Basking In The Under Glow Of The Beachland Ballroom

September 16, 2011 - Beachland Ballroom - Cleveland, OH

If ever a show was begging to be recorded to preserve the awesome banter for posterity, it was this one. Too bad I don't have that capability. I shall be endlessly sorry about that. The raps were so extensive and chock-a-block full of quotable lines that there is no possible way this recap will be able to do them justice. My memory just isn't faithful enough for the task. But I'll give it the old college try.

We were the second group in line at the Beachland, behind the very same people who were in front of us at this venue when we were here two years ago: an enthusiastic mother and son (who had another person with them this time). It was amusing both to recognize them and note that the son has grown about two feet since I last saw him.

We got to hear snippets of a lot of the soundcheck and got a teaser of the new stuff they added into the set tonight. In particular, Experimental Film was blasting out the door of the venue when I opened the door to my car in the parking lot.

I remembered the stage in the Beachland being small, but apparently I did not recall just how small it was. I took a space by the stage which I thought would afford me a pretty perfect view of Marty and Danny, with a slight angle on Linnell and Flans whenever he chose to wander over. But I failed to account for just how tiny the stage frontage was and the keyboard ended up being positioned immediately in front of me so that I had the direct-eye-contact-with-Linnell view instead. Not complaining really, it just wasn't what I was expecting.

I had two young kids to my right who were dropped off by the stage and left there to bop with all the taller adults around them. And thanks to some email prompting from Megan, I finally got to meet Valerie and her friend Zack who were immediately behind me. Yay!

Jonathan Coulton and the New All Star Band repeated their set from Rochester. Most of the banter was also largely recycled. One humorous exception was when Jonathan went to introduce the name of the next song and someone in the crowd yelled that it was "Sucker." Jonathan accused him of reading it off the setlist (which the guy had since he could clearly see Brandon's) and told the guy he had twarted him because that was only the setlist abreviation and he didn't know that the real title was Sucker Punch. He told the guy it was a nice try but he got no points, then he deducted 10 points from him for cheating.

When JoCo thanked his band at the end of the set, he pointed out that Brandon also had CDs for sale at the merch booth and someone in the crowd yelled "Black Lotus!" Jonathan then put on this really cute excited fanboy voice and said "I know! I can't believe I'm playing with Black Lotus!" It was cute. Jonathan then realized when he went to introduce Christian that he had been obscuring him from view the entire set and stepped aside to show everyone what he looked like.

Techs swarmed the stage like locusts breaking down equipment. It almost seemed that there were too many bodies trying to do the job and many of them didn't have enough instruction on what stayed and what went.

Inexplicably, given that they have not had the confetti cannons in use at any point yet this tour, the stage was littered with pieces of confetti. And it more of it kept materializing, seemingly out of nowhere, in the air throughout the night. It was kind of bizarre, like the place was haunted by ghosts of confetti explosions past.

They moved the keyboard over, which was the point at which I realized how terribly obstructed my view was. The drum kit became completely invisible. The security person working for the venue had said outside that they were enforcing a 3 song limit on photography and I was convinced every picture I took was going to be a close up of Linnell behind his mic with a yellow light behind a head. But that didn't end up being the case and my view, though obstructed, was surprisingly good. And they didn't end up enforcing the photo limit at all.

Gary and I noted shortly before the show started that the techs had neglected to plug the sustain pedal into the keyboard. The chord was dangling from the mic stand unconnected. I joked about having to plug it in for them and speculated about whether it went in the right or left pedal port on the keyboard. I did not realize how nearly prophetic this joke was until much later.

Gary also noticed and pointed out that Marty's new drum head on the bass drum has once again had it's space invadered applied so it does not look so barren and sad. Thanks goodness.

When TMBG hit the stage, Flans got the silliness going right from the start. He stepped up to the mic with an affected snooty accent and greeted us all. "It's always a pleasure to play where ever we are right now and tonight will be no exception." He said they had changed the style of music they played since the last time they had visited and he hoped we were prepared for that. "We are going to start things off with something from our middle period." And they busted into Birdhouse.

Flans was all over the place playing The Guitar. He's been doing this thing in the second chorus when he sings the word "guitar" where he just holds the note for as long as he possibly can. Linnell was doing that great hopping up and down thing while playing that he does. And I discovered with delight, that while I couldn't see the drums at all, I could see Marty over the keyboard so no one was completely blocked from view (except Danny but only when he chose to hide behind Linnell).

It was really exciting to see that a huge number of the people in the front with me were able to sing along faithfully through When Will You Die and Celebration.

Dan left the stage at this point signaling that the next song was one he doesn't play, and he got an extended break because the next song was preceeded by one of the funniest banter breaks yet on this tour.

Flans started by giving away the signed Join Us vinyl to the little girl next to me. She looked like she didn't quite know what to do with it. He asked her to hold it for him. Until the end of time. I think she thought he might still ask for it back the way she was holding it.

