You Did It!

July 30, 2011 - The Stone Pony - Asbury Park, NJ

Oh, The Stone Pony. Always an adventure. Never a dull moment.

Our troops, myself, Gary, Megan, Anna, John and Rebecca, piled into J&R's mini-van for the trek across New Jersey to Asbury Park about quarter to one. And of course we got stuck in traffic. Because this entire weekend was just one never ending series of traffic jams. But even with the traffic we still arrived about five hours before doors, which is just something you have to do at The Stone Pony. And we joined Heather and Jim and TDK and Paul already in the tiny courtyard entrance of the club.

The nice thing about waiting here was that the building provided shade and, until the sound check started, the door to the venue was open with lovely air conditioning blowing out. This was a very different scene in Asbury Park than when we were here last year. It being a month later and sweltering hot, the place was packed with beach goers, instead of virtually deserted as it was last June. The water park across the street was seeing a lot of action and the beach was littered with tourists and locals alike. Part way through the afternoon an enormous biker gang rode into town and could be seen wandering the sidewalks in highly weather-inappropriate leather and denim ensembles featuring grammatically incorrect  patches. They were so incongruous with our line of band geeks it was almost comical. 

One of the entertaining things about The Stone Pony is that there really is no "backstage." I assume there is some kind of Green Room somewhere in the venue but the only access to the stage is from the sidewalk. So by virtue of our early arrival we got see a lot of the band arrive at the venue. I took a trip off to the facilities only to return and be told that I had missed Linnell's arrival. Apparently he tried the wrong door first and it was locked and he started walking towards the group with great trepidation as he thought he was going to have to pass through them to enter the club. But he discovered the accessible stage door before he got there, much to his relief I assume. Shortly after I returned Marty showed up with a truly enormous backpack with drum sticks poking out of the side pockets. Danny must have snuck past us at some point too as we could soon hear the bass warming up and tuning inside along with the drums and keyboard, though no one ever saw him.

There was a lot of pre-sound check warm up of drums, keyboard, accordion, bass clarinet and bass. The most entertaining part was the Kaoss Pad test. We heard a series of typical Kaoss Pad squealing and scratching effects then suddenly a blastingly loud "Wicked Little Critta!" erupted through the door. I think we just about died laughing. Flans and JoCo arrived together in a fashion that implied they had car pooled to the venue. We found this idea rather adorable as we imagined them sitting in traffic talking shop.

Our group rapidly expanded over the next couple of hours to include Kathy, Marci, Melanie, Stacy, Steve, Q and his girlfriend Bonnie. Other friends, Jason, Mel and her mom, and sundry others that I know by sight if not by name gathered further down the line. It was a regular old party!

Before the band started sound check a venue employee came out and shut the door to the club. So much for our nice air conditioned breeze. We then spent much of the rest of the afternoon directing people to the entrance to the bar and the building down the street where they could buy tickets. The shut door didn't much affect our ability to hear sound check. It was still pretty clear through the walls of the building and it was a pretty exciting sound check. They ran through most of the new songs. We waited expectantly to hear if Flans would get the words to Judy right. He did not. Then they ran it again and he did. We all cheered. Then they started playing Old Pine Box and it took me a minute before my brain caught up and went "Holy Shit! They are playing Old Pine Box!"I guess it took a little of the surprise and excitement away from hearing the actual premiere at the show but it was still pretty cool. And later we got to hear JoCo warming up a couple of his songs though I don't remember specifically which ones.

A little while after the sound check I looked down the line and realized that Flans was walking towards us handing Join Us stickers to everyone in line. This was a kind of incredible thing because he went all the way down the line, giving a sticker to each person and thanking everyone for coming, and no one accosted him. No one tried to get him to sign anything or pose for pictures. Everyone was completely cool about it. At least as far as I could see. He totally surprised Anna who had headphones on and didn't realize he was there until he was sticking a sticker in her face. Actually, I got the impression a lot of people didn't actually realize it was Flans until after he had handed them the sticker. It was just so unexpected.

