/Dan show in Minne? Maybe we should have a pre- or post- gathering?
..I forgot to mention Spirit of Life…it’s difficult to remember much less describe after a single listen…it had a steady beat of average pace…and there was a lyric in there about a sidewalk…sorry,that’s all I got….!
I was trying to focus on remembering but I always get swept away in the sounds and forget the details about actual musical things…
Thanks for all the time and detail you put into that, Kara. I’m holding out secret hope that the notebook and pens in the corner belonged to one of my oldest friends, and a long time devotee of Matt and John. I want to see some sketches of the show.
Your story about trying to get coffee at Taco Bell brings to mind the immortal lines: “We asked for some hot tea. The waitress said, ‘well, no, we only have it iced.’ So we jumped up on the table and shouted ‘anarchy!’”
Sorry, I couldn’t resist that hybridization of two of my favorite bands.
Oh, thanks for this, Kara. There’s nothing quite so sweet as that anticipation of a show. I was feeling the glee with you, reading this, and then thinking of the 26th ahead. I laughed out loud about the brown guitars. I’m so glad you sang Rebecca.
I wish we all had some kind of Super Squad gear to wear to the Matt and Dan show so we could recognize each other. Shirts, buttons, lanyards with Super Squad IDs in them…