Then Flans commented on the aura of the neighhood they were in. He attributed this to the proximity to the glow of the Beachland Ballroom. Linnell said that the Beachland actually moved around the city shining its under glow on every neighborhood it stopped in. Flans said he had visited two different nearby used record stores and that both had had multiple cats. And that all the cats were really friendly. He said frequently used record store cats are not friendly but these ones were cuddly. At which point Linnell broke in to point out that he had only just realized that Flans meant that kind of cats. "You thought I was breaking out the jazz lingo?" said Flans. "I'm talking about kitty cats." Linnell then joked that the term cuddle had tipped him off to what kind Flans meant, but then went off on how the "cats" working in the record stores could have been cuddly too.

When they finally got around to playing the next song, which turned out to be Don't Let's Start, Linnell did something almost impossibly cute and funny. At the end of the line "The words I'm singing now mean nothing more than meow to an animal," he mimed a cat scratching at an invisible something and quietly meowed. I will never hear a person making a cat meow sound again without being reminded of this.

Flans exibited some more spastic guitar playing on this song, going so far as to remove his guitar and play it sidewise in front of him. And Danny did some nice spinning around in circles near the end.

I was forced, by virtue of not being able to see the drums, to actually watch someone other than Marty play Judy which was a good reminder that the rest of the song is really damn good too.

I think it was before Experimental Film, that Linnell noted that they had three songs in a row on the setlist in the key of G. Flans then interrupted him to comment on the guy who was watching the show from behind the speaker column on the left side of the stage. "I saw a Patti Smith concert like that once. I'm still hearing it." Flans then pretended to play a game of peekaboo with the guy.Then he apologized to Linnell for interupting him.

Linnell said that he had been finished with his thought but Flans told him to continue and Linnell explained again that he had noticed that there were 3 songs in a row in G. Danny, behind him said "I know." Linnell then started mocking him. "I just noticed something and Danny's all 'I already know that.'" (He said, putting on a irritated voice when impersonating Danny). And Flans jumped in also in Danny's voice. "This is boring. All these songs in G." Danny cracked up.

Flans explained that it was deliberate. He pointed out that The Guitar, When Will You Die and Celebration are all in A so there was a pattern. "Seems like intelligent design to me. A supernatural hand came down and put the songs in that order." Linnell kept trying to point out that the letters spelled something but Flans kept interupting him. Eventually Linnell just said if you write out the letters on your hand they spell something. Flans said they spell "You lost your keys in the club." Linnell said that actually they spell "AAAGGG." I know there were more totally awesome bits of dialogue here but this is as close as I can put back together.

The video projection for Experimental Film was an awesome segment involving a lot of close ups of William Allen White's head. I haven't heard this song in quite a long time and it was lovely to hear it again. I like singing the "yeah"s along with Flans and Dan.

Old Pine Box made it back into the setlist again finally after several days of being on the list but crossed out.

Linnell announced for those following along, that the next song was in F# and that the word now spelled "AAAGGGF Sharp."

Then I had the personal highlight of my evening in Doctor Worm. At the beginning of the song I was on the receiving end of this completely brilliant smile from Danny that lasted so long I had to look away cause I was getting giddy. And I looked over at Dan, towering over me on the keyboard instead. And he was just starting that first really long back-up note he sings in the first chorus. And to my complete shock, while still singing and with one hand still on the keyboard, he met my gaze, smiled around his note and waved at me with his other hand (the super cute kind of wave like a little kid waving bye-bye too). I died right there on the spot. I must make clear that Dan has never, ever, in all the time I've been following these guys showed any sign that he recognizes me so to have that moment finally come out of the blue mid-back-up vocal was...well let's say its a wonder I remained breathing.
I was also standing there trying to remember if Dan needed the sustain pedal for the song because it still wasn't plugged in. Turned out he did, because he started gesturing to the guys back stage that it wasn't working. I tried to catch his eye again to indicate it wasn't plugged in but he wasn't looking down. He gave it another try and shook his head at them again. Then he reached round the back trying to feel for the plug. At which point I picked up the chord that was still dangling from the mic stand and handed it to him to plug in. He mouthed "thanks" and we shared a good chuckle about it. He did have to give it one more tweak to get it working but by the time Victor came out to check it after the song it was all fixed.

They busted into The Famous Polka next and I gave up my resolve to follow the rules about not taking any more pictures. Everyone around me was using cameras the whole time and the pose Linnell and Flans were making as they played the song was just too much for me. Unfortunately, I didn't get the camera out fast enough to capture it.

What I hadn't really thought about until Flans apologized to Dan afterward was that Dan tackled the song on the keyboard, and performed a totally impressive Polka solo on the keys. Flans said afterward that he hadn't thought when he was putting together the set, that Dan would be on the wrong instrument but Dan waved it off as no big deal and indeed it wasn't because you never would have known he didn't play the song on keys every day.

They sailed through You Probably Get That A Lot and The Alphabet of Nations, which featured some classic spastic Linnell hand gestures.

