Ain't Never Gonna Keep Me Down

September 23, 2011 - The Vic - Chicago, IL

"If you can draw it in the air or write it down then you weren't there."

After being at this show I really get that lyric. There are some things that words are just inadequate to describe. I actually wasn't sure afterward that I would be able to recap this show at all. It was such an emotionally charged experience, I wasn't sure I was up to the task. I'm still not. But I'll try to at least share the basics because there are some things that happened that deserve to documented, even if I can't do them justice.

Gary and I got up at 3:30 in the morning to get to the airport for our 6:30 flight to Chicago. I'd been nursing a very mild cold since we got back from our last trip but, sitting on the plane it decided to flare up full force so by the time we landed in Chicago, I was well and truly sick. This, combined with the three hours of sleep I got, made me kind of a wreck.

We spent the day at the Brookfield Zoo, then went to check into our hotel before the show. But we got stuck in traffic and had trouble with the hotel key and had to stop for cold medicine and it all resulted in us being an hour and a half late to meet Megan and Ana and all of their friends at The Vic, so that just added to my stress.

I got to briefly meet a bunch of great people in line, at least half of whom, I failed to retain their names. It was lovely sort of meeting all of you and I'm glad there is photographic evidence.

We learned from one of these people that Dan had not been at the show the night before and that rumor was he had had to go home because of a family emergency. This prooved to be accurate once we got inside as we stood on his side of the stage and his pedal board wasn't there. So I added desperate worry about Dan to my already touchy emotional state and was mostly a complete wreck for the rest of the night.

I had the last spot on the right side of the stage right next to a light tower and a speaker on stage, and a very large security guard next to me on the floor. He also had a backpack on the floor next to my feet and as people budged and shifted when the show started, I was pushed into it so that I couldn't really stand straight. And during the entirity of Jonathan Coulton's set, the security guard was pressed up against my back, much closer than was really necessary given the space. It was really awkward and uncomfortable. Fortunately, after JoCo, the guards switched and a different guy was next to me who did not feel the need to adhere himself to my back and eventually even let another fan in between us. The backpack was still there though so it was still an awkward place to stand.

JoCo's set was mostly the same but in a different order. But he did play Je Suis Rick Springfield which I was excited about because I hadn't heard that live yet. Normally, I would have more to say about his set but I was still so distracted and standing in such an uncomfortable way, it was hard to really enjoy it.

The TMBG setlist was as follows: Dead - Johnny - Particle Man - James Ensor - Los Angeles - Turn Around - Celebration - Don't Let's Start - Racist Friend - Horse With No Name - Tubthumping - Cloisonne - Crazy Train - Spoiler Alert - Crazy Train - Older - Alphabet of Nations - Old Pine Box - Ana Ng - Judy - Dump - Birdhouse - Withered Hope - Clap Your Hands - Battle for the Planet of the Apes - Mesopotamians Encore - Careful What You Pack - Band Intros - Guitar Encore 2 - Lie Still - Istanbul

This was definitely a "less talk, more rock" show with pretty limited banter.

Flans started the show by applying nicknames to several people in the crowd. "You, you in the hat. You're gonna be Rocky. And you, guy with the Ecstacy sticks, we're gonna call you Exey." There was a drunk guy behind me who was yelling that he wanted to be dubbed "drunk guy." He ended up being pretty obnoxious over the course of the night so maybe being drunk was not something he should have been so proud of.

Flans was going on about how incredibley unsuccessful the Venue Songs record was before Los Angeles and how they were playing the song to promote awareness of the album.

Flans held a dance contest during Celebration with the prizes being some dollar bin records (and the signed Join Us vinyl). There was a Rick Springfield album in honor of the JoCo song and Laurie Anderson's Big Science. And The Sin-sational Rusty Warren. One of the guys commented that they felt bad for Rusty Warren because that album hadn't gotten any cheers from the crowd. Then Flans went on this riff about Rusty Warren calling to Linnell to join her in the afterlife and Linnell was like, "Someday. Someday I will and you'll be waiting for me." (This actually had more to it and was far funnier than my retelling. Megan probably remembers better.)

There was some enthusiastic dancing going on in the crowd but I couldn't really have participated even if I had wanted to because I was so wedged in next to the backpack. I would have fallen over. I contented myself with singing along enthusiastically and being fascinated that Danny was singing Dan's back-up part in the song.

