Friut Bats show

[bad bad leroy brown]

So who's going?

I assume its a 21 and over show...  In which case, I'll have to dust off my fake.

[bad bad leroy brown]

Just got back from the show sleepy but exhuberant.

I'l post more tomarrow, seeing as I have to get up early for work.  But the set was great. The beer was good.  And the audience was so-so.

And I got to chat with Eric Johnson after the show!

[marktwain]

Due to many, many unforeseen circumstances, I had to miss the show.  I had really been looking forward to it.  Saw them open up for Modest mouse 2 years ago, but I didn't know them then.
So anyway, I'm sure it was great.  I listened to Mouthfuls last night in lieu of being there.

[bad bad leroy brown]

I had never been to High on Rose before, and I was pleasantly surprised at how small the venue was.  There couldn't have been fifty people there.  I doubt that very many people there had been exposed to the Fruit Bats prior to the show.

Nevertheless, the audience was fair.  However, there was one guy who unfortunately was a wee bit too intoxicated for his own good.  He asked my friend to dance with him a few times -- once grabbed her arm.  Afterwards, he sat in front of the band and yelled "Morrison" for no particular reason.  However, the distraction was brief and soon taken care of by a amicable employee.

Eric played a couple of solos including a very nice version of "Oh what a day for sunshine...".  The show ended with a spectalular version of "When U Love Somebody".

After the show I had a chance to talk with Eric about the new album.  We asked about the absence of "Pirate Ships" in  the set.  This being the first show of theirs I had been to, I expected it to be a finale song.  There's a lot of golden jam opportunities at the end.

He said that it had been overplayed.  They would rush through the song just to jam -- but ended up sounding flat.  The last time they played it was in Charleston and he had to stop the song in midstream and apologize to everyone because it was so bad.

In anycase, we ran into him again in the parking lot, and scored free merchandise.



It was great on the whole -- you missed a good one.

[marktwain]

When I saw them open for Modest Mouse 2 nights in a row(Southgate House, October 2001), I don't think anyone knew who they were--I certainly didn't. They were at a definite disadvantage in that they were playing slow, folky stuff when everyone was ready to really rock out. They made the best of it, though, and won the crowd over with Dragon SHips.  The second night they really scored with a ballsy cover of Modest Mouse's Custom Concern.  

Anyway, now that I've seen the proverbial light, I wish I could've seen them again--to really appreciate the music.
Oh well.

I'll get you next time, Fruit Bats.  Next Time!

[Spoon]

Howdy,

I was at the second Modest Mouse/Fruit Bats show in Covington 2 years ago too.  The Fruit Bats blew me away and I've been telling people about them ever since.  I'm glad they're still kickin' around.  The "Custom Concern" cover you mentioned was so gutsy and so good.  

I remember that as being a pretty rowdy show, one of the best crowds I've ever been in.  Everyone was moving like they were in aerobics class.  I was drenched in sweat - I left the show feeling like I had been working out.  The crowd really was a part of the show.  And though it was a very physical audience, everyone seemed polite and very considerate.

Now that I'm in San Francisco I miss crowds being excited.  The crowds here are notorious for their passivity; a bunch of people standing still with their arms crossed nodding softly to the beat.  I crowd surfed at the modest mouse show in Covington - I haven't been to any show here that even begins to have the crowd energy level to do that.  

From that night, I also remember getting pissed off at Issac Brock because he said, "How can you people mosh to this?"  Do you remember?  What an asshole!  Most bands are lucky to get the crowd that into their music.  

I try to seperate the music from the performer - I know that Brock's music wouldn't be a tortured as it is if he didn't go through some heavy shit in the past and that tends to make some people act like assholes, but it's been hard for me to understand why he would want a tame audience.

Same with Bright Eyes.  How can that fool play an entire rock show playing really heavy, bouncy songs while he's sitting in a chair playing guitar?

One of the things that I like about MMJ is that they love to rock out and they're all really nice guys.  I think I appreciated that more after that Modest Mouse show.