Radio City Music Hall June 20, 2008

[EgoTesticle]

I have truly known the meaning of the word "joy" 3 times in my life ....

When I married my beautiful wife

When my son was born

And tonight at Radio City Music Hall

To the boys in the band ....

... Thank you

[gilisevil]

cheers to the boys tonite.  PWNED RCMH!!!

[8bobbyb]

I've attended many concerts....Zeppelin, The Who, the Stones, the Dead, U2.........this one ranks in the top five!!!!!!!
The left it all out on the RCMH stage........MMJ Rocks

[Samverrill]

I've seen them many, many times, and last night ranked up there with the best.  Nearly three hours of amazing music, just the 5 guys and the music they have written.

[tbw]

MY REVEIW OF LAST NIGHT....F'n Awesome the best show I have EVER been to. I walked up to the ticket window 10 minutes before show time and got tickets in the 20th row....I danced for approx. 3 hours!

I also took a few great shots of the band standing on top of RCMH at around 2pm yesterday....I waved to the band and they waved back....JIm had on his cape....  :)

[Cface]

First MMJ show and I am officially a convert. There was a spirit in the room last night, and my arms were raised in prayer to praise whatever came next, thanks for the lifting me up.

[drewsdad27us]

I drove from North Carolina with 6 kids in my van for this show. I was ready for my face to be melted after 9 hours of Dora el Explora.
   From reading other pre-release interviews, I heard the album was recorded in different locations than usual on purpose, and they purposefully set out to write music that sounded different, and to capitalize on the cohesive genius that each band member possess. WELL, they had a wildly awesome debut on the
"World Stage".
Several songs off the album are highly acclaimed-I'm Amazed, a song about being amazed at the good and sad things in the world.  Smoking From Shootin and Touch me  part 1/2 are debates about relationships "in Flux". Thank You Too is the next BIG wedding song.
The show was an immensely seductive brain melt where Jim James-lead sing writer/singer, plied his brand of cotton candy from his musical brain into ours.
    The show featured most songs from the new album, but I did miss Remnants. Highly Suspicious was a fun romp and the crowd really liked it. There were many songs from Z. Few songs from It Still Moves. They also played Bermuda Highway and the Bear, which were Golden Easter Egg surprises. Particularly remembered tunes were Lay Low, Steam Engine, Touch Me 1/2,but it is hard to choose the best
candy when Jim and CO. are passing it out free.  I tried to concentrate on each musician, and they all looked "In The Zone" and confortable.
The Lighting and sound were just perfect, even from my seats in the 3rd Mezz. Jim was able to walk along the sides of the auditorium, to meet the crowds on the 2nd mezz, and it was fun. He wore a cape a few times which was interesting. I dont recall any gaffs, or sound screw ups and I do hope the soundtrack/flac file  ETC>> shows up somewhere online. Hope this fills in some blanks for others who want details.  :D

[YouAre_GivenToFly]

I also took a few great shots of the band standing on top of RCMH at around 2pm yesterday....I waved to the band and they waved back....JIm had on his cape....  :)

haha i want to see those

[EgoTesticle]

I also took a few great shots of the band standing on top of RCMH at around 2pm yesterday....I waved to the band and they waved back....JIm had on his cape....  :)

haha i want to see those

The cape always reminds me of the episode of SEINFELD where Elaine and Jerry see George's father talking to a man with a cape ....

"That's my accountant."

[moemoephoto]

I also took a few great shots of the band standing on top of RCMH at around 2pm yesterday....I waved to the band and they waved back....JIm had on his cape....  :)

haha i want to see those

I was there too!  But i was ceratin it was 3:00... but whatever, i know it was at an even hour  ;D

[Honest Man]

Run Thru. Song of the night.

[chaz725]

Run Thru. Song of the night.

absolutely.

[Dillsnufus]

don't know that Dondante was a ride . also OBH the house was shaking when that started (or at least the mez) . phone went west was also beautiful.

[Penny Lane]

don't know that Dondante was a ride . also OBH the house was shaking when that started (or at least the mez) . phone went west was also beautiful.

phone went west and OBH--- songs of the night.

this show didn't compare w/bonnaroo (for me) but it was spectacular. my seats were too far back--i would have liked to have been closer. it was great meeting everyone from the board---the dark, BH, Reenie (and friend), vespa, msyvon, ghosts (again) driven to dist, colleen etc--we need to def plan something again for new years!

i'm gonna go thru w/drawl waiting for philly ;-(

[Dillsnufus]

wowzers

[reenie]

What an incredible night.  The best show I have ever seen.  It was great to finally meet some board members.  Hope to see you all again very soon!  Anyone going to the Boston show?

