I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: April 6, 2023] Guster

It was only a few months ago that we saw Guster in Montclair.  And yet here they were back again in New Jersey!

They’re playing Philly tomorrow night and it was be incredible to see them two night in a row, but the second night is the same as night as the five-times rescheduled Bikini Kill show. so, you know, priorities.

Karina Rykman’s set was so much fun but we had no idea how good this night’s set was going to be.

This is my tenth time seeing Guster and my wife’s ninth (she couldn’t make the Free at Noon that I went to).  So we pretty much know what to expect at a show by now.

But the guys really mixed it up quite a lot for this one.

In addition to their super fun set design (desk lights suspended from the ceiling all set up with LEDs to glow different colors), they also played a setlist that was totally killer.

When you see a band ten times, you expect to hear the same songs a lot.  It was pretty amazing how many of these songs we’d seen live only a few times.

Opening with “What You Wish For” which we’d only seen two times before (once during the Lost and Gone Forever tour), they followed it with “Architects and Engineers.”  This is my wife’s favorite Guster song.  She always hopes they’ll play it but they don’t play it all that much (this was only our third time hearing it and the first time since 2016).

I love “Red Oyster Cult” and it was great hearing (again first time since 2016).

“Ramona” is one of those songs that they almost always play and it’s always good to see Adam take a lead vocals.

But a real surprise was “One Man Wrecking Machine” which I didn’t realize we’d only seen one time before.  It was great!

“Manifest Destiny” usually means that Ryan is going to be on the piano for a few songs, but they switched it up, playing a deep cut for their friend Ben Kweller (who was supposed to tour with them during COVID).  They played the song that he songs on on the record, “I Hope Tomorrow is Like Today” which we had never seen before–a first time song after ten shows!

“All the Way Up To Heaven” was another third time song for us.  It was so great to hear them sing in the falsetto–the crowd went nuts.  It was followed by “Satellite,” which they have played at every show we’ve seen, except the first one (because it wasn’t out yet).  I love this song and never get tired of hearing it.

They have also played “Doin’ It By Myself” at every show since the song came out.  A few shows ago, Ryan started walking out into the audience to sing the song.  This time, he put on a backpack with a remote controlled light in (so he looked like a deep sea creature).  He jumped off the stage right next to us!  And then proceeded to walk around the room looking like a deep sea angler.

I’ve been surprised that they’ve stopped playing “Overexcited” their hit single from the last album.  But at least we got to see it once.  They’ve been playing the title song more, which is good fun.

“Come Downstairs and Say Hello” is another “every show” song because Brian on drums gets to play a kick ass bongo solo.

“Do You Love Me” gets a lot of play as well.  Always fun to hear.  And after “Never Coming Down” they played yet another song that we hadn’t heard before.  They played the bonus track from their latest album (which Ryan said they’ve enjoyed playing a lot lately).

Then Ryan told a lengthy story about going to a Mexican restaurant with his family (and little kids) and the TV screen switched from a Mexican music channel to a giant erect penis.

They played “Airport Song” which I was sure they didn’t play very often, but in fact this was our 7th time seeing it.  I was thinking that people bring ping pong balls to every show just to throw at the end of the song (inside Guster joke)–what if they don’t play it?

After “Happier,” they called Karina Rykman out to sing “Hard Times” with them.  And that was super fun–she bring so much energy to whatever she does.

The rest of her band came out for a romp through Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” with a tag of “Groove is in the Heart.”  It was great to see everyone up there enjoying themselves so much.

I wondered what the encore would bring.  It actually brought two songs from their debut album.  “Mona Lisa” which I would say is the go-to debut album song.  But they followed it with “Bury Me,” a song that Ryan said they would not play again after this night for a very long time–it’s a break up song that they’re breaking up with Adam noted.

They ended with “Terrified.”  Their encores are always weird.  They usually pretend to leave and come back a few seconds later.  But they don’t ever throw in a real killer unexpected song.  I guess they don’t really have a show stopper because all of their songs are beloved.  So “Terrified” works just as well as any, especially since it has a good sing-along ending.

The band left and actually took a proper encore.  Ryan said he was done, but I guess the band enjoyed our energy enough to throw in one more song (which I see was in parentheses on the setlist).  “Hang On” is a slow builder of a song.  Not ideally suited for a final song, although again, it does have a good sing-along component at the end and is positive in outlook.

I got one of their new cool posters and my wife and I wondered when we’d see them next.