When he reached our group he had to walk into our crowd to hand stickers to everyone in the doorway of the club. Heather got the best response and she said "thank you" and commented that this sticker wasn't wet, referring to the one she had gotten the day before that got soaked. Flans was totally confused and didn't get the reference at all and said,  "It goes on your car." Then he tried to open the locked door to the club. And realized he was going to have to walk back past the entire line again to get back in. I think he actually asked if any of us could open the door for him and someone said, sorry, no, they had closed it for sound check. It was a truly weird, odd and humorous exchange. And he made it all the way back past the crowds without being bothered either. And then I checked my phone and there was a steady stream of four or five consecutive Facebook posts from people squeeing about how they had just gotten a sticker from Flansburgh. It was pretty cool.

At some point while we were waiting Scott and a tech I did not recognize came out to move their rental truck from in front of the venue and they hit a trash can, which dragged along the sidewalk several feet. It was amusing.

We spent a few minutes coordinating audience participation for When Will You Die. I had decided that everyone needed to high five on the "You'll high five" line, but discussions were had on exactly which beat we would high five on and who would be high fiving whom. It was serious business.

Shortly before we were let into the venue we saw Linnell, JoCo, Danny, Marty and his wife across the street heading off in search of dinner. Linnell was wearing long sleeves which was totally inexplicable in the 90 degree heat. Marty's wife was wearing a particularly nice hat. We amused ourselves for a while making up their dialogue about choosing a restaurant. Then we all had to shuffle ourselves into a single file line at the request of the venue staff, which was no easy task as there were about 12 of us in a clump at the front. 

Before the show, I had made a request that we go to the left of the stage rather than the right. We usually go right, but I have found lately that usually means I can't see Marty and Danny very well. And after Brooklyn, where I absolutely couldn't see Marty at all, I was rather determined to have a good view of him. We had also realized, standing outside, that our entire group was probably not going to fit in the front row. The stage just wasn't big enough. And we were right. I've been at a few shows where I looked down the stage and knew every single person from end to end of the front row. I think this is the first time I've ever looked down and realized I knew every person in the front two rows! 

We picked a spot just to the left of the keyboard that put me squarely in front of Danny, with a lovely view of Linnell and the world's most perfect view of Marty. Because the drums were raised a bit and off the the left, I kind of had to turn to my left for that view, but the entire kit was angled directly at my face. No cymbals in the way, absolutely clear shot. It was exactly what I wanted. Sadly, I did kind of give up any clear view of Dan in this position but I had a superb view of him in Brooklyn so it was an OK trade off. I do feel bad for all my buddies who ended up behind me. It occurred to me later that I should have offered to stand in the second row because I'm taller. But my selfish "must be near the stage" instincts kick in in these situations and I become the world's worst friend. Sorry, guys :-(

When we first went in, JoCo had his stuff laid out on the stage under the keyboard. Guitar, laptop, Zendrum. He has quite possibly the most low key setup ever on a stage. He can actually carry all of his equipment back off again in one trip.

We also noticed one of the enormous Join Us posters the band has been advertising for sale hung up on a short wall that divided the "back-stage" area by the door from the rest of the room. Those things are truly huge. I have since ordered one that should be heading my way. I am a little worried it might fall off the wall and suffocate me in my sleep, but that's a risk I will just have to take.

Jonathan Coulton took the stage with very little fanfare at just about 8 o'clock. He obviously had some fans in the crowd who had come to see him rather than TMBG. And there are quite a lot of us cross-over fans for whom this combination is the ultimate coup. I believe this is the accurate setlist.

The Future Soon - Shop Vac - Alone At Home - Good Morning, Tucson - Skullcrusher Mountain - Still Alive - Mr. Fancy Pants - Re: Your Brains

He didn't do a ton of inter-song banter. He made a pretty funny joke when introducing Alone at Home about the new album being produced by Flansburgh. "He's just this guy. He's in a band. You probably don't know him." Or something along those lines. He did the same spiel before Good Morning, Tucson about morning talk show hosts that I have seen him do before every performance of the song, explaining that the song is about what happens when one of them finally goes nuts. A truly impressive number of people in the venue sang along with Still Alive. Apparently even the non-JoCo fans in the room were Portal fans. 

He messed up Mr. Fancy Pants hilariously. During the final verse he hit the wrong button on the Zendrum and it started playing the entirely wrong beat. He yelled, "Shit!" and then totally cracked up. Then he told us to pretend that something had happened at the end of the song and just skipped the rest of the lyrics and finished the song. He said afterwards that the problem with buttons is that you can not un-press them. He asked us if we knew our part for Re: Your Brains and several people screamed so enthusiastically that he was a little taken aback. He had us sound check it, but it seemed that only about half the room knew what they were supposed to be doing. So he said "Now, that some of you have just learned it, let's try that again." Then he criticized us for singing too well, so we did one final check in true zombie voice. It sounded terrible. As it should. And after the song he left the stage with an exaggerated bow.

