Friday was my first time seeing Paul Westerberg live, and while it wasn't completely flawless (what live show is?), I enjoyed the hell out of his show. I will explain myself in a moment:
I wrote the set list down on an envelope. There were 2 songs I did not recognize, so I wrote down the lyrics I could understand in quotes. The Set list was:
Merry Go Round
Someone take the wheel
"Treat your children right"
Making Me Go
No Place For You
Let The Bad Times Roll
As Far As I Know
Kiss Me On The Bus
AAA
Mr. Rabbit
Knockin On Mine
Psychoparmocology
Born For Me
High Time
Little Mascara
"Take the...at will"
Sadly Beautiful
How Can You Like Him?
First Glimmer
What A Day For A Night
Love Untold
Waitress In The Sky
(Elvis Presley) Hound Dog (for about 2 seconds..)
(Partridge Family) I Think I Love You
Can't Hardly Wait
ENCORE #1
I will dare
Alex Chilton
Left of the dial
ENCORE #2
I'll be you
From my standpoint, I would have liked to have heard more bass guitar in the mix. Otherwise, the mix was great. The vocals were very clear, overall.
Spud and Amy had never heard a single PW or Replacements song, but they were kind enough to allow me to stay with them during my trip to Seattle, and came to see the show strictly based on the fact that Paul is probably my biggest musical freeking hero. They seemed to have liked it ok. I don't think they became fans, but they didn't hate it.
Paul was admittedly off-key here and there, and missed or changed a lyric from time to time. I was expecting this, based on what I had heard about his live performances. I walked away from the show thinking that this really added to the charm of the show. You can go to some performances where every note is perfect, and it still isn't all that inspiring.
They came out really strong with Merry Go Round. I was thrilled to hear it, because it was one of the first Mats recordings I ever really listened to over and over again.
Now, this is only a matter of opinion, but I thought that something felt like it was missing from "Someone take the wheel" all the way through "Let the Bad Times Roll"... Some of these 5 songs are amongst my biggest favorites that Paul does, and it just didn't seem like he was feeling it.... I think they were just getting warmed up, because THEN came song 7.
"AS FAR AS I KNOW" KICKED ASS! It started out pretty good, but by the time the second verse came around the ENERGY was building up and the whole damned band came together and just walloped all the rest of the way through the song. It was almost as if they were musically announcing "WE HAVE ARRIVED! HOLD ON TO YOUR ASS, BECAUSE WE ARE WARMED UP!"
Through most of the entire rest of the show, this was the Paul Westerberg of legend. I stood with my jaw dropped, quickly followed by what had to have been a look of extreme joy as Paul gracefully kicked his microphone out of his mic stand at the beginning of "High Time" and went over to sing with the bass player.
Another funny moment was during "I will dare", where his cigarette dropped to the floor, at the beginning and he decided to join it. As he laid down to sing the rest of the song, he asks the audience "Can I make a confession?.... I hate this fucking song"
I should mention, at the beginning of the first encore, he asked the crowd something to the effect of "Are there any songs that I haven't played, that you HAVE to hear, so you won't go home feeling cheated?" People screamed out "Man without ties", I was screaming "Alex Chilton" (I got my wish
One guy kept screaming "DRUM SOLO" earlier in the evening... he did not get his wish.
Paul dedicated "Sadly Beautiful" to a "Good friend of mine who died 10 years ago today."... he then proceeded to sing "You're so sad...ly beautiful, Bobby"... He was referring to Replacements guitarist, Bob Stinson. I nearly wept.
For any of the notes that he may have missed throughout the evening, the notes he hit during "Can't hardly wait" were sheer perfection. His voice rang out as he hit the big one near the end, and it was absolutely perfect. It sent chills.
I could continue to go on and on about this, so I will leave it at that, regarding the show itself.
MEETING the man, however? THAT was something I will treasure for years to come.
I came to the Seattle show with a few goals...
1. Somehow get to the show and see it... CHECK
2. Attempt to meet Paul... CHECK
3. Get Paul to sign my acoustic guitar... CHECK
4. Hand deliver my cover album of "Stereo" that I put together hastily over the last couple of weeks... CHECK
5. Get a couple of pictures with Paul... CHECK
6. Try to clarify what some of the lyrics are on the studio recording of "Don't want never" that are impossible to understand... I FORGOT TO ASK!
7. Record an album a day with Octothorpe... <a href="http://octothorpe.songhole.org/music/AAD/">CHECK</a>
I really did try to keep the meeting as short as I could, out of respect for the man's time. I met him out at the tour bus. I will tell y'all a little more about the meeting if you are interested, but this is too freeking long of a post as it is. Here are links to...
Mp3s of my Stereo "Cover Album"
(Thanks to my pal Chris Martin, for photoshopping the cover for me)
http://glenncase.songhole.org/content/s ... rs/Stereo/
Photos that I took at the event (and one video clip with no audio)
http://glenncase.songhole.org/content/s ... o/Seattle/
The photos labeled gnp1 and gnp2 are me with Paul, and yes, I look goofy as hell.
In the photos labeled gns1 and gns2, the "S" stands for stranger. She was in front of me in the short line at the tour bus, and the guy that was with her said "I wish we had brought a camera", to which I offered to take a couple of pictures, if he would take the pictures of me with Paul. It was a good tradeoff.
Picture Paul7 is when Paul was singing "I will dare" on the ground, and that is a stage hand, holding the mic for him.
I know, this is too freeking verbose. Sorry about that much. I will gladly answer any other questions that might come up about the performance, if I can remember. I was on very limited sleep for the show.
ROCK!
<a href="http://glenncase.songhole.org">Glenn</a> (DR FUNK)