Two down (Gorge, Shoreline), one to go (Pepsi Center)

[Phil McRevis <legalize@xmission.com>]

[Lauren, feel free to post to O&S if you like]

OK, I'm sure others will post a complete set list, but this is just a
quick summary of my thoughts after attending two great shows.

Gorge:
    I was told beforehand that everyone in assigned seating always sits
    down at the Gorge.  I responded there was no way in hell I would be
    sitting, to which I was rejoined with a warning that people would
    tell me to sit down.  I rejoined that I'd tell them to fuck off
    :-).  People were sitting for Unamerican (OK, but nothing to write
    home about IMO just regular sounding rock, ntohing particularly
    unusual to their sound or act) so I was worried his prophecy would
    come true.  I asked the guys in the seats behind me if they would
    be sitting for the concert and they said "fuck no!" so I needn't
    worry about the people directly behind me complaining.  Once our
    boys came on, of course everyone in assigned seating stood anyway.

    The weather was windy with a bit of a chill in the air.  The crowd
    had each other to blunt the onslaught, but the band was clearly
    caught in the thick of it.  Roger at one point said "Its fucking
    windy up here!" and buttoned his shirt back up later in the
    concert.

    Highlights were Relay, My Wife, The Real Me, I'm One (acoustic),
    Drowned (acoustic; furious and remiscient of the Secret
    Policeman's Ball).  Zack's drum solo in Won't Get Fooled Again
    keeps getting better and better.  Relay included a nice jam at the
    end that was extended at Shoreline.

    Banter: Pete quipped about how he's up there playing his guitar as
    a surrogate for sexuality but that the girls just don't get it.
    The guys get it, but does all sorts of extended masturbation up
    there on the guitar and the girls just go "huh?", whereas for
    Roger all he has to do is unbutton his shirt and they're all a
    droolin!  He mentioned about having two breasts up against his
    face with his nose poking out in between :-) as his kind of
    sexuality.

    Before The Real Me, Pete introduced the song as being about
    finding yourself and how its so popular now, especially in
    California, to talk about being in therapy or your discussions
    with your analyst.  He said that of all the people who have come
    up to him and said "Quadrophenia saved my life, man!" they were
    all from Seattle!  "Yeah, I'm half dead now man, but if it wasn't
    for Quadrophenia, I'd be completely dead!"

    Roger has taken to sitting down on stage in front of the drum kit
    when they launch into the bass solo/jam of 5:15.

    Rabbit has extended the range of sounds from his keyboard array
    from beyond the cheesy 60s organ sound to include something akin
    to an electric guitar (perhaps a sampled guitar).  This added some
    nice dynamics in Relay and was refreshing.

    The crowd was friendly and there were no drunk fucks within sight
    of my screwing up anyone's good time.  (Maybe it would have been
    different if I was on the lawn.)

    Overall the sound didn't seem to loud even though I was right in
    front of the speaker stack on Pete's side.  I think it must have
    been the openness of the venue dispersing their sound.  My ears
    weren't even ringing afterwards.

    There was a nice point during pinball wizard (I think) where they
    had the pattern masked lighting rigs pointing back on the crowd
    swirling around in a circular fashion.  It was very cool to look
    out on the crowd and see this big pattern swirling over the
    natural amphitheatre!

    Magic Bus seemd to go on forever.  Several times it looked like
    the rest of the band wanted to end the song, but Pete just dived
    into yet another feedback riff.  He seemed to be really playing it
    up for the video camera!  At least twice I thought they had ended
    it, but Pete kept going.

    The encore consisted of only My Generation, which was surprising.
    I suppose the rest of the band had a good breather during the
    acoustic I'm One and Drowned which was just Pete on stage.

    Since I was on the Pete side, I missed most of the view of Pete's
    jams as he always faces John when he jams.  Still, I could catch
    it on the video screen by craning my neck upwards to see the
    fingers.

    Goodies purchased: sticker, pin set, Leeds shirt, 2000 tour shirt,
    program.  On the first inside page of the program you will see a
    big picture from HOB November 12, 1999.  If you look to the right
    of the guy with the blonde hair (which looks green due to the
    lighting/printing), you will see someone with a pony tail and
    glasses.  That is me :-)

    Fashion: John wore a red leather jacket, black pants, and of
    course the boris pendant.  Roger wore a button down shirt and
    jeans.  The shirt was eventually unbuttoned and then buttoned back
    up when he got chilly :-).  Zack was wearing a red satin like
    shirt.  Pete was wearing a white shirt, black jacket, black pants
    and black stomping sneakers.  (What else do you call those
    sneakers with a really thick sole?)  Sorry, can't remember what
    Rabbit wore :-)

Shoreline:
    A better venue that Gorge, somewhat more enclosed helping to focus
    the sound more.  The show felt much louder!  Before the show I met
    two brothers in the parking lot next my rental car and we started
    sharing stories and talking about our FANatacism.  They offered me
    a beer (a cold Heineken, one of my faves!) and a toke (lots of
    herb being smoked at Shoreline; at one point Pete quipped about
    how you could play a concert at Shoreline and get high without
    doing any drugs!).  I hung out with them the entire time until
    Unamerican was done.

