LOCATION: Taft Theater, Cincinnati, OH
LINEUP: Karin, Linford, Ric, Brian, Mickey Grimm, Jake Bradley, Kenny Hutson, Kim Taylor, Paul Patterson, Julie Lee
REVIEW BY:
Set list:
SET ONE
Eyes Wide Open
How Does It Feel?
How Does It Feel? (Reprise) <-- this was silly and awesome
Within Without (with Kim Taylor)
Like a Radio
Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
June (with Kim Taylor, Jake, Kenny Hutson, and Julie Lee)
Circle of Quiet (with Kim and Julie)
Daddy Untwisted (with Kim and Julie)
SET TWO
Paul and Virginia (L&K with Jake, Kenny, Mickey, Kim, and Julie)
Poughkeepsie (same minus Mickey) <-- this was different than before,
so much FULLER
Mary's Waltz (L, K, Paul Patterson)
Silent Night (Duet) (L, K, Paul, Julie)
Faithfully Dangerous (with Jake)
A Gospel Number (with Jake, Kim, Julie, and some awesome "cool" glasses
and berets)
All I Need Is Everything (with Jake, Kim, and Paul)
If I'm Drowning <-- old-school one-by-one departure. My best moment
of the night
ENCORE NUMBER ONE
My Love Is a Fever
I Painted My Name (with Kim and Julie) <-- my second favorite of
the night. What a beautiful song, I've always loved it
ENCORE NUMBER TWO
Latter Days (L & K)
What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love, and Understanding? (with Jake)
euro60:
What a fabulous evening this was. It fulfilled all of my expectations,
and then some. The band gave 2 sets (no opening act) and the original foursome
was as fabulous as I remembered them, leaving no doubt in my mind that
this was and is the *ultimate* OtR line-up. They played tons of great tunes,
including many songs I hadn't heard them play since the early days ("Paul
and Virginia", "Daddy", "Within Without", "If I'd Drowning" and many others,
I'll post a set list later). Not sure it resonated with the almost sold-out
crowd at the Taft, as most people around me didn't know any of the songs
(and that includes my daughter, who commented that this version of OtR
was a lot more rocking than she knew of them). Nevermind. Tonite was something
I had been looking forward for a loooooong time and I was not disappointed.
dave101:
Well, I'll add my 2 cents and describe the show in one word: AWESOME!
Ok, one word isn't enough, so here's a few more... tongue.gif
The two-set format was very nice and I like the way they added a few Christmas tunes there at the beginning of the second set.
The original lineup is indeed the best...if there was any doubt that K&L could still ROCK, then those were put to rest last night. Of course, having Ric and Brian on stage took it up several notches and pushed it over the edge past anything we've seen in recent years (a couple of the Ohio tunes live i.e. Changes Come at the end comes close, but not quite on the same "rock scale"). laugh.gif
Anyway, the classic stage exit during "If I'm Drowning" was welcome as well...I had a big smile on my face for that one. Brian\Ric on stage by themselves tearing it up at the end was a great flash-back moment. No one has lost even one step and the band seemed to mesh really well together.
Yes, I would pay for the audio. Video would be even better. For now, more pictures are welcome (nice shots euro60). Bill, did you get any?
They left it all on stage last night and gave the fans more that their money's worth.
Nice job.
vapspwi:
I'd never seen the original band (except for snippets on the Serpents
and Gloves VHS) - my first show was around '95 or '96, just K&L opening
up for Vigilantes of Love. But I love the early music - the rocking OtR
is my favorite. The show really was great. The sound was great, the amount
of talent on the stage was phenomenal, they did ALMOST everything I really
wanted to hear - it was a great night. I don't know how night 2 is going
to measure up, even though some of my favorite material (Ohio, Films for
Radio) is yet to come. After seeing Ric, such a great lead guitarist, I'm
curious to find out how Jake and Kenny will stack up. Jake seems like more
of a "flavor" guy, and I haven't really seen Kenny rip it up on guitar
with OtR yet (but I know he has it in him). We'll see. It's hard to beat
those Paul Moak shows when doing Ohio stuff, IMHO.
I'm about 99% sure there was no videotaping going on - the cameras would've had to be VERY subtle, because they were nowhere to be seen. There was a house mic set up at the soundboard, though, hopefully to capture a bit of crowd flavor to mix into a soundboard recording. Every song was a gem, so it would be a shame not to put the full 2:20 of awesomeness out on a double CD.
It's a cold, gray day today, so I'm going to go to a museum or something to pass the time before the show tonight. I'm very excited to get another, totally different OtR show tonight - how cool is that?
rotary11:
f there was anyone who has seen the band in the "old days" that might
have forgotten what the band sounded like back then... well, I think we
remember now!
