This venue was perhaps the smallest of places he's played this tour, his words were "oppresively intimate" then he revised it to "refreshingly intimate." The people up front could have reached out and touched his toes. He started off kind of rough, a few flubs here and there, blamed it on all the people talking in the Talkhouse. At one brief point he turned his back on the audience, did a kind of quiet primal scream, turned around and from that moment on he was ON. Not a flub or booboo to be seen. Even on piano, he didn't have to stop once!
A gripe about the venue....
I called and ordered my $85 tickets in January, was told by whoever answered the phone that my seats would be inches from OH, so I spent the last 3 months dreaming about this night. When we arrive, our name was mysteriously absent from the VIP list. The guy at the door told us "there's nothing I can do," gave us free drinks and tix for another show that will go unused, we live 2 hours from the place and I'm not driving out there to see someone I never heard of. Needless to say the evening started out with a huge dissapointment. He gave us the bosses wife's seats, a tiny table at bar level where I had to do various contortions to see him at the piano. Don't get me wrong, these seats were by no means bad, I was maybe 20 feet from the stage, just not what I'd dreamed about. The show was wonderful, he's witty and charming and boy can he sing!
By the way, Royston was not at this show.
Here's the setlist:
Lysistrata I Don't want to Tie you Down Hammer in my Heart Cliche Lunatic Fringe on piano: It Wouldn't have Made any Difference Song of the Viking Compassion Free, Male and 21 Hello it's Me Bang the Uke on guitar: Hide your Love Away Falling Beloved Infidel Black and White Born to Synthesize into the Jetson's theme, then snoring... on MP3: I saw the Light Influenza Can We Still Be Friends I want You guitar: One World lst encore: A Dream Goes on Forever 2nd encore: The Wheel What's going OnWe waited around for a little while, first inside, then outside, but not long enough, we left before he came out.
On to Town Hall for tonight's show!