[manonthemoon]

The show last night ripped my face off and is by far the best show I have seen this year, which says a lot after Petty killed it earlier this month.  Got to say to say I was a little nervous with the first few songs because I haven't embraced the new album like some have, just not my style compared to the others, but the show was all I could of asked for and definately worth the trip up from the District.  I am now so psyched for the DC stop and trying to convince the little woman to make another trip up the Big City for a New Years bash that will hopefully rival the SF experience from a couple of years ago.  Agree that Run Thru was the standout.

[ms. yvon]

WHAT A FANTASTIC NIGHT!

sooo rad to meet all of the forum peeps who came out to the brewery before the show!  ALL night i was running into people i'd met at shows across the country, or people i've known only by user names here on the board.  what a treat to approach the brewery last night and see murph outside!

must be stated:  everyone was so cool!  friendly, warm, exhuberant, ready and willing to dance themselves silly.  sitting here on my pal's couch in white plains, i raise my glass of (stellar) beer to you all!  as the song goes, "everyone here is outta site!"   [smiley=beer.gif]

i lucked out.  i had bought a pretty good single seat for myself, but when my pal in ny decided to come to the show, he turned up some second row (!!!) seats.  so often, when i am participating in a remarkable musical event i say to myself, "i am a lucky, lucky bastard."   ;D

i'd never been to RCMH.  it was quite lovely!  interesting balcony design in that the four (right?) balconies were in the back of the room and stacked like shelves, not steps.  wonder what it means to the acoustics.  hmm.  from where we were sitting, the place looked FILLED.  well done!

the guys came out looking dapper as ever.  carl was sporting a cool jacket with sort of a western cut.  he took it off at some point, but was still wearing a vest.  tom was wearing a button down shirt and tie, jim was in a vest, bo was rocking a sharp hat, patrick looked to be all in black (couldn't see if he was wearing shoes, but am guessing not.  ;) )

{somehow it's gotten to be 2am so i'm just gonna transcribe my setlist w/notes}

--intro music
--evil urges
--otr

--Gideon !!!  :D *heart*
-- [smiley=tekst-toppie.gif]--woooooh jim!
--Highly Suspicious--47 second WOOOOOO!

--Wonderful Man-tom laying IN!  (either before or just after this song i saw bo pulling his hat down on his head as if he'd been about to lose it  ;D )
--Touch Me pt. 1- jim donned the cape for this one.  at one point he put on a pair of aviator shades that someone had tossed on stage.  he threw them into the crowd.  my pal, paul, caught them then handed them to me.  the guy behind me said that they'd been his and asked for them.

--jim gave a rap here about letting unwanted thoughts flow out of his head like cotton candy in favor of absorbing the spirit of things like the screams of the crowd.  --he commented a few times on the band's excitemtent at playing such an historic venue.  apparently the guys all had family in attendance.  that's got to be special.  (i know if i ever played rcmh (kazoo solo!)  my mom would want to be there.   ;) )

--Sec Walkin'--patrick broke a stick on this one!  it came flying out over the stage.  there was some funny brow waggling going on between bo and tom, here.   ;D
--Golden-lovely!
--Thank You, Too!-Gorgeous!  tom's bass was really high in the mix on this one.

--Way He Sings-first big jam o'the night! YOW!  (i have a cramp.)
--Two Halves-pat & tom!!
--Phone!! --my pal hadn't heard this song live in a loooooong time.  it was the one he'd hoped most to hear. EVERYONE SING!

--Aluminum P. HUGE!  much whirling and dancing in the lights on stage
--Steam.  Holy Smokes. during one the guitar breaks jim ran off the stage up the stairs along the side of the venue.  he stopped to play a couple of times but then continued until he'd gotten to the first balcony (mezz?)  standing RIGHT there:  two peeps from the brewery!  dancing to beat the band!
it was great to see watch the guys on stage:  playing, sometimes watching jim...
note:  carl's slide on this song always kills me.  our seats were on the right side of the stage, close to jim's mic.  this is where RCMH felt big:  carl was far away.  had to peer around a little to get a good sight line (how in the fuck can i be whining AT ALL about this?  lord.   ::) )