    Returning to the venue proper once Unamerican was finished with
    their set, I met up with Lauren, Gad, Stephanie, John and other
    fanatics encountered previously at HOB.  It was nice to see some
    familiar faces!  Sorry if I forgot any names, I'm horrible with
    names but good with faces.

    Roger's voice sounded a little rough in places for the first few
    songs, but thankfully this disappeared by about the 4th or 5th
    song into the set.  (He later commented that "its fucking cold here
    in Summer" and that it takes him longer to warm up on his singing
    when its like that, so that he's not in his best form until the
    last half hour of the show.)

    Highlights: Relay, The Real Me, My Wife, Don't Even Know Myself,
    Let's See Action, Drowned (acoustic)

    Relay again included an extended jam, going off in unrehearsed
    directions that were surprising as well as entertaining.

    John and Pete were both smoking during The Real Me!  John did
    extended bass solos during 5:15 at Gorge and Shoreline, but I
    still like the solo from Friday HOB the best (its on BTTB).
    John's finger work on Real Me was fast, furious and amazing.  Pete
    was playing off it nicely with great soloing.  During Real Me,
    they showed video from the Quadrophenia movie (didn't do this at
    Gorge) -- the scene of the mods riding their scooters to Brighton
    through the countryside.  Nice touch!

    My Wife was introduced as "this is a song I wrote when I was
    walking my dogs."  I didn't catch all the interplay, but there was
    some joking back and forth between Roger and Pete that was catching
    John off guard I think.  At one point John actually made a little
    physical comedy towards Roger!  I didn't get the gag, but it was
    the most animated thing I've *ever* seen John do anywhere!  It was
    funny for that alone.  After the quips were over, John finished
    the introduction by saying "This one's called.... My Dog!"
    Extended jams followed with John and Pete carving a mountain's
    worth of granite with the sonic waves from their instruments.

    Don't Even Know Myself was always one of my favorite studio "lost
    gems" from their career.  Its great to hear them playing it live.
    After listening to it for so many years I *never* thought I would
    get to hear it live since they hadn't played it much even when it
    was a new song for them (did they ever play it live outside of the
    Young Vic lifehouse experimental concerts?).  One I would really
    like to see them play is Join Together, but they've played that
    many times before on the '76 and '79 tours, so I think its a bit
    overhashed for them.  Roger nails the harmonica dead on for DEKM
    and they improvise a jam at the end before fading out softly.

    Let's See Action was the last song of the "encore" and at one
    point they were winding it down softly to which Pete said
    (something like) "There's no fucking way were going to end this
    concert on a whimper" and proceeded to kick it back into high gear
    to deliver one final crushing sonic blow to our eardrums!

    Fashion: John switched to a green leather jacket, black pants,
    boris pendant.  Roger switched to a pullover shirt and a buttoned
    shirt over top of that which was discarded about half-way through
    the set.  Those girls hoping to see his ribbed stomach missed out
    that night :-).  Pete was wearing the same gear as Gorge.  Zack
    had switched to a numbered athletic jersey style shirt.  I can't
    remember the number on it -- 5 perhaps?  Again, can't remember
    what Rabbit wore :-)

    After the show, a friend lent me a VIP badge and we went back to
    the VIP area.  Unfortunately we were semi-anonymous nobodies (I'm
    a nobody anyway; I haven't ever met anyone in the inner circle
    personally) so noone came to the little plastic chain gate and
    vouched for us to get us back to the aftershow party.  So after
    waiting around 30 minutes for someone to be nice to us, we bagged
    it.  Other familiar and friendly faces (John and his wife, I
    believe) managed to get someone to vouch for them, but we were
    just dedicated fans, not considered "important" to anyone who came
    to the plastic.

Summary: Gorge was great, but Shoreline was better and is the one I
    want as a bootleg :-).  Others said that Irvine was great and
    Shoreline was comparable to Irvine.  Some said Irvine was better,
    others said Shoreline was better.  I wasn't at Irvine so I can't
    say myself :-)
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