Piątek 24 Mar 2006, 21:29

This is from the 2/14/04(?) Barenaked Ladies concert in Amherst, MA. Other than a few spelling errors and the Artist Tags, nothing has been changed. So please excuse the poor diction and multiple ().

I had such a good time, they sang just about every song I wanted to hear live, and they're one of the funniest bands… ever.

The drive up was pretty uneventful, other than one missed exit which was quickly rectified, Kristian and I arrived around 6p (concert started at 7:30). We stood in line waiting for the doors to open for about a half hour, then found our seats, which were okay, we were close enough to be able to easily sneak to the front (which'll come into play later) and far enough away to still have a nice view of the big screen.

During the wait for the opening act the project screens shuffled through videos of the Ladies doing the most mundane tasks. Steve brushed his teeth for about 10 minutes, then it faded to black. Kevin ate a GINORMUS sandwich, and made a mess and DIDN'T WIPE HIS FACE which drove me mad.

Then opening act #1 was Butterfly Boucher, who sounded like the lead singer for the Cranberries and was from Australia. She was up on that big stage all by herself up on stage, just her, a guitar, and a spotlight. I would be petrified if I had to do that, so I clapped extra loud (much to Kristian's charign).

The next opener, Gavin Degraw, was a lot louder and had a whole band to back him up. He sang Rollin' Down the River and Sexual Healing (in honor of Valentine's Day I'm sure).

The lights came back up, and the roadies switched sets, and we got more random videos to watch. Ed made a stacked jelly sandwich with a whole loaf of bread (being very OCD about putting a piece of bread down, taking the lid off the jelly, getting a glob, putting cap back on and placing jelly jar in other corner, spreading jelly, then another piece on, after which he'd stare at it for a moment then decide to grab the jelly). And then he didn't even eat it. Then Kevin drew a picture of The Wizard of Magic Land (though I still say it looked like a seahorse). Then a montage of scary child-like drawings. After that Ed & Jim had a 20 minute rock paper scissors tournament with the other band members popping in and messing with the tick marks. It ended in a tie.

Then the lights went down, and two hands were shown on screen. They counted down from ten, showing stupid clips of the guys in between, and when they got to one (spun into a Thumbs Up sgin) the Ladies came on stage!!

Songs
Maybe Katie (They talked to a little 5 yr old in the audience and asked her if she knew any swear words. She said yes, and Ed asked which ones. Laughter from all the band, then Ed: She said shit. )
Too Little Too Late
All Been Done (somewhere before/after this they talked about Conan O'Brian and how Comic The Insult Dog was making fun of Canadians while Conan filmed his show there. So you're French Canadian? So that means you're stupid, and rude! )
Another Postcard
Celebrity (Steve: This is a song about how hard it is to be famous)
Sell Sell Sell (Steve ran all around the stage for this one. He dances like Austin Powers)
Second Best
For You (all the guys sang around one microphone, with Kevin playing the little mandolin-ey thing, and Tyler just kinda smiling since he had no drums to hit and nothing to sing.)
Be My Yoko Ono
Bass Solo (Jim had the entire place clapping along with his stand up bass. It was very cool)
One Week (I saw old people dancing to this… it was cute) I'm pretty sure the band did a dance for this one too, either this or Be My Yoko Ono
Testing 1, 2, 3
Light Up My Room (everyone sat down and me & Kristian swayed and it's such a pretty song and I was soooooo pumped I got to hear it live)
Box Set (Another one that Steve was running around like a madman, that boy sure does enjoy his high-kicks)
Shopping (this one they had a whole choreographed number with shopping carts and synchronized swimming-esque moves and cheerios that smelled like ass).
Pinch Me (somewhere around these songs they had clips of the guys at a Red Sox game and goofing off in what looked like an airport)
War On Drugs (Steve told everyone to lower down a notch, and he explained why he wrote the song.

His house is about 2 blocks away from the 2nd highest suicide bridge in North America. The Canadian government had spent millions of dollars building a cage around this bridge to stop people from jumping, so instead the jumpers have migrated to the bridge a few miles down the road. He went further to explain that it seems like a hopeless task to try and stop people from commiting suicide once they've gotten to that point, but the moment that we stop is the moment we stop being human, and that no matter how futile it is we should keep trying. The song had clips of the bridge in black & white on the screens, while Steve stood in front of them shadowed and then blue-lit. It was one of two songs I sat down for.)

Then they played a game called Beat the Crew, they picked a person out of the crowd at "random", though they knew his name and his wife and asked him about his trip to India (Ed: we're stalking our fans. All of them!). He was deciding which band member had a college degree, and I'm not sure if anyone heard me yell "Take the money!" but there was laughter after I said it so I've convinced myself I had my 10 secs of fame.

Shoe Box (they jumped through the entire song. Bouncy bouncy bouncy!)
Old Apartment (SO PUMPED they sang this!)
Brain Wilson (AHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could NOT stop screaming.)

Then they left, and we sceamed, and yelled, and clapped, and they came back.

Encore
Alcohol (Again with the bouncing.)
If I had a Million Dollars (fun adlibbing about ass cheerios and Conan O'Brian)

Then they left again, and we cheered summore, and then came back summore. I had begun my descent to the front of the arena, and had planned to try and grab a guitar pick, but instead I got to see the song up close.

Break Your Heart (I'd only heard this song live, and it was even better in person. Steve has such an amazing voice, it's unbelieveable)

There was also a song about Steve winning a Trophy somewhere up there (they spoke of how they're just like little kids on tour, with sack racing (steve has a bigger sack than Ed) and waterballoon fights and what not).
So the lights came up and they left the stage after throwing a few picks and drumsticks to people situated not-near-me. I almost got a pick from one of the roadies but someone had called it already and I didn't but that's okay. I happened to be next to one of the regulars who knew the roadies by name and got a copy of the setlist (which I copied, so that I could put it in here).

I got a sticker for my car (one of those white ovals with BNL in the middle and a black border and are supposed to be for countries/states) and a tshirt that I'm wearing right now (black with a Thumbs Up sign, from the Pinch Me video that I'm sure none of you know but that's okay.).

The drive home I was dozy, lost the Mass Pike ticket in between the seats (luckily the lady was nice and let us through since we gave her too much money anyway), and I finally made it home around 2:30am.
So yeah, concert = fun.