He actually came back on afterward to collect his stuff. He does this after all his own shows but I find it funny that he doesn't just let the techs collect it when he's out with TMBG. I'm sure they would. But maybe he's just too used to doing it himself.

The techs swarmed the stage to get ready for TMBG. I never did figure out who was doing sound this weekend, whether is was just Scott again or one of the other guys I didn't recognize. They had a new lighting guy with them, named David. I wasn't as impressed with his lighting work but it served it's purpose I guess. It was not super great for photography though. There was this bright yellow light that was perpetually behind the head of which ever band member was directly in front of me (usually Danny), and made it nearly impossible to get a picture that was focused without a creepy halo effect. 

The bass clarinet was brought out and positioned in its stand directly in front of us. We could have bent down and played it without needing to pick it up, it was that close. Many pictures were taken of it resting there. The best part was when Victor put it down, several people in our group whooped. And he looked at us like we'd gone insane, totally not getting the bass clarinet appreciation. 

After thinking for a while that there were no confetti cannons, we realized they were mounted over our heads on top of the speakers to the left and right of the stage. They were almost completely on their sides and looked like the confetti distribution would all be on the first few rows. But the big blizzard cannon was not present.

Setlists were brought out and I had to struggle not to look at the one that was put out on the side of the drum riser for Danny, because I could pretty clearly see most of it. I did peak a little but didn't see anything surprising. 

Follow-up conversations were had about high fiving and partners realigned based on who was standing next to each other. We decided it had to be done with outside hands rather than inside because we were all too close together. 

And finally the Sammy Intro started, the doors opened from the sidewalk and the band took the stage. Linnell went immediately for the bass clarinet and Danny for the keyboard which meant they were opening with Cloisonné. Flans welcomed us all to the show and pointed out the six foot tall Join Us poster off to the side of the stage. He said we were in luck because we could buy one only in Asbury Park and sell it on eBay for double the price. He mentioned the new album and introduced the first song off it.

The show started off with issues from this very first song and continued to have problems all night long. But instead of turning into a disaster it was all the mistakes and technical issues that led to the best jokes and made the show so great. Last year's Stone Pony show was pretty impossible to top, excellent banter-wise but this one gave it some strong competition. Maybe there is just something about The Stone Pony that makes for unique and wonderful shows. 

Marty's electronic drum pad was not working properly when he went to start the sound effects on the verse of Cloisonné. It took Victor two trips onto the stage to get it working. And Flans got the lyrics all confused, fudging the beginnings and ends of words all through the Sleestak section. Linnell's improv at the end sounded more like a squealing dying goose than ever. Flans teased afterwards. "Beautiful music. Right here on the New Jersey shore, ladies and gentlemen. Home of class and sophistication. The New Jersey Shoreline. Keeping it classy."

Danny and Dan swapped places at the keyboard and Linnell moved off to the mic on the other side of the stage after carefully returning the bass clarinet to its stand in front of us (facing the other way this time). Flans said, "Here's another brand new song." Linnell added, "From our stuff. From our new thing."

And Dan started to play the opening notes of You Probably Get That A Lot. But stopped after just a few notes. And Linnell quipped, "And here's another one." Because Marty had also started playing and he isn't supposed to come in until after the introduction. Dan just stopped for a second with his head titled slightly in a "did I just hear that" kind of pose and then turned and gave Marty the most hilarious, adorable look of "what was that?" Because Marty never makes mistakes like that. In all the shows I have been to, I have never, NEVER seen Marty blow a start like that. JoCo has this running joke when Marty plays with him where he is perpetually trying to catch Marty screwing up and it never happens. Because Marty just doesn't make mistakes. And I think Dan was seriously amused to have caught him making one. Marty on the other hand was not amused with himself. He kind of shook his head at Dan and the look he gave him was totally "Just keep going. Do NOT make a thing out of this." And I felt bad for laughing because Marty was clearly mortified at blowing the song, but the look on Dan's face was just perfect. In the whole show, I think that five seconds at the beginning of this song was my very favorite part and I have watched Q's video of this repeatedly just to see the exchange again. It just makes me giggle.