I agree with others' posts on the nature of the show-- just rocking. I was interested to see what K&L's "mood" would be during the night. I don't know about anyone else, but it looked to me like for most of the night they were having an honest-to-God good time. Linford, in particular, was gape-mouthed and grinning much of the time, especially on those occasions when Ric let loose. REALLY fun to watch.
Anyway, no one (that I've seen) has posted a setlist, so here it is:
SET ONE
Eyes Wide Open
How Does It Feel?
How Does It Feel? (Reprise) <-- this was silly and awesome
Within Without (with Kim Taylor)
Like a Radio
Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
June (with Kim Taylor, Jake, Kenny Hutson, and Julie Lee)
Circle of Quiet (with Kim and Julie)
Daddy Untwisted (with Kim and Julie)
SET TWO
Paul and Virginia (L&K with Jake, Kenny, Mickey, Kim, and Julie)
Poughkeepsie (same minus Mickey) <-- this was different than before,
so much FULLER
Mary's Waltz (L, K, Paul Patterson)
Silent Night (Duet) (L, K, Paul, Julie)
Faithfully Dangerous (with Jake)
A Gospel Number (with Jake, Kim, Julie, and some awesome "cool" glasses
and berets)
All I Need Is Everything (with Jake, Kim, and Paul)
If I'm Drowning <-- old-school one-by-one departure. My best moment
of the night
ENCORE NUMBER ONE
My Love Is a Fever
I Painted My Name (with Kim and Julie) <-- my second favorite of
the night. What a beautiful song, I've always loved it
ENCORE NUMBER TWO
Happy With Myself? (except I don't think they played it?)
Latter Days (L & K)
What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love, and Understanding? (with Jake)
Awesome. I also took a couple of pictures and videos (sorry to anyone sitting behind me)-- I'm going to try to get them on YouTube and post a link. Will let you know. What an awesome night!
Yossarian08:
A couple things I didn't mention last night:
1. What's the deal with the T-shirts????? Seriously, I bought a shirt in the size I normally wear, and it looks more like a child's size. I didn't notice until I got home, since it was rubber banded up. Are they all like that? There's no tag, so I don't know if I got the wrong size or if they're just really, really, really small fitting. Regardless, someone smaller than me is getting a really cool looking shirt for Christmas! laugh.gif
2. The highlights for me were Like A Radio, which was simply beautiful, If I'm Drowning, with the 1 by 1 departure and Rik just absolutely annihilating his guitar, Latter Days and the surprise Costello number to wrap up the night.
3. I'm a guitarist, and a guitar gear geek... and Rik became one of
my guitar heroes last night. I knew he was good before, but he was totally
incredible last night. I loved his work with his Ebow and all his fancy
delay settings (makes me want to sell my analog delay and get something
that would let me do the stuff he did), and his phrasing was clean and
stunning all night. This guy should be a household name in the music world
if you ask me, and it was amazing to have seen him live with Over The Rhine.
I'll keep a look out for you, vapspwi! I'll be wearing a Bob Dylan tour
shirt tonight (with all the Dylan songs/covers played before the show and
at the intermission I thought it'd be fitting enough). As for your seat,
I understand exactly what you mean. That's why I opted for the balcony
this time around. I saw the Australian Pink Floyd show last year there,
payed for floor seats, and ended up on the side with a 20 foot stack of
speakers in the way of half of the stage. The Taft is a beautiful place
with great sound, but when you get a bad seat it can really kill the vibe
there and it seems to be setup to where there's always some bad seats.
Can't wait for tonight!!! Hard to believe in a few hours I'll be at another OtR show! And then I get to do it all over tomorrow!
b_lachey:
Unbelievably awesome night. It felt like a time warp, except nearly
everyone was sitting down, rockin' in their chairs this time around.
Frankly, it would have made me a happy guy just seeing half of those songs revisited live after 12+ years of missing them, let alone having Ric and Brian join them to play. The combination of it all was almost too perfect.
For me, as a fan that's been around faaaar too long, I can totally see why it makes perfect artistic sense of what they're doing now. And I love it. But for now, this was a perfect chance to look back and celebrate, just as Linford more eloquently stated.
What's it all add up to?? The BEST TAFT WEEKEND EVER! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact that likely there will be ALL completely different songs on the set tonight, save maybe Silent Night.
Of course, wish a few of you were here to share - Michelle, Trudes, d, Becky, Lara, Damian, Dan and Marg, Ysobelle. Heck, there's tons I could name. But it was a fantastic time to catch up with some of the old folks from the old list too: Jan K, Snoop Dug, Shelly!!, OncleBoo Steve, Heather and Alyssa from Kent - just phenomenal all around.