Flans had tweeted the AV Club people to remember that their cue was Don't Let's Start. And sure enough, as they did Racist Friend, the Av Club crowd could be seen massing in the wing, all with guitars.

Flans asked our pardon for a moment while they prepared the stage and the techs brought out a bunch of extra mics and positioned them around the stage. Then the giants crowd of AV Club staff flooded the stage. There must have been at least 20 of them, maybe more. And at least half of them had acoustic guitars. Flans explained that they were going to do something that they used to do a lot but they had realized that none of their current band members had ever participated in despite their long tenure with the band. They were going to have a large crowd of people all join them with guitars to play a two chord song, A Horse With No Name. Linnell was to sing and Flans conduct. Flans asked anyone with a smart phone to please take it out and film the next seven and a half minutes or so, which is probably why there are so many videos of it on YouTube. I, for once, used the video feature on my camera and captured the whole thing though the audio is a bit blown out due to my proximity to the speaker. I'll embed it here when I'm not writing on my phone.

They started to play and Linnell said he was gonna give everyone a minute to settle into the rhythm. Danny was standing on the other side of the stage demonstrating the strumming pattern for the folks that were struggling. And then Linnell started singing (with a cheat sheet) and we got to witness acoustic guitarmaggedon. On the "la-la-la" part Linnell told us all to sing along because we all knew the song. And it was a beautiful thing.

When they finished, Flans explained how they had come to do the Tubthumping video with the AV Club and said they were going to recreate it live for the people of Chicago one time only. And they did. And I don't think I have ever, in my entire life, been in the presense of so much completely unadulterated joy and youthful exuberance than during that one three minute song. Watching the AV Club staff on stage having the time of their lives screaming along (and this one guy on the end who was doing his best impression of a rock star) and Flans backing up to play with them and smacking a girl in the head. Flans and Danny and Linnell all bouncing up and down on the choruses like there were springs in the floor and Marty throwing his whole being into the drums. And more than anything else, looking back at the crowd and seeing hundreds and hundreds of people jumping up and down, pounding fists in the air and screaming "Ain't never gonna keep me down!" This is what I flew 1000 miles for a day to see and it was so powerfully emotional I felt like the Grinch on Christmas Day when his heart swelled ten times. It was so beautiful it hurt. Not gonna lie, I was watching someone elses's video of it the other morning and I there were tears rolling down my face.

The song finished and Flans thanked the AV Club and apologized to the girl he had whacked in the head.

When it came time for the Avatars I was really curious what they were gonna do without Dan. I was thoroughly wow'd when Danny produced a spot on cover of the guitar part of Crazy Train on the bass. He was tearing it up. Damn, that was cool.

Flans did the same schtick about Don Kirschner's Rock Concert live from London that he's been doing. Blue greeted us in a British accent. Green attempted to do the same but then commented that it sounded more Australian. They said they'd like to thank their sponsor and someone in the crowd yelled "BP!" Blue said yes, their sponsor was British Petroleum and made some jokes about wrecking the environment. Then he said, seriously they wanted to thank their sponsor Epic Fail Baloney Sandwiches. They then proceeded to sing the jingle for Epic Fail Baloney Sandwiches which was a pretty perfect reacreation on a radio jingle from the 60s. I'm sorry, I don't remember the exact lyrics (but I have it on video from Nashville). They also reprised the jingle at the end of Spoiler Alert. Blue also made a joke about his hat being a message for their sponsor.

When I saw Danny approach the keyboard at the beginning of the segment, I thought they were going to do Shoehorn with him on keyboard. But to my surprise he actually played Spoiler Alert on the keys which was really cool and which he must have put together ridiculously fast and without much practice time. Sounded great.

During the "cover my eyes" line, Flans put his hand over Blue's eyes and leaned his head back and then sang the rest of the song with Blue sideways on the screen as if he had reclined. Hehe.

We got more epic Crazy Train cover instead of Free Ride.

I was worried about Linnell playing Alphabet of Nations on the keyboard as he frequently botches it horribly but he did ok. Good job.

Flans made a joke about Old Pine Box being about a sad old burnout that was funny but which I don't really recall.