They played You Probably Get That A Lot (correctly this time) straight into The Guitar. Flans started the beginning then stopped playing while facing Marty and just let Marty carry the beat for a few bars while he grinned maniacally. Until Danny came in with the first iconic bass line. It kind of seemed like Flans was taunting Marty, trying to get him to crack but he didn't. It was funny and a little bizarre. Flans let us do most of the singing again, standing no where near the mic for most of choruses. This ends up being a pretty beautiful thing in my opinion. But it amuses me how half the crowd sings "Is it Jim?" and the other half sings "Is it Dan?" And a few people fill in Flans' typical "I don't think so" on the second line.

I assume because Linnell got the solo on The Future of Sound last time, Danny got the solo this time, let by some very humorous chanting from Flans. This mostly consisted of saying "Danny Weinkauf on the bass" repeatedly in a very goofy voice. Then he led us in a chant of "When I say Danny you say Danny" which mostly led to people just going "Danny, Danny, Danny, Danny" for a few measures. Linnell ended the whole song on some very dissonant keyboard notes.

Flans: "The Stone Pony, where dreams are made. The Stone Pony parking lot, where dream are destroyed."

Flans said they were excited to be back at The Stone Pony and that he could now see where the road crew had taken all their guitars (in reference to all the guitars hanging on the wall.) He said they had one song about The Stone Pony but they were working on a second one right now. He asked the guys if they were ready. "That makes four of you." I have heard The Stone Pony venue song more than any other but it's always extra special when heard in it's home. "Just like we rehearsed it," Flans declared after the song. "Just like we rehearsed it. As if we rehearsed it, ladies and gentlemen."

Linnell left the stage and Flans said he had just told him to "do some talking." But he didn't know what to say. Someone in the crowd yelled "How's your mom doing?" Flans turned this into a great "You mom" joke. "How's my mom doing? You wanna take this outside buddy? I'll tell you how your mom's doing." Linnell came back at this point (minus the long sleeve shirt he had had on over his T-shirt) and said "Ohhhhhh" with great exclamation. Flans declared that was enough of the banter with the audience.  He also pointed out that Linnell's "ohhh" had reminded him of some performer who used to have "Ohhh" as his catch phrase. Linnell provided the guy's name which was Paulie something, but I didn't catch the last name.  This ended up being a recurring joke through the rest of the show.

Flans then said that they were moving beyond the fourth wall and breaking the fifth wall with their confetti cannon array because the one on his left seemed to be pointed at them. He then noticed that the inflatable parrot from the previous night's show was in the crowd and said he recognized it. The people with the parrot cheered. Linnell said, "He didn't say he liked it." Then another "Ohhhhh." Flans said they didn't want to go waving things in front of them because they were easily distracted and the parrot people yelled that they had only come because Flans had told them to (they were the section of the crowd Flans has invited to The Stone Pony in Brooklyn).

They went straight into Turn Around out of this banter. This was the point at which I noticed that Linnell's voice sounded really weird. I was watching one of the other guys and actually had to look back to make sure it was still him singing. We later deduced that he was sick and the weird voice was a result of him being super stuffed up. It made for a very interesting vocal effect. Some people off to our left decided to provide the backing vocal on the bridge singing "round, round" at the appropriate points. But they did it in such high pitched voices they sounded like cats meowing and it ended up being really silly sounding. 

I believe this was the point at which Linnell had put down the accordion, only to have to pick it back up again when he realized what they were playing. Flans welcomed Dan to the keyboard and they started Puppet Head. I know several people in the crowd who were hearing this live for the first time and were very excited. We all expected them to play it in Brooklyn since they were performing at the site of the video but they didn't even have the accordion with them (possibly due to the rain). So it was very good they included it here.

Linnell asked what song would they play next as if it was great mystery. And they started Birdhouse. Linnell seemed particularly amused by all the people screaming "who watches over you." On the guitar solo he yelled, "I'm talking to you guys!"