Then Flans brought out the giant Join Us poster and did his riff on how it wasn't selling and he was reduced to this stunt of showing off how truly giants it is on stage. He recommended it as the best dorm room decoration again or suggested you could just walk around campus carrying it. Then he did this really nerdy voice. "Hey, guys check out my poster. Yeah, I was at the show."

During Cloisonne, Flans sat down on the side of the drum riser and shortened the mic stand to be the right height and sang most of the song seated there with his guitar.

Linnell commented that they now had a run of songs on the setlist starting with C as they followed Cloisonne with Cyclops Rock. They kept the high volume rock going with Withered Hope, then Flans started the explanations for Battle for the Planet of the Apes.

I admit, I missed most of the explanation because I got totally distracted by the goofball antics going on at the back of the stage. Dan had climbed up behind Marty on the drum riser and picked up a stick which he used to start banging on the cowbell and then the floor tom in sequence. Marty got a kick out of this and pulled out another stick to give to Danny. Danny didn't look as enthusiastic about playing but he started a beat on the cymbal, eventually switching to a lazy beat on the under side of it. I spend most of this time on my knees trying to get a picture of them under the keyboard.

I was back on Team People again tonight. Flans did an extra round of the battle than usual, but the people still won. Flans admitted that the people always win but he neglected to mention that they hadn't the night before.

I couldn't hear any of the intro Blue Avatar did to their segment this time over Crazy Train, and the people cheering. Pretty sure it was another intro to Don Kircshner's Rock Concert. Much of this puppet show was centered on Green repeatedly shouting, "I can't feel my arm." Blue eventually pointed out that all he was was an arm and Green said yes, and he couldn't feel it. Meanwhile, Blue was obsessed with the fact that his image on the screen was visible on the camera to Green's left. He kept wanting to know who that guy following him around was. There was some great back and forth on both of these topics that I can't replicate.

Never Knew Love also found it's way back into this set. I found that I was actually hearing Linnell's backing "love" not through the mic but straight out of his mouth since he wasn't singing in the mic.

They tucked We Live In A Dump in. Then Flans started to introduce Dan for Istanbul. Dan held up a finger that he needed a minute as Victor was fixing something on the monitor on his back but Flans didn't see him so he had to do it again. Then he went to start playing and immediately dropped his guitar pick and held up his finger again before going to get another one.

Flans started to do a mock sponsor announcement. "We'd like to reminded everyone that Dan Miller uses..." He obviously intended Dan to fill in the brand name of pick but Dan just held up his new one and said "Picks." It was terribly funny.

Another ridiculously good Istanbul from Dan, followed by an excellent rest of the song from everyone, particularly Marty at the end. I missed it, but Gary says at the end of the song, Marty blew Dan a kiss, which I saw him do at Toad's so it doesn't surprise me. I did see Dan and Danny's reaction which was gut busting laughter.

Flans had the guys do another crazy band intro with the weird sound effects but this time he used their real names. He announced what noise he was going to use before he started which was some kind of pedal with an outer space effect. Then he introduced himself first and played his wailing outer space noise. "On the guitar, it's Flansy!" Marty selected some sound effects from the electronic pad. Danny made a pretty cool noise I have no way to describe. Linnell put some sort of synth on the keyboard and was just playing some of the keys. And Dan did something that involved lots of sliding on the strings. It sounds truly terrible in an awesome sort of way.

Then they totally surprised me by closing the set with We're The Replacements. Damn, that is a fun song live.

They came back for the first encore and Linnell went on this long riff on the next song being about a band of half people/half apes all named Mickey Dolenz. Linnell said, "Fucking chimps couldn't even play music." He went on about what a waste of money it was. Flans said all they did was rip your face off. Linnell added in the hospital bills and then went on about the wasted money and this great show they had planned that they couldn't do because the chimps couldn't play. It was really bizarre and hilareous. And all led up to The Mesopotamians.

We got a little quiet moment with Careful What You Pack, before they wrapped up the first encore with a very highly energized Johnny.

Linnell, Flans and Marty came back for Lie Still, Little Bottle. The highlight of this was Flans getting the crowd to start chanting "apes" and "people" to the rhythm at the end of the song. Then the Dans returned and they finished out with Fingertips. Flans just sang "oooo" instead of doing a Heart Attack ad lib, but we did some really soulful swaying for Mysterious Whisper. And Linnell really seemed to get a kick out of faking out the crowd with the giant pause before singing between the "and" and "I" in Darkened Corridors. Epic guitar and drum finish and we're out.

Gary snagged our setlist from Mr. Brunette as Victor was otherwise occupied. I then completely failed to get Danny to sign my copy of Join Us as I was attempting to do it remains woefully incomplete in its signatures. And that was it.

Now today we make the saddest drive of the week as the band continues west and we must return east. Stupid real life. But we'll see them again in Chicago on Friday, and rejoin them through the end of this leg in Nashville, so there is lots more touring to come. With any luck, I'll have pictures up by the end of the night. And if you're seeing the boys at any of the stops in the next week, tell them I say hi!