	4/6/ 2023–White Eagle Hall	8/10/2022–Wellmont
	What You Wish For ≅ [3]	Careful © [3]
	Architects & Engineers ω [3]	Terrified £ [3]
	Red Oyster Cult © [3]	Diane © [3]
	Ramona © [7]	Hercules  ω [3]
	One Man Wrecking Machine ⊗ [2] (first since 2015)	Hang On ⊗ [4]
	Manifest Destiny ⊗ [6]	Barrel of a Gun ≅ [7]
	I Hope Tomorrow Is Like Today © [1]	Backyard © [3]
	All the Way Up to Heaven ≅ [3]	Satellite (House PA goes out at the end of the song due to power outage.) ⊗ [8]
	Satellite ⊗ [9]	Jesus on the Radio (Acoustic) © [3]
	Doin’ It By Myself (Ryan sang while walking amongst the crowd) € [7]	Hard Times (Acoustic) £ [2]
	Look Alive £ [3]	Parachute (Acoustic) ¶
	Come Downstairs and Say Hello © [9]	Doin’ It By Myself (Ryan sang while walking amongst the crowd) € [6]
	Do You Love Me ω [7]	Come Downstairs and Say Hello © [8]
	Never Coming Down € [4]	Lazy Love € [3]
	When You Go Quiet £ (bonus track)	The New Underground ⊗
	Mexican Restaurant Penis TV Improv Jam to Bon Jovi’s Livin On A Prayer	Lightning Rod ⊗ [2]
	Airport Song ℵ [7]	What You Call Love (with 11 year old Sam on bagpipes) ω [4]
	Happier ≅ [5]	I Spy ≅ [5]
	Hard Times (with Karina Rykman) £ [3]	Don’t Go £
	Psycho Killer (with Karina Rykman band) [Talking Heads cover]	Ramona © [6]
	Groove is in the Heart (with Karina Rykman band) [Deee-Lite]	The Captain ⊗ [4]
	encore	Demons ℵ [7]
	Mona Lisa ¶ [3]	encore
	Bury Me ¶	Do You Love Me ω [6]
	Terrified £ [4]
	encore 2
	Hang On ⊗ [5]

 

3/23/2019–Fillmore	1/11/2019–Free at Noon	11/1/2018–White Eagle Hall
Diane © [2]	Hard Times £	Long Night € [4]
The Captain ⊗ [3]	Ramona © [5]	Happier ≅ [4]
Terrified £ [2]	Mind Kontrol £ [2]	What You Call Love ω [3]
Airport Song ℵ [6]	Manifest Destiny ⊗ [5]	I Spy (haven’t heard since 2004) ≅ [2]
Gangway € [2]	Terrified £	Endlessly € [2]
Hello Mister Sun (w/horns) £ [2]	Look Alive £	Airport Song ℵ [5]
Overexcited (w/horns) £ [2]	Satellite ⊗ [6]	Hello Mr. Sun (new) £
Stay with Me Jesus ω [3]	Overexcited £	Stay With Me Jesus ω [2]
Satellite ⊗ [7]	encore	Doin’ It By Myself € [4]
Doin’ It By Myself (w/horns) € [5]	I Spy (not broadcast) acoustic ≅ [3]	improv Levi’s bar mitzvah
Look Alive £ [2]		Come Downstairs and Say Hello © [6]
Backyard (w/strings} © [2]	** from the new album	Do You Love Me ω [5]
Amsterdam © [3]		Rocketship (never before) ℵ
Window (w/strings & showed the original music video) ¶		Manifest Destiny ⊗ [4]
LOST AND GONE FOREVER 20th ANNIVERSARY SET		Amsterdam (not since 2004) © [2]
What You Wish For ≅ [2]		Ruby Falls ⊗ [2]
Barrel of a Gun ≅ [6]		Ramona © [4]
Either Way (w/strings) ≅		Satellite ⊗ [5]
Fa Fa (w/horns & Stephen on flute) ≅ [3]		Barrel of a Gun ≅ [5]
I Spy ≅ [4]		improv-“False encore” song
Center of Attention ≅ [2]		This Could All be Yours ω [5]
All the Way Up to Heaven (not since 2004) ≅ [2]		“encore”
Happier ≅ [5]		Mind Kontrol (new) £
So Long (w/strings) ≅		Two Points for Honesty ≅ [3]
Two Points for Honesty (w/strings) ≅ [4]		Demons ℵ [6]
Rainy Day (w/strings)		2nd encore
encore		Jesus on the Radio (acoustic, no mics) © [2]
Rocketship (w/strings) ℵ [2]
Hang On ⊗ [3]
Great Escape ℵ
Come Downstairs and Say Hello © [7]

 

