[DANDOM-NYC] Beacon Internet Request Night Report

[Robert Rinderman]

Excellent account of the show, JWIII

I saw the first show of the current tour in Seattle & last night

YGT sounded somewhat awkward in Seattle but was flawless @Beacon

Bodhisattva also sounded more energetic & better than I've ever seen it done
by them live (seen ~dozen shows since '93)

They all look like they are really enjoying themselves on-stage & it's
especially amazing to see the evolution of Donald as a performer since he
got back on the road in '93...saying he's so much looser now is a huge
understatement

I was in lower left balcony & sound was excellent there, plus sightlines to
stage were great

Attendees were generally pretty mellow up there with the exception of a
certain loudmouth sitting near me

-Rob

-----Original Message-----
From: nyc-bounces at dandom.com [mailto:nyc-bounces at dandom.com] On Behalf Of
jwilliamlll at socal.rr.com
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2011 2:52 PM
To: nyc at dandom.com
Subject: [DANDOM-NYC] Beacon Internet Request Night Report

Beacon Internet Request Night, 22 Sept 2011 Setlist and Report 
 
Intro: Dizzy's Bidness 9:02 PM 
 
Your Gold Teeth
Aja
Black Friday
Hey 19
Time Out Of Mind
Show Biz Kids
Bodhisattva
FM
GodWhacker
Home At Last
Papa Don't Mess/Band Intros
Rikki
Dirty Work
Do It Again
Josie
Peg
My Old School
Reelin' In The Years 
 
Encore: Kid Charlemagne
Untouchables Theme ~11:22 PM 
 
The setlist was about what I would have predicted, based on the evolution of
"Request Night" setlists this tour. I came to this show with a different
mindset: just sit back and enjoy things I had likely already heard during
the Beacon run. With that in mind, this show was still well worth attending.
Any time I can watch a top-notch band at its peak, the setlist is secondary.

 
IMHO, the band ABSOLUTELY NAILED everything tonight. They came out with a
smoking version of YGT and never let up. Of course, nearly the entire
setlist was made up of standard songs from this tour, so I would have
expected the band to be tight. Possibly the "hometown" sentiment enhanced
the performance The entire band, and Donald especially, seems to be bringing
a little something extra to the Beacon shows. 
 
At some point during YGT I started to notice that everything sounded better
than it had the previous nights. I was wondering if it was the drink I was
finishing, but everything continued to sound as good for the entire show. 
So the sound crew is still making improvements, apparently. 
 
Donald sounded strong from the start, and he was really on fire for Black
Friday; I can't recall him belting out lines like that before. 
After the first couple of lines of Hey 19 were clearly a sing-along, Donald
said, "You know this one". Walter's monologue noted that we had changed
seasons, and commemorated the arrival of autumn with a brief rhyme, the
second half of which went, "When there's frost on the pumpkin, it's time for
dicky dunkin'". At least I think I got that right; I missed that one in
elementary school. 
 
FM featured a solo by Roger Rosenberg; I can't recall if that version has
been done before. 
 
Donald had a bit of fun with the crowd when he did a little Rhodes solo
teasing us with "Do It Again", but then started into "Rikki". 
 
Now to the crowd tonight, which was the most unusual I have ever seen. There
was maybe a 5% standing ovation for Aja, and then nothing until Bodhisattva,
which finally got a decent standing ovation. Then it was back to the normal
malaise, and seat vacating for various purposes. Perhaps in some language
the term "Godwhacker" translates into "time for a beer"; if so, I await
enlightenment from one of the many in the crowd tonight who apparently made
this connection. 
It was rather comical to watch the crowd rush back in when Home At Last
started. 
I can imagine the collective "Hey, I KNOW that one; I had better get back in
there!" in the lobby. 
 
I have to give the crowd credit for refraining from shouting requests during
Jim's enthralling Josie intro. Not that things were completely quiet, but
the crowd noise was reduced to a low buzz of people quietly talking among
themselves. That was enough for me to hear the solo clearly, and this is one
way I judge the overall sound quality. Last night was remarkably clear; the
best so far at the Beacon. It was not quite like having Beard "in your
living room" as I think Lurker Ray said about Pechanga. And my seats at
Pechanga were in the fourth row; here we are about 24 rows from the stage.
So my compliments again to the sound crew for getting possibly the optimum
sound quality attainable at the Beacon. 
 
All this magically changed when Peg started, and the crowd was on its feet
to stay for the remainder of the show. In my view, the crowd should have
blown the roof off of this place tonight for the performance they got. 
 
I should add that for this show I was near the back of the orchestra
section, and could not see what was going on in the loge or balcony. And
almost all shows have more energy at the end, but I have never witnessed
such a contrast in audience reaction over the course of a two-hour show. 


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