I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: July 20, 2013] Last Summer on Earth

When I heard that three bands who I like very much were playing, it was an obvious decision to get tickets.  And thanks to Sarah’s cousin, Kate who lives nearby, we were able to avoid the assholian $9/ticket fee from Ticketmaster.  $9 a ticket??  Assholes.  Interestingly, we got very good seats (thanks again, Kate), but for one reason or another, they were upgrading lawn seat tickets for an extra $10.  I read online that for the price of a lawn seat and $10, they got sixth row.  SIXTH ROW!  Damn.

We arrived at the show just in time to hear Ed Robertson introducing the opening act (an opening act when there are three bands!).  The opening act was a guy named Boothby Graffoe.  What?  Well, Graffoe is an English comedian and singer/songwriter.  Most of his songs are funny.  And so were these in the five song set:

Spelling Sheep
The Captain’s Address
Kittens in a Bag
Hop
Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

Graffoe was very funny, both as a song writer and a performer. Like in “The Captains’ Address” which he started by playing an acoustic guitar melody.  It was a real surprise when he took the guitar off and the music was still playing.  Then he took photos of the front row, went back and joined his own sampled playing.  What was neat was that with each next song a member from Barenaked Ladies came out to play with him.  First Tim Creeggan on bass, then Kevin Hearn on guitar and finally Tyler Stewart on the drum pad.  They had a ton of energy (especially in “Hop” in which they did indeed hop) and they sounded great together.  This kind of goofy music is what BNL used to do and I’m sure they love having a  chance to play it again.

Graffoe was selling and signing CDs after the Guster set, and I grabbed his disc and got an autograph.  The only bummer thing was that only one song of the five he played is on the new disc.

Next up was Guster.  This is my third time seeing Guster and they never fail to disappoint. There were five of them on stage this time with a drummer who kept switching places with the (real) Guster drummer, Brian, (the drummer who plays with no sticks!).  They played a great collection of songs from their past albums and a  bunch from the new one.  And Ed Robertson from BNL came out to sing on “Barrel of a Gun” as well.

There was a funny moment where Ryan explained that their families were all on tour with them and that he was happy that his son stayed dry during “Airport Song” (he has wet himself the past two nights).  How funny to think you could be sitting next to their wives and kids.  And while that may be a therapy moment later in life, it’s got to be pretty cool to see a few thousand people cheering on your dad.

Their set was energetic and rocking and the Guster fans were in full force in the front section (I wonder if they were all upgrades).  It was very fun set.  I’m only shocked, shocked I say, that no one has put the setlist up on Setlist.com.  Come on Guster fans, i can’t be expected to remember what I saw.  But based on the shows surrounding this one, I’m thinking the set list looked like this

The Captain
Architects & Engineers
Homecoming King
Come Downstairs and Say Hello
Do You Love Me
Airport Song
Hang On
Demons (I remember they asked us if we wanted “happy Guster” (I think) or Demons and the crowd chose “Demons”)
Satellite
Barrel of a Gun (with Ed Robertson)
This Could All Be Yours Someday

Next came Ben Folds Five  This is the second time we’ve seen Ben (interestingly, last time it was with Guster as well).  Although this is the first time with the Five.  BF5 doesn’t really seem to fit with Guster or BNL—BF5 is a little slower and/or more raucous, neither of which is bad in and of itself (and his set was downright great), but there was no real interactions with the other bands—no guest spots, no “part of the gang” feel.  All of the silliness came from within the band.

The last time we saw Ben he was a solo performer.  I was happy to see the Five, although there’s something so fun about Ben by himself that was a little lacking with the band–there was a different kind of fun.  (No doubt this was also because their set was only 45 minutes).  They played a great selection of songs (although they could have played a dozen more for long term fans to be happy.  Part of the reason for the low number of songs was that several of them were quite long—with great extended jams (it was a treat to see Robert Sledge on bass—I love his sounds, and his virtuosity really impressed me.  And Darren Jessee and Sledge are wonderful at the harmonies).   And of course, Ben is a maniac on the piano. It’s fun to see him just banging the crap out of it, standing while playing, playing the “strings” inside the piano-0-anything to get a sound. It was a great set

Philosophy
Michael Praytor, Five Years Later
Alice Childress
Erase Me
Landed
Brick
Sky High
Do It Anyway
Underground
Song For The Dumped
Army

I understand we were lucky to get “Philosophy,” not a frequently played song.  And I was thrilled to hear “Song for the Dumped” (which was so much fun live!).  “Army” was great because there was a little fan singalong (it would normally be a bit longer but I they ran out of time).  I was surprised to hear “Brick,” which I know is their hit, but it’s weird to hear people cheering for a song about abortion.  And while “Alice Childress” is a great song, it seemed a little flat for this show which is largely upbeat and wild.  The new songs fit in perfectly and “Do It Anyway” sounded amazing.