With the last notes of Birdhouse still sounding Danny started up the bass riff of Spy. I'm not sure I've ever seen them play this without Stan. In fact, I'm pretty sure I haven't. Flans screamed terrifyingly at the end. Linnell began conducting the band and the audience only to be paused by Flans who asked David, the lighting guy, to stop making the lights flip around because it was too confusing. So he turned them off. So they had to ask him to turn them back on. Linnell conducted us for a minute more then pointed over to Flans, passing off conducting duties. Flans' expression at this point was hysterical as he looked alarmed and kept pointing at himself while making insane noises with his guitar. Then he moved over to our side of the stage and pointed at himself some more making total outer space noises on the guitar before bringing the audience and the band back into the mix. He didn't drag it out too long, but oh man, was it funny while it lasted.

I have no idea at what point in the show it was but somewhere, Danny, who was wearing a long sleeved shirt, despite it being quite warm in the room, decided to wet a towel with water from his water bottle to wipe his face. Which was somewhat normal I suppose. But I did think his decision to do so with the towel laying over a pile of wires and the bottom of cymbal stands on the drum riser was a little ill advised. All this show needed was a little accidental electrocution.

Also in the category of "not sure when it happened," Gary noted that Scott appeared on the side of the stage at one point and took a picture of Marty from behind. Wonder where that ended up?

The band broke into Free Ride and Flans scrambled to put down his guitar and man the puppet cam. He turned the camera on us and declared that he could see Bon Jovi and Rip Taylor in the crowd. "Happy Birthday, Rip Taylor. You're 200 years old." Blue Avatar declared it was an honor to be performing for so many people with fake IDs. "Ohhhh!" said Green Avatar. Blue introduced them as Rebekah Brooks and Rupert Murdoch. "Ohhhh!" said Green Avatar. (He was really having fun with this gag.) Blue said they were here to destroy our country.

"It is our pleasure to serve you. And we want to remind everybody that we are selling some official Avatars of They merchandise down the street at the Greek Diner. Every hat comes with a free complimentary cup of coffee. I wish I had hands to explain it better."

Blue said TMBG had been kind enough to let them perform one of their new songs. "A mistake they wont repeat," said Green. Blue said they would be hiding backstage after the show from their whipping. 

Blue said he had to smoke another menthol cigarette. Green said he did not. "That's how advanced I am." I believe this was meant as a reference to the natural deepening of his voice caused by his cold. Then Linnell totally broke character and said he just wanted to point out that the tape had come off of the camera. Not sure what tape he was referring to, but it seemed to be the tape that marked the edge of the camera view as he then tested out exactly where the edge of the screen was. I think Flans pointed out that it was still there he just couldn't see it. Blue criticized, "Keep your mouth moving, Rupert." Rupert claimed it wasn't Rupert talking but someone else. "It's Robert Siegel of NPR." Green said he was feeling very relaxed. Blue said this was part of their "rope-a-dope" routine. Green said "yes, it is" in his Robert Siegel voice. He then suggested that he could be Robert Siegel and Blue could be Noah Adams. Blue said he was Noah Adams and introduced Spoiler Alert doing a Noah Adams impression. This may have been funnier if you, like me, spent many of your formative childhood years listening to NPR in the car with your parents.

At the end of the song to fill in for the lack of the "death flute" that ends the recording, Green yelled "Ohhh" and and then said, "Robert Siegel" in his Robert Siegel voice. And at the very end as the audience was clapping Blue suddenly riffed into a line from Where Do They Make Balloons? singing "New Jersey has it's malls" in this total sing-song. This had Danny cracking up and sharing a total WTF face with Dan, but it seemed afterward that none of my friends had even noticed the line. No one remembered it happening when I mentioned it afterward and I thought I was going crazy until Rebecca realized it was in one of her videos. 

Marty finished the end of the Free Ride exit music with a little drum riff on his own which had Flans teasing him. "Mr. Marty Beller, ladies and gentlemen. The undisputed King of the Drums." Flans asked the audience how many people were actually from the area and a few people cheered. He commented that it was less than half the crowd. Someone said they had traveled here, which Flans repeated. Someone else said, "We traveled here for you, Flansy!" Flans said, "We traveled here for you too."

Linnell:  "We got paid actually. It's not quite the same."

Flans: "It's a commitment."

Linnell: "No, I know...it's just.... lot of traffic. Grumpy, driving here."