And here I am blathering when I should be getting ready for Arthurs!!
WalrusOct9:
Friday was something I'd waited for since I first discovered the Eve
and Patience albums years ago. My first show was in 2000, and I'd kind
of just accepted OTR as what they've been for the last ten years or so,
and loved it, but in the back of my mind, there was always that sense of
wondering what they were like as a real rock band...a band of four creative
equals, versus K&L and their hired guns. It's hard to compare, they
really are two different bands, although I suppose it would've felt more
natural if I'd been around for the 'transitional' years of 1997-99 or so.
I was excited, but I was trying not to set my expectations too high,
between some comments I'd read here and the fact that OTR had all but abandoned
their early catalog in recent years, save for a handful of GDBD songs.
I had no idea how much Ric and Brian would play, and figured they'd stick
to the safe selections; songs like "Birds" and "Circle Of Quiet" that were
the closest musically to where OTR has gone in their later career, because
they'd be the easiest for Karin to slip back into (not to mention easier
to rehearse on short notice). Mostly though, I wondered whether the intensity
would be there, whether K&L would enjoy revisiting this stuff from
so long ago, and whether the emotions and issues that split them up would
go by the wayside for a night to produce something truly magical again.
I knew I'd enjoy it, no matter what, but we've all seen OTR enough times
to be able to see when things are truly clicking and when they're not.
And within about two minutes of "Eyes Wide Open," all my skepticism vanished, and when they launched into "How Does It Feel," I cracked a huge smile knowing they wouldn't be playing it safe as I thought they might have. Ric was every bit the guitar hero I imagined him to be...he started out a little tentative, but by the HDIF reprise, he sounded exactly how he was supposed to sound. "Guilty Bystander" and "Daddy Untwisted," neither my favorite song on record, were the highlights of the first set, rocking in a way the band hadn't since the breakup. Ric was absolutely on fire for "Daddy," extending the song considerably without ever getting boring or running out of ideas. I always loved Brian's drumming, but had a new appreciation for it, and what it added to the band, after watching him play live. I know a lot of people are partial to Mickey, who himself is a fantastic drummer, but where Mickey plays with the finesse of a jazz-trained drummer, Brian just freaking grooved the entire night in his own inimitable way. A truly wonderful thing to behold.
The second set was a bit odd, simply because the energy level was so high during the first set...I don't know if they'd spent more time rehearsing the earlier stuff, but the GDBD stuff didn't quite come together as well as the earlier material ("All I Need Is Everything" seemed to be very tentative, for whatever reason), but even the overlooked "Gospel Number" had some new life breathed into it, and everyone's favorite "Poughkeepsie" sounded better than it ever had thanks to Julie and Kim's harmonies. I was kind of surprised they didn't do more from GDBD, since they've played so many of the songs live even in recent years. Also surprised "Poughkeepsie" wasn't dedicated to Bruce. laugh.gif But "I'm I'm Drowning," while a bit of an awkward transition setlist-wise, was stunning...maybe not as good as the Besides live version, but who cares? The sheer fact it was being played by those four people right in front of us was miracle enough. They had Karin's early-90's synth set up on the side of the stage, but she chose to sing it from Linford's seat...not sure why.
"I Painted My Name" might've been the high point of the set though...perfectly
played, and one of those songs I knew but had never really clicked with
me until that moment. A ragged but fun Nick Lowe cover capped off an amazing
night that I never in a million years thought I'd see. So thanks to Karin,
Linford, Ric, and Brian for indulging us, not only in some nostagia for
the old-timers, but for giving the fans you've made in the past ten years
a chance to step into a time machine for two hours and experience something
truly magical that we had never thought was possible.
Thanks to everyone at the show on Fri, old and new...Keith, Jeanne, SoCal, Heather, Stefanie, Kent, Kylie, Stiv, Patrick, everyone...thanks to Zayne for the company on the ride up, Fred for the couch and great 4 AM conversation, Pico for being a part of all of it, Bruce for making even the shittiest bar in a 100 mile radius fun, and everyone for the good times at...um, whatever that place was called that served me biscuits and gravy at 2 AM. Good times...kind of bummed I missed out on Sat. and Sunday, but at the same time, I'm not sure anything could've topped what I saw happen on Friday night. Thanks to everyone who made it happen...band, fans, and friends. You couldn't ask for a better time.
YouTube:
Within Without - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8tmsn_k0bk
Like A Radio - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uAAzw9l7xc
Mary's Waltz - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfSHQ5M3w4k
How Does It Feel Reprise- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZXNjRtebVM