Audience Appreciation

Today you get a double feature. Only 12 more days til road trip and more than 12 shows left to go through so I am going to start doubling up on a few of them. We are now at the Audience Appreciation shows at the Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun on August 9th and 10th, 2008. These shows have become somewhat of a tradition for the band over the last few years and this was their third year in a row performing at the venue. The shows are free (thus the Audience Appreciation) and very well attended. This year had the added bonus of two shows instead of just one as in previous years.

They announced in advance that the Saturday show was going to be Factory Showroom themed and the Sunday show was to be Apollo 18 themed. This guaranteed some new material for me as there are many songs on both albums that are rarely played.

The Wolf Den is a first-come, first-served venue and has very limited seating (only about 350 people are allowed in I believe). It is, however, open to the rest of the casino so even if you don't get in you can still enjoy the show from the casino floor. I did some research online before the show trying to figure out how early we should show up in order to get in, without much luck. All I found was people talking about how long the line had been the previous year. We ended up arriving just after 3:00pm for the 8:00pm show on Saturday. There were only a handful of people in line already so we wandered around the casino for a bit before joining the line. The beginning of the line was on the ramp leading into the club, then there was a break to allow people to pass by and it resumed on the other side of the circular carpeting surrounding the club.

There was only one group in front of us before the break in the line, so we were about 20 people back. We then proceeded to wait for two and a half hours for seating to begin inside the venue. It was sort of amusing watching people play the slot machines around us. There was a lady next to us who got up to over $400 in winnings then lost it all. The most annoying part was that there was no sign outside the club saying who was performing that night so people were constantly walking past and asking the guys in front of us who was playing, and then "who is that?" They joked that they were going to make a sign so people would stop asking. The last people in line before the break also had to constantly tell people that they weren't the end of the line and send them over to the other side. The line grew very quickly and within an hour I couldn't even see the end of it anymore. I was very glad we arrived when we did.

I amused myself by watching the comings and goings on stage since I could see the techs setting up and various band members coming out to tune their instruments. We did get to hear sound check while we waited. They did a bit of WDTSS? and all of The Mesopotamians and Dr. Worm. Danny came out past all the people in line at one point, then back in again later and I was impressed that, while several people waved at him, no one bugged him.

At 6:30 we were let into the club and seated at a table on the floor all the way over to the left with another couple. We then had to wait another hour and a half before the show started. I picked up some very cute (and free!) 123s stickers from the merch booth while we waited. Just before the show started they opened up the reserved booths to the high rollers who wanted to attend the show. There was a mix of people who came in, including several older couples that did NOT look like TMBG fans. I don't think they had any idea what they were in for. My favorite was a couple who looked like they had stepped out of Vegas in 1970. The man in particular was wearing the loudest shirt that actually lit up and crazy sunglasses, indoors. He and his wife of course ordered the drinks that came in the light-up souvenir glasses.

The band came on stage more or less on time and opened with Token Back to Brooklyn, the bonus track on Factory Showroom, which they had never performed live before. It was a fantastic way to start the show as it took everyone by surprise. A group of people who had been seated right in front immediately jumped up to stand by the stage, which normally I support but did not seem appropriate in this setting since most of the seating is on one level, lower than the stage and they really blocked the view of a lot of people in the audience. Fortunately, nobody else joined them so we could still see since we were seated on the side right by Dan Miller.

The horns joined the band for this show and really filled out the sound, making even songs I had heard before sound brand new. The Factory Showroom tunes were the highlight of the show for me as most of them I had not heard live before, and many of them I have not heard again since. They kept saying they were going to play all the songs off the album that they knew how to play and did everything but Exquisite Dead Guy and Your Own Worst Enemy.

The setlist was: Token Back to Brooklyn - S-E-X-X-Y - Metal Detector - The Mesopotamians - New York City - James K. Polk - Spine - XTC vs. Adam Ant - Upside Down Frown - Spiraling Shape - Pet Name - Don't Let's Start - How Can I Sing Like A Girl? - Birdhouse - Dr. Worm - I Can Hear You - The Bells Are Ringing - Seven - Till My Head Falls Off - Clap Your Hands - The Guitar - Istanbul - Dig My Grave

At the time Metal Detector was not one of my favorite songs which I am especially sorry about as it later became so after hearing Linnell talk about his inspiration for the song and I have never heard it again. James K. Polk had no confetti, presumably because the place had no walls and they didn't want it getting out into the casino. I Can Hear You was just silly as they tried to replicate the sound of the wax cylinder recording. I loved it. I was thrilled to hear The Bells Are Ringing, which is one of my favs and I later realized this was only the second time it has ever been performed. Seven was made 10 times better with the addition of the horns. Till My Head Falls Off was incredible. And after hearing The Guitar with the horns I am of the opinion that it just shouldn't be played without them because it just doesn't compare. The horn players got to do the intro for Istanbul which was nice but I missed Dan's wild guitar solo. And they closed with the shortest second encore ever with just Dig My Grave in a little preview of the next night's show.

Sadly, I don't remember any of the banter as it was eclipsed by the awesomeness of the music. This one is in my top five shows that I have seen.

I'll post part two later, when I return from the work place. Apollo 18 coming your way.