Someone asked if they had come by chopper. Flans said they had left the chopper at home. My friend Mel yelled, "At least you're not Chris Christie." Flans said, "We are not Chris Christie." Then he started to sing Meet James Ensor. But he messed up the third line and stopped. "It was the Chris Christie think that messed me up. I was thinking about his medical records. I'm not going to release them no matter what happens." Linnell suggested he could substitute Chris Christie for James Ensor in the song. Flans said no quite vehemently. More rounds of "Ohhhhh!" Flans said he wasn't trying to get political. "I'm just trying to be evil. Big difference." Then he started the song again. And messed up in the exact same spot in the exact same way. But this time he just kept going. Poor Flansy. There was some difficulty in the guitar solo near the end too but I'm not sure what the issue was.

Afterward Linnell started speculating on whether Chris was the nickname for Christie. Like his name was actually Robert Christie and he went by Chris like Ozzy Osborne. Flans pointed out that people call him Flansy Flansburgh and that that was the problem with nicknames. Flans announced they had so many songs they didn't know how to play for us. Multiple people started shouting requests. Linnell said that if we wanted to throw them off their game, this was the perfect night. "Say some weird shit and creep us out. Wreck the show. Wreck the show and then live with yourself. And then live with yourself." At which point Flans started up a chant of "Wreck the show, wreck the show." But then he said it was too late. Linnell said, "You can't do that. We did that." Flans muttered something about keeping the show fresh and always wanting to do a memorable show at The Stone Pony and then introduced Old Pine Box. During the banter prior to the song, Flans had taped a cheat sheet of lyrics to Linnell's setlist for himself. This blew up in the air while they were talking and I was worried it would fail to serve it's purpose, but Linnell noticed and secured it with his water bottle.

Two very funny things happened during the bridge of the song. The first was that Linnell sneezed in the middle of a line. And then he stepped back for a second to recover and came back in to sing the next line and sang the wrong lyric. And he stepped back again just shaking his head. It was incredibly amusing. 

They transitioned straight into Istanbul with Dan successfully executing his solo without issue this time. They only did one fake ending. And started Never Knew Love almost immediately after. Flans finally got the verses straight this time. He must have been practicing. Linnell wasn't doing the backing vocal, but Q was providing it for him off to my left. This seemed to amuse Linnell quite a bit. 

They busted into Cyclops Rock next. And it was going swimmingly. Until Flansburgh started singing the chorus over what should have been the end of the verse. He stopped the guys and Linnell started talking about how cool it sounded and saying they should play it that way all the time. He was really impressed by how well it had worked and was saying that was the true craft of song writing right there. Flans said, "People this doesn't just happen. This is 30 years of professional work." Flans then suggested they try performing two songs at the same time.

Flans said, "I think I know what I did wrong. I put the song in the set. No, no. Just kidding." And then he mimed shooting himself in the head while making an exploding noise.

Linnell said it was something to think about for the next show. Then he commented that the band was completely poker faced. "Didn't any of you guys think it was cool?" Danny said yes. Linnell was like, "Danny did. He was listening."

Flans: "I think on a musical level it was cool. On a refund level.."

Linnell: "It was uncool. Meaning their wont be a refund. That's the uncool part."

Flans: "There is no make-up date. This show is strictly rain or shine, people. We've performed in this room while it was raining... in this room."

Linnell referenced playing with a 50 gallon trash barrel on the stage. Flans tried to get them back on track. Linnell said he had two choices of how to proceed. Flans started doing some backwards singing, then decided to start again from the top. He said he was going to play the guitar louder so that if there were any accidents no one would notice. And they made it through the song. Yay!

Flans: "We're moving out of the earn as you learn portion of the show, ladies and gentlemen and back to the professional portion.

Linnell commented that someone in the crowd had said "You did it!" His impression of the person saying this was quite priceless. "I feel really competent now. I did it. I played a song."

They started She's An Angel with some minimal electronic noises. And played straight from that into Particle Man. Linnell riffed at the beginning as he changed keys. "And back up to E again. And back down to C." Not sure what he was doing but it was goofy. This Particle Man featured an especially entertaining bridge.

Linnell: "Person Man"

*Audience starts clapping*

"Don't clap along."

*Audience claps for another couple beats*

"Ohhhh."

*Some more lyrics*

"They have a fight."

Flans: *Singing in falsetto* "They have a fight."

Linnell: "Triangle wins."

Flans: *In a very quiet falsetto* "Triangle wins."

Linnell: "They have a fight."

Flans: "I said triangle wins."

Linnell: "And you know that the end is always the same guy wins."

