Mandy (frannyglass) and I met up and drove down to the Coach House together. This was my first concert-with-an-apple, and it was loads of fun. Mandy rocks; hanging out with another self-avowed music nerd - with astoundingly similar taste - was just delightful. I decided that we have roughly the same fan credibility, as her earlier discovery of GDBD (the Home Recordings release in 1996, as opposed to my tardy 2000 re-release discovery) is counterbalanced by the fact that SHE DOESN'T OWN TILL WE HAVE FACES. If I ever acheive my goal to follow OtR on the road for a couple weeks, I hope Mandy will be my fellow groupie.
Pregnant lady was very, very happy to behold a sea of chairs. We were seated left of the stage with a great view of Linford and Karin. I had to work to see the others. The opening acts... well, I'll just say that I would have LOVED to see Griffin House again. And two opening acts invariably cuts into the set length of the featured artists, but oh well.
The sound was good except for a weird few moments during IASCBP. Linford even looked startled when the bass and guitar kept blaring in and out. It was a large space, maybe 75% full. All in all it seemed like a good venue - and compared to the not-so-great appraisals of the KF and Anth., I reckon it was probably a much more comfortable place for everyone involved. I'm still pining for a good theater show. One of these years I'm going to take the trip home to see them at the Kent Stage.
The setlist was pretty similar, a little shorter than Friday night. I really missed I'm On a Roll; that song has seriously grown on me. Also absent were Nothing is Innocent Now and of course the Friday night suprise encore of Latter Days. We did have the bonus of Anything at All, one of my all-time favorite OtR songs. I cannot understate how awesome Who'm I Kidding But Me is live. I'm not even all that into long drum solos, but Karin's "trashy little song" calls for it. Devil's in the details, for sure. I had to use the ladies' room after Ohio, and ended up standing in the back of the room for the majority of B.P.D. I realized that it's been a really long time since I've been far enough back to take in the whole band at once, and I was really glad for the opportunity.
Any other apples there? Pico? I saw that Stephanie and Rachel didn't make it. :-(
Oh yeah, I don't know if it's been widely publicized yet, but K & L are talking about bringing the 2008 Christmas Tour to the west coast! WOOT. I'm hoping for the Troubador. Excellent venue.