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Barenaked Ladies,Ziggy's, Winston-Salem, NC, June 14, 1997
Another trip to NC for BNL and of course, I wasn't disappointed. This was a great show,in a small venue, in a part of the country that they had never played before. The show wassold out and the approx. 900 capacity crowd danced and sang the night away. BNL was inrare form, playing their full set with double encores. "I Live With It" is stillin the set, and Jim has really created a beautiful solo for the lead in on the electricstand up. The stage was a bit small, so they couldn't do the "close in" acousticthing, but the whole thing was really "close in", so it didn't matter. Banterthis evening consisted of Steve's ditty about cigarettes (being in the backyard of RJReynolds) and Joe Camel, and Ed chimed in that Joe Camel had both kinds of genitalia. ThenTyler goes into an insane drumbeat chanting, "Dick, balls, and vagina" andultimately had the whole crowd singing along. It was hysterical. Ed and Kevin were cryingby the time it was finished. Later there was a tune by Ed about living in David Crosby'sbeard to the tune of CSNY's "Ohio", and a very good mime act also by Ed (youknow, mime in the box). During $1M, Ed had the whole crowd singing along to "TaintedLove". There was a bit of Kraft Dinner thrown, but I guess it was OK, since this wastheir first time in Winston, and they seemed so surprised that so many people knew alltheir songs. They closed with the rap which still consists of Biz Marque, Spice Girls, and Prodigy.The two encores were: A and Brian Wilson, and finally What a Good Boy. They left the crowdbegging for more. Ed had commented earlier that one fan before the show had said"it's about @#*%ing time you guys played here" and Ed had to agree that it hadbeen long over due, with such a strong concentration of fans in the area. They announcedtheir VH-1 Hard Rock Live appearance for the following night. They just seem to be gettingmore and more popular, and it makes me very happy for them. No plans for any future shows right now, but I'm sure I'll get the fever soon and hopanother flight. The opening band was Emmet Swimming fromFairfax, Virginia. They were very good and had two memorable songs, "It's Been a LongTime Since I've Been Good" and "I'm a Sell Out Now". They had a nice folksysound, with electric and acoustic guitars, another Hootie-esque style, but with a definiteunique voice in the very large lead singer. On That Note, I'm outta here...... C |