Flans: "I already said he wins."

Linnell: "It's never different from night to night."

Flans: "Look at the final page of the book. There's a picture of Triangle Man.... flipping you the bird."

Linnell: "I'm almost at the point of being sick of this. But not quite."

Flans: "No John, there's much much more to go."

Linnell: "Cause stuff is sometimes not what you think," *changing keys* "F Sharp! Back to the same part."

Then they broke back into the song while Linnell yelled, "You wanted that to happen! You like that! You like it!" Then he came and played the accordion in my face. It was awesome.

Flans said there were going to be two times that they were going to be dividing the audience in half. "And it's not between the people who think we are doing a competent show and the people who think we are doing an incompetent show." He said they were going to divide us between the men and the women to perform Drink! "We are going to feed on the negative energy of the men and the eternal patience of the women." He told the men that their "safe word" was "No" and the women that their safe word was "wait." "So it goes like this... Drink! No! Wait! Except it's much faster than that. And it's in waltz time." We did a sound check. Flans said he couldn't hear the women. We did it again and the women screamed. "Now I could hear the women."

And I finally got to perform the intervention version of Drink! (I might have done this once before actually. I can't remember. But I'm gonna say this was the first time.) It went off really surprisingly well. Our timing was quite excellent. 

Dan started riffing the beginning of Damn Good Times. Flans inserted the band intros into the song again, without a whole lot of fanfare. When he introduced Danny, he held up his bass in front of his face and played like that for a minute, making it look like he literally, was the bass. I believe it was at the end of this song that Danny's bass crapped out and just stopped working. But they got it working again in pretty short order. There was a bit of entertaining guitar and keyboard fill as Victor did something to the back of the amp. And then they were back in business. Flans announced the new album again. He said it came with a free six foot tall poster with every six foot tall poster purchase. He said we could hang it up in our parents garage. Linnell suggested using it as a bed cover. And they played the single, Can't Keep Johnny Down to finish the set.

While the guys were outside before the encore the crowd got a really good chant of "They Might Be Giants" going. It's kind of unfortunate the band wasn't inside to hear it, though they might have been able to even through the wall.

They came back and straight to the camera for another Avatar song. They made a joke about hands-free puppeteering. Blue carried out a very entertaining rap. "We here at the Avatars of They have seen a lot of rock show because we love the treble kicking indie rock. But I don't think it's since The Replacements played in Hoboken that we've seen such a discombobulated set. But my question is, those guys were high.... what's our excuse?" Then he introduced Dan and they sang Shooting Star, the only "children's song" from the set.

They followed this with Judy which was a pretty shocking contrast. If you want to see something really impressive, watch Marty drum this song. It'll make your jaw drop. It's really something to see. And Flans got the words right! You did it, Flans!!

Straight into Fingertips. It felt a little like they were rushing through the encores, but it was quite a long show and I think Linnell was feeling pretty crappy by the end. Danny came right out to the edge of the stage to play Please Pass The Milk, Please and was really mugging for the cameras off to my left. But as a result he was swinging the end of his bass around and I was quite concerned I was going to get whacked in the head with it, as it really was that close to my face. I think he was actually quite aware of where it was in relation to my face and wouldn't have hit me but I leaned back instinctively. Linnell was having real difficulty doing any sort of belting by this point and the ends of both Mysterious Whisper and Darkened Corridors were kind of swallowed.

At this point I was getting rather concerned about the fact that they had yet to play When Will You Die but I peaked at the setlist and noted that it was up next, as the first song of the second encore. I warned the folks behind me to get ready. And then they came back and didn't play it. I held out a little hope that they were just saving it for last. And I was temporarily distracted by what they did play.

Because Flans announced they were dividing the audience again for Battle of the Planet of the Apes. Holy shit, says I! It has been years since they did this. I looked it up when I got home and found it hadn't been played since 2003 and that was only 2 performances. They haven't done it regularly since 1999. I mean, Marty had never even played it before! And I was psyched! Flans explained how it was going to work, with the ladies representing the people. He had us chant "People" with him. Then he told us it was a beautiful sound and that we were tremendous representations of civilization. Then he said, "In a role so stereotypical for the men, you are the apes." And he had the men chant "apes" with him. But then he said that Danny couldn't hear them. Danny made some mock hand to the ears gestures of not being able to hear them. They chanted louder. Flans accused them of "shitty ape chanting." Flans said he and Linnell were with the apes. "Like always," said Linnell. And the band was with the ladies. This got a lot of cheers from the ladies, including myself. And somewhere in all this explanation Danny walked around to back of the drum riser and retrieved a drum stick from Marty which he set aside for some unknown later purpose. 

