Pre-show I pulled into a parking space and standing in front of me were the now famous Fileks. How great to drive up and be greeted by old friends. They promptly took me to their car and gave me my "sonsof1984.com" t-shirt to advertise the Todd Healing show for September 15th (not the opener RRIII bash but a later show on the tour). I'm not sure the rules about being able to announce this location so I'll leave that to Doug, but if you were there you know about it because we wore our shirts proudly and answered ton's of questions about it. Needless to say it will be easy for me to catch a second performance after I potentially fly around the country to see the opening night....great surprise.
10-15 of us met at the restaurant next to the venue and I tanked up a bit......many glasses of Bellevedere on the Rocks. Some snacks. Lots of hugs and Utopia war stories. Radio City 1978, Giants Stadium 1979, spectrum 1980, all those pier and central park shows....and of course Lois -- 2,000,000 arena shows and every AWATS show that was performed. She surpassed all of us in 3 years.
So there are always plusses and minuses of going to a tour opener. (I don't think AWATS in Akron had any minuses). You get to be the first to see and hear the set, which is absolutely exciting. You get to be the first to see and hear the set list that wasn't overly rehearsed and it can be a little off. The crew hasn't quite got the sound right and last night was pretty distorted. As always, I loved the show, quirks and all. There was a curfew so he dropped 3 or 4 songs from what will be the standard set list (we got a copy) so this list below isn't a total spoiler because I'm only listing what he played last night.
Set List (Robert Johnson songs in Italics):
Dust my Broom
Stop Breaking Down
Kiddie Boy -- first time in forever if ever. Nazz song for anyone who may not know.
Soul Brother
Walking Blues -- really nice version
Kindhearted Woman
Bleeding -- from Ballad of Todd Rundgren -- I think this has never been played. Hard to hear with the mix
Black Maria -- I think it was also the first time he played this.....In April 2010. J
Last Fair Deal
Love in Vain
Open my Eyes
Mystified -- Broke Down and Busted -- Mystified
Red Hot
Sweet Home Chicago
Beginning of Unloved Children -- forgot words and gave up. We really like that song but forgive due to first night.
I went to the Mirror -- I woke up the morning of the show with that in my head (ask Doug)-- just had a feeling -- it made up for unloved children, but the mix was muddy.
Come in my kitchen
Hellhound
Weakness
Riverside
Crossroads
3 encores --
I saw the light -- started bluesy I think
Tiny Demons
BOOGIES HAMBURGER HELL -- high light coolest song of the night
Other highlights:
1. Nice tour bus this time, I doubt we will see back stage pass from Kasim showing the band driving in a corolla this time.
2. Doug Kennedy -- guitar player from Kasim solo shows a few years back was there on his birthday and we got to say hello. Nicest guy and good facebook friend.
3. I tried to post songs as they occurred, it was dark, my favorite post was "I wner to the fin mirror". Hope that didn't annoy folks.
4. Just seeing everyone again, people you share the experience with and they come up to you 7 months later and say Jay-how are you, how many shows you going too, it's all come back to life.
I'm not sure if I'll get to any other shows on this leg, maybe Mohegan Sun, but am saving up for September.......cya there.
