Knoxville 10-23-2005, Blue Cats, 9:00 - 10:15pm. Kim Taylor opening.


I Want You to be My Love -
Born
Spark
Lookin' Forward
Anything At All
Drunkard's Prayer
Firefly
Show Me
My Love is a Fever
All I Need is Everything
When I Go
----------------------
Moondance



It's sooo good to hear the band again. Dare I say this show sounds like it was better than last night's Atlanta Paste fest?

I worked the merch table and I know for sure we sold 15% more CDs than Atlanta did.

Man Linford can really play some bass, can't he?

Was this some kind of thing with other bands? Seems like a really short setlist...nice to see "When I Go" being played though. That one is always really chilling live.

well, my dad can beat up your dad.

Oh yeah? My dad is defending champ of the arthritic and dementia-ridden down at Shady Acres rest home. He packs a mean right hook with a TV tray. I'll tell him he's been challenged.

And Steve, the last few shows have been shorter for some reason. Atlanta was 10 songs, and Knoxville was 12. I\This is just me saying, but it may have something to do with their mood. I know when my cat of ten years died, it took me weeks to just be able to act normal again.

The short length of the set at the Paste fest was mostly due to the fact that it was a festival. They only had an hour-long slot on the schedule. I don't think anyone other than the headliners got more than an hour.

Jeff

atlanta was a part of a festival and there was another act following them. they only had about an hour and a half to play their set and breakdown and clear the stage. they played for probably about an hour to an hour fifteen (and they were only scheduled/advertised and "billed" as playing for one hour). personally, i don't think they would ever short their set or their audience due to their "mood", (imho) it's just not their style. i've seen karin do an incredible show of an hour and a half +, and be so sick she could hardly speak afterwards, but (again, imho) she/they never cut it short or gave less than her/their all and been totally professional. who knows, maybe it was just because it was a sunday night and there was some reason/restrictions/etc.

You know, I really wish they would play longer all the time. Every time I see them play, I go away thinking that.

Does anybody else?

absolutely. there's never enough. never.

but i do understand the need for rest.

i think that's why i am so excited about canal street. friday night when i go home thinking, "man, i wish they had played longer" i can just remember, "hey, i'm gonna see them tomorrow, too!"

it's going to be a happy, although EXTREMELY exhausting weekend!

Yeah. I've rarely seen them give anything less than 110% live, but watching Bono parade around an arena for 2 1/2 hours every night all year kinda makes me wish OTR would do longer sets. They have so much material to choose from that they rarely visit, and while there's just as much passion, OTR performances don't exactly require the stamina of, say, Springsteen at his late 70's peak. And honestly, there's been a few shows where both the band and the audience took a little while to warm up...but with a short set, 45 minutes in and you're already on the tail end of the show just as the band really starts kicking.

Not complaining, I mean...I'm still going to 3 or 4 shows before the year is out, and I'll love every minute of it. I've just always wondered why their sets were always on the shorter side...They can't do 3 hours every night, but there's been a few shows that really had that extra bit of magic, where you felt the audience would have gone with them anywhere, for any length of time, and you wonder why they stopped. *shrug*

yeah, i wish they would play longer, am i disappointed that they don't? no. that is one of the reasons i love the CST shows so much, i think we get a little more music with the two set format. that being said, i'm usually pretty content with the legnth their shows, they have pretty consistently clocked in @ about and hour and a half to and hour forty-five (incl encores) for years now so i know that going in. i just don't see why there would be much surprise by anyone on this subject. but, wish? yeah...if they played three hour sets, i'd still want more. guess that's why i keep going back for more...

I don't think it's a matter of surprise, and I certainly have no complaints about what I get from K & L & company at their concerts, but I agree with Steve about wishing just once in a while they'd toss out or substantially extend their set list when they're obviously feeling good and have the audience spellbound. It may just be a matter of pacing themselves and especially preserving Karin's voice while they're on the road.

Well. I'm definitely all for preserving Karin's voice.

Yeah, I totally understand preserving her voice, but OTR is very mellow stuff. I hardly ever feel like she's straining or pushing her voice to hard, and she doesn't have a huge E-Street-esque monster behind her to sing over. Plus, they only tour in small spurts here and there, I don't think they've been out for more than a couple weeks at a time at any point over the last few years...Obviously only Karin could answer this question, but I really don't think this is an issue.

And no Bill, we're not surprised, although the Schubas shows this summer were really short, even by OTR standards. The 6/25 show even fits cleanly on one disc...it was a great performance, but on a Saturday night at a brilliant venue, they could've gone for twice as long and the crowd still would have held onto their every note.

I wonder what the reasons behind their set length really are. It does make one wonder does it not?

Maybe they're just not night people. It does seem like the earlier shows I've been to have lasted longer--but I'm probably just fooling myself into believing that.

Hey, maybe someone should ask them on the 12/18/2005 Q&A session!

I think they're fine with the night...they're musicians. We're nocturnal by nature. When they did the Old Town School last September they did a 7:00 show and a 10:00 show and they were in fine form and great spirits during the second show (which apparently ran longer than the early one).

Now I'm really curious...I want to ask them, but if someone does go to the Q&A and brings it up, try to do it in a polite way. I'm afraid it would come off as sounding like "why don't you do more for us?" which obviously is the farthest thing from what I would intend.

No, Steve, I'm gonna go in there and be all like, "Hey, why don't you all play longer? Are you babies or something? Cuz Steve says... What, you don't know Steve? Walrus Steve from the Orchard. Yeah, lives in Chi town and wants to be your new guitar player... Yeah, okay, so Walrus Steve says that you guys are sissies and Bono and Springsteen and heck, even Bon Jovi can run circles around you all on stage. Yep, as a matter of fact, he even skipped your CST shows last month to go see Bon Jovi play like a three hour marathon set or something... yeah man, that's what Walrus Steve did--and he even said he thought you guys should do more for your fans, like playing longer and coming to Chi town, and holding fan based auditions for guitar players and stuff. So, yeah, why don't you guys play longer anyway?"

You think that'll be alright, Steve?

Yep, that sounds about right.

Especially the guitar auditions in Chicago.

I too was at the Knoxville Show... Made the drive from Nashville and my friend and I agreed it seemed extremely short. The setlist at the Soundboard had Hush Now in the Encore before Moondance... Wonder why they dropped it? Anyway (imho) most of the night seemed less than inspired, although "When I Go" truly was magical. Her performance was deeply haunting. The connection to the crowd just didn't seem to ever really happen (again imho) The akward allergy test... We'll tell that story in Nashville moment lends evidence to this... Ofcourse all the feedback on the soundsystem might be why they shortened it... I figure $12 to get in... 12 songs played... at a buck a song it seems like quite a bargain... Has anyone looked at the cost of a U2 ticket lately? As much as they are charging... Bono should walk you home humming in your ear... So No complaints here.

Hey SDTC!

Glad you made it. Did you come to the merch table? That was my wife and me working!

Hope to see you at a show soon!

Mark