LOCATION: American Legion Hall, Los Angeles, CA
LINEUP: Karin, Linford, Jack, Chris, Dale
REVIEW BY: Melanie Shannon, Steve Guiles, Oncleboo
the LA concert- everyone seems to be giving an account of each concert, so i guess i'll write some about LA- but don't expect anything but raving reviews from me. i've haven't caught our friends live in two or three years, and this was the first time for me to see them doing their very own show. it was nothing short of bliss for this girl. :) the crowd however- well, the venue got moved from the knitting factory, a smallish place below the chinese theatre (as i hear), to the american legion hall. this was apparantly due to the amount of tickets sold being more than expected. but the legion hall- though it was nice -was just a little too big. as linford said, there was 'room to grow.' and most of the crowd just sat in the comfy seats that were far, far away from stage. my friend and i came in near the middle of the group and still were able to walk right up to the stage and sit down on the floor. i couldn't have asked for better seats! right at karin and linford's feet. but the crowd was sort of quiet- everyone just sat through the whole thing, right up until the encores began. it was sort of sad, but maybe folks were just basking in euphoria. of course LA would be the quiet crowd! ;p anyway- rose and goody (goodie?) came out, and yes they were amazing, and yes goodie blew on his guitar strings, ysoie, and yes i wanted more more more. but they seemed to have a short set so they could run catch their respective flights. rose missed hers- we saw her after the concert sitting down, looking exhausted, relieved she missed her flight so she could have a day off. we told her that her voice was beautiful, and she looked up hopefully and said 'really?' she was so sweet. and she even seemed a little nervous on stage, though there is absolutely no need for that! i could have shot the light board runner, though... apparantly, though, the band's tour bus broke down at three am friday night driving down from san francisco- so they had had no sleep. i'm guessing this is why the set seemed short, which is my only complaint (other than a sleepy audience) about the concert. but they could have played all night long, if it were up to me. maybe anything seems short. i have to mention- between rose and otr they piped in the red house painters. it was perfect! what a lovely, lovely band. finally, then, the our band appeared. karin came out with gorgeous movie-star long layered hair, tight dark pants and a pale blue knit top with blue webby beaded cap sleeves. and linford, well, he came out looking just like the back of the ffr cd. ;) leather, dark hair, glasses- the whole bit. i sort of giggled, remember the listee from indiana(?) who said she would leave if linford was wearing leather. well, i wasn't about to go anywhere! he did ditch the jacket after two or three songs, and then he was wearing red-brown i-just-forgot-how-to-spell-cuorduroy? pants and a grey sweater. but come on- let the poor guy have a cool jacket! maybe it was bought at a thrift store... so, yeah, the show was amazing. karin hangs on that microphone like it's her last chance for air- and she poured everything she had into every song. for the most part she was quiet between numbers, but every once in a while, after a song that was particularly amazing, she'd cast a side-long look at linford as she took a drink, and then just lose it in a big beautiful yeah-that-was-it smile. i took a lot of pictures- i'll find out tomorrow if they came out. swiped karin's playlist afterwards, too. it's typed, a little out of order, and missing a number or two. but here it is: world if nothing all i need anyway radio heaven lil blue birds moth poughkeepsie faithfully fever strength (this was the last encore) - ----------- body ladder daize (this closed the first set) after the show, linford came back in the room, and i got to shake his hand and have him sign my old northern spy, and a twhf for my brother. he was lovely and so very nice. after that, i stepped aside to regroup, and overheard the girl who had been waiting behind me start to harrass the poor man. i cringed- afraid i sounded like a derranged fan, myself. maybe there's no way to avoid that. i bought a t-shirt and stole a promo poster from the merchandise table after talking to the nice boy kurt running the table. when he found out i was on the listserve he laughed at me and called me a geek. :( sorry guys, guess we're all geeks. but he grinned and said it was an okay kind of geek. ;p then we went downstairs and caught the band, again, talking to people in the hall. i met karin, she autographed my brother's cd, was very sweet and nice... and that was it. the ffr cd just isn't enough anymore. i want to sit at their feet like that, karin belting out every song... it was my friend's first otr concert, and i asked her if it was what she expected. she said it was more wonderful, and that karin was more beautiful, than she had imagined. what more is there to say?Steve Guiles:
The Venue was changed. Moving from the smaller Knitting Factory to the large and, as Linford said, "boomy", American Legion Hall. Rose was wonderful. Disarming, charming, and at times haunting. Her guitarist "Goody" reminds me of the guy who played for American Music Club back in the day (I think his name was actually Vudi-or something like that). People were absolutely still and quiet when she finished singing... OTR was excellent. I only regret that I didn't know the older songs enough to sing along. The seating was great. You could see the stage from everywhere. "Not a bad seat in the house". Anyways...the only thing that sucked was the mix of Karin's vocals. They were lost in the "boominess" of the room. She still cut through (not in a bad way), but I wanted to hear her as clearly as I had heard Rose. Oh, well. anyways...it sounded like they'd had a rough night. The tour bus broke down in San Francisco and they had to scramble to get enough vans to make it to the show. Most of the merchandise didn't make it. I really wanted to get one of those sweet posters...ahhh...so is life. I didn't really care for the little promotional postcards, but I'm guessing they didn't design those. (Anyone know?) For anyone at the show...my wife, my brother in law, and I all sat on the right side front in the back row (which only went three or four rows back).Oncleboo:
That was the last time Over the Rhine had ventured into Southern California as headliners. Yeah, they've come through a couple times since then as part of the Cowboy Junkies' entourage, but that's just not the same. Anyway, here's just a few thoughts about the show... I've never seen a show at the Knitting Factory, and therefore don't know what it's like, but would've preferred to see a show there vs. the American Legion Hall. The hall just reminded me too much of my old high school gym and the seating was ridiculous. And why did they not have the house lights up before the show and during the intermission? I managed to spy listie Melanie wandering around in her white trench coat just before the show and got to meet her briefly. Unfortunately, we only got to talk for a moment or two. And Chris Emery's old listie theory continues to hold true... Rose Polenzani was solid as the opener. Definitely better than yet another night of Niki Buehrig (not that Niki's bad, I just grew a little weary of not seeing anyone else open for OtR). BTW, Steve, I believe I was in your vicinity during Rose's set. I was with one of my friends on the right hand side in the last row. We were the two closest to the stage. Although I liked having a chair rather than a chunk of hardwood floor, I moved down in front of the stage during the intermission. As far as OtR themselves go, they were definitely a different band than how I've seen them before. Keep in mind that I've only seen them in the post-Ric era, but this was easily the loudest Over the Rhine show I've seen. I've grown so accustomed to the lilting GDBD sound that although I've listened to FfR quite a bit, it was still a bit of a shock to hear them approximate a rock band. ;) I was hoping to hear both "When I Go" and "Anything At All", but to no avail. With the new sound, "Orphan Girl" would be kinda fun, but that might be asking a bit much... The highlight of the show, IMO, was the new rendition of "Birds". The bass-dominated intro was quite fun and, to an extent, sounded a bit like Joy Division to me. Then again, I'm hardly a Joy Division expert and am willing to be corrected by someone more knowledgeable. After the show, I grabbed Jack's setlist. I believe I saw Melanie climbing up on stage in pursuit of a setlist as well. I miss the old handwritten lists of yore. They had much more character. As did the old merch table. The candles, incense, and whatnot need to make a return. As things stand now, it's just another merchandise table. Speaking of the merch table, I'd hoped to grab a copy of Goody's CD after the show, but either they sold out or he took them all with him when he left for the airport. That was disappointing... I'm sure I've missed all sorts of stuff, but this'll have to do for now.