Flans asked if they could take a 20 second break before We Live in a Dump and brought out the giant Join Us poster. He did a sales pitch that involved trying to convince people to buy it for their dorms. He said it was so thick sound couldn't penetrate it and demonstrated by holding it between himself and the mic and then rubbing it against the mic to make a scratchy static sound. Then he said the poster was thicker than most dorm room walls. "We've changed the name of the wifi to 'We Can Hear You Having Sex.'" Then he actually gave the poster away to a guy in the crowd which he hasn't been doing because he keeps saying they are too expensive. One of the techs ran out and handed the guy the plastic sleeve for the poster. Flans told him good luck getting it back into it.

Sad as am that Dan wasn't there, I was pleased to see that after all this time, Danny finally got a mic to sing the "ba-da-da-daa-da" part of We Live in a Dump.

Added to Marty's pre-Clap Your Hands resume: the next liberatarian candidate for president of the United States.

Vicious ape vesus people battle. Flans actually divided the crowd down the middle physically, creating an aisle down the middle of the room. Both sides fought valiently but the people still one. They were added by an intensely good bass and drum riff on the first round and Danny picking up the drum sticks to play with Marty on the second round.

Flans said they were with the apes but he loved the people too. Linnell said it was just the apes for him. Then he said something that included fuck, that I have completely forgotten but it was so funny I cackled.

They did the Alternate Intro again for the band, with the guys all making awful noises. Flans was rubbing his guitar against the mic stand again. But Marty won this contest, flipping around his kit like a nutcase playing every noise he could think of. By the end it looked like he was just hitting things like he was trying to make sure he had whacked every possible item at least once.

Flans also thanked the crew and thanked JoCo for joining them for the acoustic guitarmaggedon. I hadn't noticed that he had but I guess he did.

Then a lovely performance of The Guitar. Flans had Danny do the solo and had him play for what seemed like forever while leading us in endless rounds of "The bass is Danny Weinkauf."

The drunk guy behind me managed to stomp on my ankle while jumping up and down during The Guitar. He didn't even notice but I was near tears. No wonder too, since, examining it outside the entire left side was purple and swollen. Asshole.

Mr. Brunette came out and placed new setlists before the second encore. Hardly seemed necessary since they had already gone off set and only played one of the songs written on that set during that encore anyway but whatever. We clapped along with Lie Still, Little Bottle and then they closed it out with Istanbul.

Marty ran back out to pass out sticks. Then to my surprise, Danny came back out to say hi to us. He was moving down our group smacking hands with everyone (except Megan, sorry Meg) and the folks reaching in behind us and said thanks for coming. Then he looked back at me grinning maniacly (as Megan described it) and said "What are you doing here?" "We flew," I said, making airplane wings with my arms (I have a tendency to do embarassingly goofy things like this when talking to him for some reason). And he just shook his head at me and laughed.

Victor came out with setlist and only had three in his hand and handed them all out before he got to me. But he looked at me and held up a finger like "hang on, I'll be back with yours" and went back stage. I could see him rummaging around in some drawers in a cabinet and couldn't figure out what he was doing. But he came back out with some more setlists and one tucked under his arm. He gave out the others then handed me the folded one under his arm. And I opened it up to find, not only the two pages of the set from Chicago, but also, every setlist from the entire week of the tour we had missed. I looked back up at him with a shocked grin but he had already moved on. I hope he saw how surprised and delighted I was. Because he remembered to the exact show when we had left, to the point that he even included the Cleveland set because he had not given us that one (we got it from Mr. Brunette). I was completely stunned. Victor is the best. THE BEST.

Megan went to buy a hoodie and we waited around for her. We saw the aftermath of what turned out to be a successful marriage proposal up by the stage.

We went outside to wait where we could avoid the crowd. While we were standing out on the sidewalk, Danny came up behind me and said said "thanks again for coming." It happened so fast and I was so caught of guard I don't think I even replied, just smiled at him foolishly. I'm actually not even sure I knew how he was there except I think he must have put a hand on my shoulder or something as he passed or I would have missed it completely.

And we said goodbye to all out friends and went back to our hotel for 3 hours of sleep before another 6:30am flight. The entire thing seems a little dream-like but is not something I will soon (or ever) forget. Worth the trip a thousand times over.