--Smokin from shootin--WHAT ARE YOU WAIIIIIIITTTTING FOR ?....ANNNNYYYYYWAAAAAAYYYYYY???!!-->
--Touch Me, pt. 2--i LOVE THIS PAIRING OF SONGS  (please pardon the all caps abuse there.   i use them in earnest.   ;D )
for the outro here, i think carl and tom got low on stage--couldn't see carl, but i could see tom hunkered down in front of his amp.  as jim played the outro on the omnichord he crouched lower and lower next to the music stand (hey! no longer balancing it on his leg!  the technique is constantly evolving.)  jim and bo waiting for just the right moment to play good intentions...at the scream, the band all ran off stage.  {this took me back to watching them do this in houston:  watching bo and jim trying to work out the cue for the scream.  awesome.}

----break

--Bermuda Highway--jim solo acoustic.  who doesn't love this song?
--jim takes a moment to honor having seen aretha franklin on that very stage.
--librarian!--band comes back out:  pat's drums on this are lovely!

--the third appearance of the CAPE! for...
--WORDLESS--jim sang while holding one of the RCMH glow-stick swizzle sticks.  don't know if it came from an off-stage cocktail or if someone in the audience hurled it onstage.  -kneeSLIDE!
--It Beats!! tom & pat:  whew!

--dondante-CRUSHER!!  this was devastatingly gorgeous.  can't pinpoint it, but there are some differences in the arrangement.  carl's sax playing was beautiful. for the top of the song jim was wearing a towel over his head.  it seemed as if in this venue full of people he was creating some privacy for himself.  i could see his face as he was playing those haunting guitar parts.
at one point i looked back and saw evilhorn with his hands on top of his head.  YOU HAD ME WOOOOOORRRIIEED...

--BEAR  :D
--Lay low!  --CAPE III--sweet jesus.  There will be strobes! (that's a call back to signs that were on the doors to the houston venue:  "tonight's performance will use strobe lights" or something.  i remember saying to paul, "yes.  yes it will."   [smiley=beer.gif]

--Run Thru--BIG FAT CHORD!--going from lay low into this things were getting serious
--ANYTIME--SWEET CRACKER SANDWICH@!  carl was catching some air on this and tom looked like he was beating the cheese out of his bass!  patrick on his feet for the final build...
--OBH (i didn't even write this down. i think i was swept up in the rock and/or roll!   thanks to doEVILslittle for reminding me to put it in the list.  [smiley=beer.gif])

the guys all came out to the front of the stage for extended waving and beaming.  a cool moment as a photographer behind the drum kit had them turn so that the crowd was behind them for a photo. hope it turns up in the gallery.

WONDERUL TIME!!  thanks, gents for hosting ANOTHER spectacular party!

odd nifty bits:  in the seat next to my friend:  a woman i'd met in atlanta when i was there seeing wilco last summer.  we'd spent a lot of time dishing about okonokos.  

new guitar picks:  in place of the okonos graphics, the pics have evil urges art:  jim's pix have the mirrored herons.  did anyone see carl's pix?

ain't too proud to beg:  thanks for the setlist!  turns out, i was handed the set list for "set 2" and wizzard got "set 1."   [smiley=beer.gif]

after the show ran into kyjed in the lobby and told him all the forum peeps were meeting outside the brewery for post-show geeking out.

so as about 20 of us milled around in the muggy night milled around shaking our heads, waving our hands and assuring each other that those things did happen we assembled for some group pix:  sweaty, smiling, moved.

to wrap out the night 5 of us: vespachick, our oklahoma reps, paul and i, made our way to a place with fantastic sushi.  and asparagus.  holy hell, it was delicious!  and that wine.  damn!


as for the "when i wake in the morning which song will be in my head" question:  touch me pt. 1.

smooth travels in europe to the band and crew!  we'll see you in louisville!  
*note to self--check l'ville's minor league ball team schedule...*

[TEO]

Thanks ms y! The picture has been painted....... :)

[doEVILslittle]

ms y, you forgot OBH!!! maybe because you blacked out from the sheer power of it all?  :D

also, another bit...when i woke up in brooklyn the next morning i could hear two people downstairs at the coffee shop conversing:

"hey man...helluva show last night"
"amazing show"

i can only hope they were discussing the jacket

p.p.s. i also realize my initial post was a lot of complaining and about how much I was rocking out to the jacket....it was really a community feel in nyc friday night, besides the few stragglers, i love a jacket crowd because all they ask for is a good old fashion rock and roll show, and these boys deliver each and every time