I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: March 23, 2019] Guster [rescheduled from January 17]

Back in January, Guster postponed their Philadelphia concert because they were going to be on Late Night with Seth Myers.  They rescheduled it for mid-March and decided that it would be a 20th Anniversary celebration of their 1999 album Lost and Gone Forever.  So although the date change sucked at the time, the new show promised to be freakin amazing.

And, as it turned out, this was the best and the worst Guster concert that S. and I have seen together (number 7 for both of us).

Why the worst?  The worst because we arrived later than we intended and wound up further back than we wanted to.  Which is not the end of the world.  But, when you’re in the back in the Fillmore, you are near the bar and all the people talking.  A lot.  Even people who claimed to love the band, even people who commented on how good they sounded (they did), even people who would sing along loudly to parts of songs, all of these people also talked through huge swaths of the show.

One woman shouted to her friends during a quiet part and I had to say something.  It was really dreadful.  I though that during the intermission, people would pile out to get drinks and we could move closer, but nope, it was jam packed.

So aside from the worst crowd I’ve ever experienced, the show was great.  The band was in amazing form, they sounded great–and the venue helped them to sound great.  It was definitely one of the best sounding shows I’ve seen from them.

The show announced that they would play LAGF first then intermission, then play more.

The opening music was Prince’s 1999, which S. caught on right away was a deliberate choice (and which Ryan confirmed later on).  Interestingly, I love Guster but I’m never really sure which songs come from which albums.  So when they opened with “Diane,” I didn’t think this started that record, but it sounded great and I was happy to go along with it.  (It opens their next album, Keep It Together).  Then they played “Captain,” a rarely played song from Ganging Up on the Sun.

It was while they were playing the new song “Terrified” that it dawned on me that they weren’t actually playing LAGF.  (I was distracted by the talkers).  Then they played “Airport Song” and it was, as always, wonderful (with ping pong balls bouncing around after the song was over).  After the fun of “Gangway,” a song I’ve only heard them play once before, they moved into more new songs with the delightful “Hello Mr Sun.”  We saw them play this when they played NJ in November, before the album was out.  It was fun then, but it was even more fun this time because EVERYONE had a rainbow hat to wear.  And, they brought out a horn section!

They stayed on the new album (and the horn section) with the new super fun single, “Overexcited.”  Normally I take a ton of pictures and videos of Guster, but this show was not really conducive.

After a lovely “Stay with Me Jesus” (that’s when I yelled at the person behind me), they played a crowd-loving “Satellite.”

When we saw them in November, Ryan came out into the crowd during “Doin’ It By Myself.”  My understanding is that it was the first time he’d done that.  And now it has become a thing.  Sadly he was off on the other side of the audience from where we were, but it was still a lot of fun.  He apparently also drank some of a fan’s beer, because when he got up on stage he told the guy that he would pay for a new beer rather than having him drink the dregs of that really disgusting warm beer–why do you even still have that?.

Then they did the impossible, or so I thought.  They played an older song that I haven’t heard them play before!  “Backyard” from Keep It Together (in four years I hope we get a 20th anniversary of that album, too).  They brought out strings for that song, too!  It’s already an amazing show and they haven’t even gotten to the advertised highlight!

S. and I love the song “Amsterdam” which to my mind is as big a hit as “Barrel of a Gun” or any of their other songs, but which they really don’t play much (or maybe they just don’t play it when we go).  During “Amsterdam,” Ryan was on bass and stepped on the distortion pedal which led to a hilarious improv called, “Keep the distortion pedal away from Ryan.”

And they ended the first set with a wonderful treat. They played “Window” from their debut album.  And projected behind them was the video for the song.  We all laughed that Adam looks like he hasn’t aged a day and Ryan had the best ponytail and looks about ten years old in the video.

During the brief intermission, they played the video that was, I guess, a promotional creation for the Lost and Gone Forever album.  They talk to each of the guys and Steve Lilywhite.  It was really fun to watch.  But it also meant that no one retreated to the bar so there was no fresh room to move into.

They came back out in different clothes (we thought maybe 90s clothes, but no), and began LAGF.

As soon as they played “What You Wish For” I knew that THAT’s how the album starts and it was so cool to hear because I realized that we had never heard it live before. Up next is the wonderful “Barrel of a Gun” which everyone sings along to no matter how much they are talking.  “Either Way” was another song we’d never heard before (huzzah!) and they brought out the strings for it as well.

“Fa Fa” is another one of those songs that they don’t play enough, so I’m always glad to hear it–such a catchy, wonderful treat.  This version was especially fun because they had the horn section and then Ryan said, “Thomas?  Is Thomas here?  It’s time, Song 4.”  Ryan then told us that Thomas [Lewin] contacted them because he had played flute with them 17 years ago (no idea where) and he’d love to do it again.  We waited breathlessly as they began the song and there was no sign of him.  And then, just before the flute part kicked in, Thomas rushed on stage, was given a mic and played the song perfectly.  It was really fun and a great moment.

We hadn’t heard “I Spy” since back in 2004 until they played it in November (gearing up for the 20th anniversary I suspect).  “Center of Attention” was followed by “All the Way Up to Heaven” which is a song I love that they hadn’t played for us since 2004!  After “Happier,” the strings came back out for the end of the set.   We got to hear “So Long” for the first time ever and then “Two Points for Honesty,” a song that has gotten a real resurgence as of late.

After thanking us for coming Ryan mentioned albums he’d love to hear back to front, like Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks.

