Okay, so I have a little more time.
The last time I was in Washington DC, I was 8. We did all the touristy stuff and stayed away from the locals. From that idea, you would think that DC is a lovely old city. And using the directions Mapquest gave us, driving through this elegant rich neighbourhood, I really thought that people were just lying about how cracked out the capital was.
Then we turn on to Florida Ave...
This show, number 20 for me, was one for the books. From the sheer insanity of the 9 hours drive through that unrelenting rain, to choosing a hotel that no pizza place would deliver to, to the KFC with the bullet proof glass, to finally seeing Fiddler's Green, this show will always have a soft spot with me.
The set was exactly what it needed to be. Puting New O back in the second slot really changes the energy that it's played with; going south hasn't hurt. At the end of the song, after the "I swear to God he said," GD just started shouting "We need help right now!" over and over. The song took on a new life post-Katrina, but it took them going down there to make it a special and almost new song again.
I noticed some slight rearrangements on this tour -- I think. Either that or the sound in this bar was just that phenominal. During the intro to Gift Shop, GD's guitar takes more of the mix, where you can actually tell he's really playing the instrument (on previous tours, I really thought it was just for show a lot nights). Langlois also takes a more prominent back up roll during Courage, especially at the end, with really auidble and crisp vocals.
GD was crazy, but he's not talking as much as he used to. Perhaps his best moment of fan interaction came when he was throwing his towel into the crowd during Rink, I think. About 25 seconds later, whoever caught the towel, threw it back at him, catching him off guard. Like the solid target he is though, he made a great glove save.
It was a Rob Baker night though. Baker was on fire throughout the entire gig, and provided us with one of the best versions of Blow I've seen, using a finger slide throughout most of the show and on the final solo.
And while the cover was not to be, Poets featured a great "Swim!" outro, and Fire had the "Burning Church" intro, complete with gospel choir. I wonder if they passed by the same line signifying the Mason-Dixon line that we did on the way down.
Gotta do this again next tour
Cheers,
Pat