While we went to check out the souvenirs (the one BNL shirt that my friend Megan and I wanted was held up in customs!  When we had checked earlier they said the shirts had just landed at Newark Airport.  What a great story…too bad they never showed up).  But then we heard some acoustic music because …Guster was playing a mini acoustic set under a small tent (this is common apparently and is called the Reverb Tent).

I think they played four songs, although all I can remember is:

Careful
Jesus on the Radio
Amsterdam

They played songs that weren’t in the main set and they sounded great.  The sound isn’t great in the Arts Center, but the sound in this little areas was perfect.  I’m bummed that there was a huge crowd around them by the time we got there because we could see nothing, but they still sounded fantastic, and it was cool to hear a few extra songs.  They stopped with just enough time for BNL to come out.

I think this is my fourth time seeing BNL.  The last time was at the Balloon Festival (so I guess it was nice to actually pay for them this time).  I haven’t listened to any of their new music since Steven Page left.  Not out of protest, but because I thought their new stuff was a little dull.  And their two opening songs were indeed a little dull (I’m sure I would like them if I listened to them a few times, but they didn’t grab me like their older stuff does).  That said “Gonna Walk” a new (unreleased) song that they had us sing along to was really enjoyable and fun, so maybe they’ll be adding some more fun to their new albums.

But there was silliness from the get go.  There’s a line in “Pinch Me,” “I just made you say underwear” which led to several audience members throwing underwear on stage (which was quite a surprise–is that the new mac n’ cheese?).

The big surprise was that the played “Enid” from their first album (although in a very very different style than the original—a bit slower and less madcap).

Some more surprises came when some of the other players came out to jam with them.  Ryan from Guster played guitar on “Gonna Walk” and Brian from Guster played bongos on “Brian Wilson” which sounded great (and even stole the show from what is usually Creeggan’s amazing bass section).  The biggest surprise of all was when Boothy Graffoe sang “Be My Yoko Ono”–and dis an amazing job.  He had a ton of energy and was a blur running around on stage (and he sounded spot on).  “One Week” was fun (and had a “Psycho Killer” intro), and “If I had $1,000,000” was as always a great singalong.  I never knew that The Big Bang Theory’s theme song was more than 15 second long, but there are many other verses, which sounded equally as amusing.

The band always does a freestyle rap and tonight’s was about a movie that Ed had gone to see, The Conjuring.  He said it was scary but far less scary because the person behind him, before every scary moment would say, “Oh Jesus No.”  I loved that the band turned that phrase into a refrain for a freestyle song that Ed made up.  “Oh Jesus No.”  There was a closing rap as well that was also quite fun.

The encore was a huge surprise because Tyler sang “Alcohol” a personal favorite, and then they did a cover of “Blister in the Sun” (in which Tyler pretty much jogged in place the whole time—their energy level is insane).  Oh and Ed Robertson did the worm at the end of the show (which I pretty amazing given his 40+ age (I know I couldn’t do the worm)).

BNL had a short set (maybe an hour) because of all the bands that played, but I can’t help but think that they have such a big back catalog of songs they could choose from that it’s a shame they played three from their first album and five or so from new albums (I realize they are promoting the new album, but gripe gripe gripe).  I can think of a dozen other songs I would have loved to hear.  I will say that they handled the absence of Page with no problems (its been years now, I know but still).

The Barenaked Ladies do a concert cruise every couple of years.  And I decided that of all the band cruises (what a weird concept), theirs would probably be the most fun. They are fun guys, they hang out on the boat with everyone, they play a bunch of shows and they have great guests playing too.  Maybe on the next Ships & Dip?

The set list:

Limits
Did I Say That Out Loud?
Pinch Me
Gonna Walk         (with Ryan Miller)
Enid
Give It Back to You
Be My Yoko Ono         (with Boothby Graffoe)
Brian Wilson         (with Brian from Guster on bongos)
Odds Are
Big Bang Theory Theme
One Week
If I Had $1,000,000
Barenaked Rap
Encore:
Alcohol
Blister in the Sun

The whole night was a lot of fun.   Even the weather held out (and there was some great lightning in the sky, too).  Although the venue will always be the Garden State Arts Center to me.