Then they played “Rainy Day,” a quiet, slow song which does not end the album with a bang, and as such was talked over quite a lot around me.  But it was a first time played for us, too.

After a very brief break, they played four encore songs!

I couldn’t believe the songs they chose, either.  They played “Rocketship” a wonderful song that doesn’t get played very much and it sounded even better with the strings. Then came the even more unexpected “Hang On,” a quiet song that sounded lovely.

Ryan did another improv about all the people he loves and then they played one more song that I’d never heard live before “Great Escape.” which goes all the way back to Goldfly.

There’s so many songs that I expected in the encore, that this trifecta of somewhat rare songs was wonderful.  I was sure they would end with “This Could All Be Yours” or “Jesus on the Radio” (it was on the set list but they didn’t do it… boo).

But I was really psyched that they ended with “Come Downstairs and Say Hello.” I love the song in general , but I especially love that Brian Rosenworcel on drums gets to show off his real Thundergod powers with some great bongo/cymbal smashing  How does he have the energy to play that hard after 2 and half hours.

Guster has put on so many wonderful shows that we have enjoyed.  And when they play around here again, we’ll see then again.  They are so much fun, so friendly and engaging and they sound terrific after all these years.

Just try to avoid the drunkards talking and talking and talking and talking.

 

3/23/2019–Fillmore	1/11/2019–Free at Noon	11/1/2018–White Eagle Hall
Diane	Hard Times**	Long Night
The Captain	Ramona	Happier
Terrified**	Mind Kontrol**	What You Call Love
Airport Song	Manifest Destiny	I Spy (haven’t heard since 2004)
Gangway	Terrified**	Endlessly
Hello Mister Sun** (w/horns)	Look Alive**	Airport Song
Overexcited ** (w/horns)	Satellite	Hello Mr. Sun (new)
Stay with Me Jesus	Overexcited**	Stay With Me Jesus
Satellite	encore	Doin’ It By Myself
Doin’ It By Myself (w/horns)	I Spy (not broadcast) acoustic	improv Levi’s bar mitzvah
Look Alive**		Come Downstairs and Say Hello
Backyard (w/strings}	** from the new album	Do You Love Me
Amsterdam		Rocketship (never before)
Window (w/strings & showed the original music video)		Manifest Destiny
LOST AND GONE FOREVER 20th ANNIVERSARY SET		Amsterdam (not since 2004)
What You Wish For		Ruby Falls
Barrel of a Gun		Ramona
Either Way (w/strings)		Satellite
Fa Fa (w/horns & Stephen on flute)		Barrel of a Gun
I Spy		improv-“False encore” song
Center of Attention		This Could All be Yours
All the Way Up to Heaven (not since 2004)		“encore”
Happier		Mind Kontrol (new)
So Long (w/strings)		Two Points for Honesty
Two Points for Honesty (w/strings)		Demons
Rainy Day (w/strings)		2nd encore
encore		Jesus on the Radio (acoustic, no mics)
Rocketship (w/strings)
Hang On
Great Escape
Come Downstairs and Say Hello

 

6/16/2016–Fillmore	11/21/2015–Wellmont	4/24/2015–TLA
What You Wish For	Ramona	Demons
Satellite	Satellite	Center of Attention
Doin’ It By Myself	Simple Machine	Doin’ It By Myself
Barrel of a Gun	Happier	The Beginning of the End
Ramona	Hercules	Ramona
Never Coming Down	Careful/”Chariots of Fire”	Gangway
Architects & Engineers	Doin’ It By Myself	Endlessly
Lightning Rod	Captain	Stay with Me Jesus
Come Downstairs and Say Hello	Kid Dreams	Come Downstairs and Say Hello
Do You Love Me	Homecoming King	Do You Love Me
Dear Valentine	Come Downstairs and Say Hello	(Everything I Do) I Do It for You
That’s No Way to Get to Heaven	Do You Love Me	Hang On
Red Oyster Cult	Never Coming Down	Lazy Love
Mona Lisa	Demons	Hercules (with Kishi Bashi)
Manifest Destiny	Two Points for Honesty	Satellite (with Kishi Bashi)
Simple Machine	Happy Frappy	Simple Machine
Airport Song	Ruby Falls	Never Coming Down
Kid Dreams	Lazy Love	Two Points for Honesty
Demons	Barrel of a Gun	Diane
This Could All Be Yours	This Could All Be Yours	Careful
encore “Improv”	“encore” (“Zombie Jews”)	This Could All Be Yours
Long Night	Long Night	“encore”
Bad Bad World	One Man Wrecking Machine	Long Night
What You Call Love	Manifest Destiny	Manifest Destiny
Fa Fa	Airport Song	What You Call Love
encore “boooo”	Careless Whisper	Happier
Jesus on the Radio

 

	7/20/2013–PNC Bank Center	7/5/2004–Starland
	The Captain	Happier
	Architects & Engineers	I Spy
	Homecoming King	Airport Song
	Come Downstairs and Say Hello	Demons
	Do You Love Me	Amsterdam
	Airport Song	Come Downstairs and Say Hello
	Hang On	Barrel of a Gun
	Demons	Mona Lisa
	Satellite	Red Oyster Cult
	Barrel of a Gun (with Ed Robertson)	California Dreamin’
	This Could All Be Yours Someday	Fa Fa
		Jam (with Ben Folds)
		Backyard (with Ben Folds)
		All the Way Up to Heaven