Three Times The Ladies
Yet Another Barenaked Christmas - 1998 Pittsburgh, PA, December 28
Rochester, NY, December 29
Fairfax, VA, December 30
Philadelphia, December 31
So, now I finally sit to write my review of my Third Annual Barenaked Christmas Tour.It's taken me a while to get motivated to write this one. I actually wrote this inlate January, but due to some major life and career changes, I've had a hard time gettingback into the swing of things. These were Barenaked shows 45-48 for me, and I shouldbe tiring of this daliance, but guess what?...no way. Even with all their incrediblyincreased fame with the success of One Week and Stunt, the Grammy nomination, and all theaccolades they have been receiving, even with sold out shows around the country in hugevenues, even with the hordes of fans all dying to meet them, even with the increasedvolume of bimbos at the after shows....even after all this, the bottom line is that BNL isstill the greatest. Let me elaborate (did you think I wouldn't). I started out in Pittsburgh on Dec. 28th.First of all, about 100 people showed up for their soundcheck, radio station winners, etc.While the band was a bit shocked that their warm up turned into an all out show (theycommented that some of their shows didn't have that many in attendance), they were stillgracious enough to sign every autograph, and to chat with each person that had somethingmeaningful to say. As we all know, a BNL show is an ongoing conversation between the band and theaudience. BNL took that to new levels when they referred to the previous time they were inPittsburgh and continued to diss on Tyler for a lame comment on Mario Lemieux. Most of thecrowd had obviously been there, because they caught right on and showered Tyler with"boos". As always, there were some comments on the local area, like Ed'simprov on visiting Sewickley Heights stores that had weird combinations of goods. This ledto a Laugh Olympics reference, and the challenge to make a funny story with"lasagne", "an accordion case", and a "bird". They somehowworked "Turning Japanese" by the Vapors into the set and continued with the"Meet the Security Guard" gig that was so popular during the fall shows.Tonight's victim was Denny, so of course, Tyler said he really loved his "GrandSlam". Later, they somehow stream of conscioused themselves into a shower reference,inviting everyone to join them, giving each member a job, like loofa, towels, etc., but Edsaid that he wanted "crack duty". Adding a really, really cool acoustic rendition of Prince's "When Dove's Cry"and old favorite "Break Your Heart" and new favorite "Call andAnswer", this was one of the best BNL set lists I had ever experienced. They kept themoods up for the most part, captured everyone's attention with a few ballads, but quicklywhipped up the frenzy with appropriate placement of One Week, Old Apartment, and BrianWilson. The holiday spirit was in full force, as Tiny, one of the coolest roadies(actually Tyler's drum tech) was lowered from the ceiling in full Santa gear, playedtambourine, and then appeared to fall from the sky later in the show. Never fear, it wasjust a "stunt" and Tiny made it up again to play on "Crazy". The next show was Rochester. While the setlist didn't vary much from night to night,the banter was always fresh, and our perspective this time was front row center. Theyadded a cute song about Sting talking to some Geese and a reference to a Proclaimers show(500 Miles) and Ed's girlfriend passing out as he was just getting up front to hand themhis demo tape. One of the funniest things from this evening was Ed commenting that the newarena in Rochester appeared "fresher", and Steve said it was"fancier". Well, Tyler, never to be left out starts in with "fresher orfancier, who's the better dancier. Stever or Edder, which one is better." Completelyrising to the challenge, Ed and Steve have a little dance off, each performing fairlypathetically (Ed, we know you were holding back) and Steve winning with one of histrademark spastic moves. The crowd was very into this show, with a very cute littleBrittany sporting a Kraft Dinner box and another fan passing up a BNL belt in WWF fashion,with Ed singing about a new wrestling league, the WBNL, for all weak and wimpy guys. Did Imention the addition of "Hard Knock Life" to the beginning of the rap? There'sso much to tell....Jose, who we chatted with before the show, was the Security Guard thatwas met at this one. Next on to DC, through snow and sleet and hail, and no wiper/washer fluid in the rentalcar. We finally get that fixed and meet up with our party in Northern Virginia on thecampus of George Mason University at the Patriot Center. The show opens with a littleglitch. The normal Stunt film that appears before the guys came out was not fully cued up,so the curtain comes down and lots of roadies are onstage and the band does not appear tobe ready. Tyler pouted for the first few songs, but nevertheless, the ultimateprofessionals, the band begins another high energy show. Hey, they can have one glitch pertour, considering that everything else has gone off without a hitch. At this show Ed talksabout his day at the mall when an over zealous fan runs up to meet him and then shakes hishand. Unfortunately the fan has sticky Cinnabon all over her fingers. He sings a dittyabout Cinnamon, Icing, and Saliva. The crowd was getting a bit rowdy at one point, so Eddeclares that "It's not 1992 and unfortunately, we're not Pearl Jam." This leadsto a Pearl Jam sitcom reference with lots of funny PJ song references. Probably the funniest spontaneous thing I have ever seen done at a BNL show, occurredthis night. A group of fan's up on the side of the auditorium had individual signs thatspelled out "Yoko Ono". One of the "o's" had relaxed so it actuallysaid "Yoko No", which Ed pointed out and said "Oh, so you don't want us toplay it". Ed, being a Scrabble fan, starts out rearranging the letters from 200 feetaway (First "O" switch with "N", "K" go in front of"Y"...). Eventually, and to everyone's surprise, Ed uses every letter to formthe phrase "No KY OOO" (as in the jelly). The way he said it was completelyfunny, and it appeared that he pulled it completely out of his ass (no pun intended).Anyway, it was hysterical if you had been there. Another very funny line was when theypointed out a girl in a peach colored shirt and Ed said he kept thinking she was topless.This led to all sorts of naked Alanis references, no nipple references to Marilyn Manson,and ultimately a funny reference to a new band with Gwen Steffani and Gavin Rossdale,called "No Bush". So, finally, we are up to New Years Eve. The last night of 1998 and I am once againringing in the new year with BNL. Hey, it's been pretty lucky for me for the past two, I'mnot messing with a good thing. The most notable events of that evening were two prettyobscure references to Kevin that I picked up. One was the mention of Father Beard whenSteve was talking about Father Time. Father Beard was something that Steve said to Kevinwhen he kept bugging him with a piece of fake snow. The song Steve derived for that wasconsidered really lame by the rest of the group and they have not let him live it down.Steve almost couldn't finish his story he was so tickled by this memory. Also, during AuldLang Syne, a New Years tradition is that each member makes up his own verse. Well, for thepast two years, Kevin had done the lyrics to Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive, so in honorof Kevin, Ed did that part. Later Chris did two verses, one that he wrote and one thatKevin wrote. Everyone was on the verge of tears. They even called Kevin and talked to himfrom stage after midnight. (Please see Friends ofKevin page for more information on his progress). Always the gracious ones, BNL took time out to thank their crew with a video tribute.Their crew is now humongous. Gone are the days of six roadies, they have over 30 people torun this show. Impressed with the audience's knowledge of One Week, Ed leads everyone in another verseof "Chickety China..." and the crowd does pretty well until the "gonna geta set of better clubs..." part, but a gallant effort, nevertheless. So, with another Christmas tour under my belt, show #48 in the bag, the next questionis will I be ringing in the new Millenium with the boys. Time will tell, but if they canmake the beginning of the 2K years to be anything close to the joy I have experienced atthe end of the 1900s, you can bet I'm in. BNL is still the greatest live band, the mosttalented and entertaining group, and still a wonderful team of men. There is no onehappier for their success of late than me. Let's all wish them a wonderful 1999 andsuccess beyond Y2K. On That Note, I'm outta here...... C |