The song started, as always with the People and the band doing some crazy improv. But I have to say the "People" on my side of the room were woefully non-participatory. I felt like the only one on my side of the stage chanting. And the "apes" didn't seem to get that they were supposed to chant only while the Johns were playing. From an audience participation stand point the song was kind of a disaster with no one quite understanding the instructions. But it still sounded cool and I was excited to participate none the less. During the second "people" round, Danny picked up the drum stick and started using it to play the bass, smacking it against the strings instead of using his fingers. It was incredibly entertaining and of course no one got a picture because everyone was busy chanting. And because no one ever gets a picture of Danny playing the bass with unusual objects, myself included. Still bitter that there is no photographic evidence of the beer bottle slide from last year. 

Needless to say the People won. They always do. I mentioned to Flans on Twitter a few days later that I was disappointed with the lack of audience participation in the performance and he replied that if they were going to successfully bring that back he was going to have to tighten up his rap. I was just shocked at how many fans didn't know how the routine worked in the first place. But I kind of hope they try it again because it was super fun.

After declaring the winner, they played New York City and then left the stage for the final time. So all of my preparations for When Will You Die were for not. It got cut from the set, presumably because Linnell didn't feel up to performing it. Not gonna pretend I wasn't a bit crushed. I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunity to hear it again, but not with so many of my friends in the crowd to execute the high five. Oh, well. 

I got my setlist from Victor pretty easily but it was kind of funny. About six other people all reached in around me trying to grab it, but he purposefully held it out of all of their reach and let me lean in for it to ensure it didn't get snatched from me. He takes good care of me and my setlist needs. Gary also managed to snag Flans' Old Pine Box cheat sheet, which had been tossed to the floor, with a little help from Heather. The setlist is entertainingly labeled with stars in the corners that say Bon Jovi, Rip Taylor and Tony Danza. Thus the joke the Avatars made I assume.

Marty appeared briefly off the side of the stage and handed a drum stick to someone. We waved at each other and there was a weird moment when I thought he was going to say something but he didn't. Perhaps he thought I was going to say something and I wasn't and we were both confused. 

We also hung out long enough that David came up to start taking apart the confetti cannons and we realized they had never gone off. He let us reach into them and pull out wads of confetti to take home with us and Heather asked when they had been supposed to launch. He said that he thought Linnell had gone to flip the switch at one point but that he noticed that the one to his left had shifted so that it was pointing at the stage, and opted not to cover the band with confetti. Official verdict is that the new lighting guy is very nice and friendly so that's a plus. Wonder if he will stick around?

Flans mentioned on Tumblr after the show that they were phasing out the confetti cannons which I found rather alarming. I asked him about that on Twitter too and he said they were trying to keep the show fresh and that they didn't want it to become a routine. Which is funny because that is exactly how I have referred to it on more than one occasion. But I think that was evidenced in this set by the presence of older tunes they haven't played in a while. Except for the Join Us songs it really did feel like a set from the late 90s. They played nothing from The Else, only Damn Good Times from The Spine and just one song from any of the kids albums (plus the venue song but that was a given). I'll be very curious to see if this trend continues into the fall and what new surprises they have in store for us. And whether or not we are going to completely loose the confetti.

We said good bye to our friends, some until September, some until who knows when. And then we all piled back into the mini-van. We dropped Anna at the train station to go back to New York and made the trek back across New Jersey in a sort of silence that was almost eerie after the noise of the venue and the crowds we had been with all day. But we had a lovely post show rehash in J&R's kitchen with cookies and liquor when we got back. I wish all shows could end that way. 

I realized this morning that the September tour starts a month from today (or the today when I started writing long before midnight). If it's possible I think I am looking forward to that even more than I looked forward to the five shows in July. 15 shows in 24 days. It'll either be the absolute time of my life or I will be completely burnt out by the end. Possibly both. Either way, it can't get here soon enough. 

Finally, please enjoy Rebecca's highlight video of the show, which includes many of the best moments. Enjoy!