6/16/2016–Fillmore	11/21/2015–Wellmont	4/24/2015–TLA
What You Wish For ≅	Ramona © [2]	Demons ℵ [3]
Satellite ⊗ [4]	Satellite ⊗ [3]	Center of Attention ≅
Doin’ It By Myself € [3]	Simple Machine € [2]	Doin’ It By Myself €
Barrel of a Gun ≅ [4]	Happier ≅ [3]	The Beginning of the End ⊗
Ramona © [3]	Hercules ω [2]	Ramona ©
Never Coming Down € [3]	Careful / “Chariots of Fire” © [2]	Gangway €
Architects & Engineers ω [2]	Doin’ It By Myself € [2]	Endlessly €
Lightning Rod ⊗ [2]	The Captain ⊗ [2]	Stay with Me Jesus ω
Come Downstairs and Say Hello © [5]	Kid Dreams €	Come Downstairs and Say Hello © [3]
Do You Love Me ω [4]	Homecoming King © [2]	Do You Love Me ω [2]
Dear Valentine ⊗	Come Downstairs and Say Hello © [4]	(Everything I Do) I Do It for You [Bryan Adams cover]
That’s No Way to Get to Heaven ω	Do You Love Me ω [3]	Hang On ⊗ [2]
Red Oyster Cult © [2]	Never Coming Down € [2]	Lazy Love €
Mona Lisa ¶ [2]	Demons ℵ [4]	Hercules (with Kishi Bashi) ω
Manifest Destiny ⊗[3]	Two Points for Honesty ≅ [2]	Satellite (with Kishi Bashi) ⊗ [2]
Simple Machine € [3]	Happy Frappy ¶	Simple Machine €
Airport Song ℵ [4]	Ruby Falls ⊗	Never Coming Down €
Kid Dreams €[2]	Lazy Love € [2]	Two Points for Honesty ≅
Demons ℵ [5]	Barrel of a Gun≅ [3]	Diane ©
This Could All Be Yours ω [4]	This Could All Be Yours ω [3]	Careful ©
encore “Improv”	“encore” (“Zombie Jews”)	This Could All Be Yours ω [2]
Long Night € [3]	Long Night € [2]	“encore”
Bad Bad World ω	One Man Wrecking Machine ⊗	Long Night €
What You Call Love ω [2]	Manifest Destiny ⊗ [2]	Manifest Destiny ⊗
Fa Fa ≅ [2]	Airport Song ℵ [3]	What You Call Love ω
encore “boooo”	Careless Whisper [George Michael cover]	Happier ≅ [2]
Jesus on the Radio ©

 

	7/20/2013–PNC Bank Center	7/5/2004–Starland
	The Captain ⊗	Happier ≅
	Architects & Engineers ω	I Spy ≅
	Homecoming King ©	Airport Song ℵ
	Come Downstairs and Say Hello © [2]	Demons ℵ
	Do You Love Me ω	Amsterdam ©
	Airport Song ℵ [2]	Come Downstairs and Say Hello ©
	Hang On ⊗	Barrel of a Gun ≅
	Demons ℵ [2]	Mona Lisa ¶
	Satellite ⊗	Red Oyster Cult ©
	Barrel of a Gun (with Ed Robertson) ≅ [2]	California Dreamin’ [Beach Boys cover]
	This Could All Be Yours ω	Fa Fa ≅
		Jam (with Ben Folds)
		Backyard (with Ben Folds) ©
		All the Way Up to Heaven ≅

£ Look Alive (2019)                            -2/10
€ Evermotion (2015)                          -3/11
ω Easy Wonderful (2010)                -4/12
⊗ Ganging Up on the Sun (2006) -2/12
© Keep It Together (2003)              -3/13
≅ Lost and Gone Forever (1999)   —
ℵ Goldfly (1997)                                    -6/11
¶ Parachute (1995)                              -7/11

 

Parachute

1. “Fall in Two”
2. “Love for Me”
3. “Eden”
4. “Scars & Stitches”
5. “The Prize”
6. “Dissolve”
7. “Cocoon”

Goldfly

1. “Perfect”
2. “Medicine”
3. “X-Ray Eyes”
4. “Grin”
5. “Getting Even”
6. “Melanie” (unlisted bonus track)

Keep It Together

1. “Keep It Together”
2. “Long Way Down”
3. “Two at a Time” (hidden track)

Ganging Up on the Sun

1. “C’mon” – 3:51
2. “Empire State” – 4:59

Easy Wonderful

1. “On the Ocean”
2. “This Is How It Feels to Have a Broken Heart”
3. “Jesus and Mary”
4. “Do What You Want”

Evermotion

1. “Expectation”
2. “It Is Just What It Is”
3. “Farewell”

Look Alive

1. “Summertime”
2. “Not for Nothing”