Re: Setlist from last night (22 March)

The middle two blocks were a golden anniversary tribute to TP, with songs played from flexi-discs!

"Gonna Have a Good Time Tonight" - The Easybeats (for Harry Vanda's birthday)
"Early Morning Wake Up Call" - Flash and the Pan (likewise)
"Reel By Reel" - XTC (by request)
"Brickfield Nights" - The Boys

"Medicine Bow" - The Waterboys (R.I.P. Karl Wallinger)
"Private Revolution" - World Party (ditto)
"I'm a Rocker" - The Raspberries (R.I.P. Eric Carmen)

"Slow Motion" - Ultravox (by request)
"More" - The Warning
"Other Boys" - The Mighty Wah! (for Pete Wylie's birthday)

"Wolves, Lower" - R.E.M.
"Boys in Town" - Divinyls
"Barricade Beach" - Insect Surfers
"Who's Landing in My Hangar?" - Human Switchboard
"The Walls Came Down" - The Call

"Barbarella" - The Bongos
"Masquerade" - Berlin
"Some Fun Now" - John Hiatt
"A Space Traveler's Manifesto" - Phil 'n' the Blanks
"Acceleration" - Bill Nelson

"Ask the Angels" - Patti Smith Group (for J.D. Daugherty's birthday)
"Scared of Girls" - Placebo (for drummer Steve Hewitt's birthday)

"The Sound of the Crowd" - The Human League (for Susan Ann Sulley's birthday)
"Someday, Someway" - Marshall Crenshaw (by request)
"Boys Keep Swinging" - David Bowie
"I'm an Adult Now" - The Pursuit of Happiness (for Moe Berg's birthday)

"Stuck on You" - Failure (by request)
"Psychomodo" - Cockney Rebel (R.I.P. Steve Harley)
"225" - New Model Army (by request)

Insect surfers, human switchboard, Bongos, Phil n the blanks…you were rummaging in my glorious new wave thrift shop last night— nice!

Add Phil n the Blanks to the list of band names chosen by doofusses who can't be bothered to do a basic web search to see if their band name of choice was already taken. There appears to be at least two current bands with the name, both unrelated to the other or to the New Wave band of interest in these parts - one a covers band in Cleveland, the other a covers band in San Francisco. Both turn up in web searches before the TP approved combo.

Granted, it's not like the 80s Phil N the Blanks is widely remembered, or that the Cleveland or Bay Area combos have to worry overmuch about confusing their fanbases - hell, they're cover bands playing in bars, so most likely they have more people wishing they'd shut the fuck up so they can talk to their friends than actual "fans" - but it still mystifies me when people can't be bothered to so much as look online to see if their band name is already taken.

I love that you still have some flexis! I probably do too, but am not even sure where to look.

One listener called to tell me he'd subscribed to TP as well ... but alas, his flexi collection was lost some time ago.

I have every TP flexi except the first one (OMD I think?). Admit it’s been many years since I played one, tho.

They were how I first heard quite a few of those acts!

> Hell, they're cover bands playing in bars, so most likely
> they have more people wishing they'd shut the fuck up
> so they can talk to their friends than actual "fans" ...

And that always mystifies me about live music (especially rock), whether it's a cover band in a bar or a big-name act in an arena. There's always some group of people who prefers to talk amongst themselves while the band is playing. It just dumbfounds me, even though I've witnessed it countless times. I mean, sheesh, why did these people pay to get into the place, if all they were going to do was just yak with one another?

Last time I saw Dweezil Zappa, there were two guys near us who spent at least half of Dweezil's set talking about their favorite Frank Zappa albums. Holy jeez, guys, couldn't you have this conversation another time? You have his son, right here in front of you, laying down some of your favorite FZ tunes in real time! Why did you buy tickets?

I'd guess neither of those guys went to the show intending to talk someone's ear off - they just found common ground amidst the excitement of hearing the Zappa tunes played live. Not that it makes the convo any less annoying to outsiders.

That said, I think there folks out there who don't see a difference between a concert and a record (or the radio) - it's all background noise for "good times." And they don't give a tinker's damn whether or not their behavior affects the rest of the crowd...or the artist, for that matter.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2024 12:01PM by Michael Toland.

I think it depends on the venue. The 930 club in DC is the hipster club and I think a lot of people go to shows there just be there. So to them, it's like a bar with an expensive cover charge. At the smaller clubs, I don't really see this (talking).

That said, one time I was at this really tiny place that converts from a restaurant to a club at night. There was this couple that was yelling at each other to be heard over the music and there were just talking about mundane things. I guess they were for the meal and didn't feel like leaving when the band started to play. One of the people working there had to come over and ask them to take the conversation outside, they quieted down after that.

Not just music - the one time I got good tix to a Lakers game (13th row, I think), two suits were blabbing away the whole time. The one right next to me kept dropping his empty peanut shells on my feet. They acted like they were in a sports bar. I was thinking, it might actually be more fun to be with the real fans up in the nosebleed seats.

" I think there's folks out there who don't see a difference between a concert and a record (or the radio) - it's all background noise for "good times." - ah, that explains the mystery of why some people hang out at the back. I always try to get as close to the stage as I can, and have always wondered, why spend good money to get in to a show only to seemingly not even really pay much attention to the bands? Heff's comment "it's like a bar with an expensive cover charge" would explain that.

Hmmm, I never thought about it depending on the venue. But now that you mention it, I think the likelihood of being seated near people who won't STFU tends to be directly proportional to the size of the venue. We've usually experienced the most aggravating loud-mouthed audience members at arena shows, both in Colorado and in Washington. The Depeche Mode gig in Seattle a few years ago comes to mind; there were two guys behind us who yakked the whole time ... even when they played the ballad "Somebody." That song had a lot of the females in the audience screaming ... which only made those two assholes talk louder. (The audience at the Paul McCartney show we saw in Denver wasn't much better.)

Red Rocks seems to be an exception, in my experience. It definitely isn't a "hipster" place, but to concert-goers in Colorado, it's pretty much holy ground. Not that people act all reverent or solemn at a show there, but they definitely know it's a special occasion.

I don't want to hear people talking while I try to concert, and I don't want to hear people concerting while I try to talk. If I've paid $60 to see Nick Lowe, I'm going to be irritated to have to listen to a couple of bros behind me yelling about that wicked spreadsheet one of them put together that day while Nick plays "So It Goes." On the other hand, if I'm meeting friends for dinner, it gripes the hell out of me to have to yell over the racket of some local goobers over in the corner butchering "Brown Eyed Girl" for the appreciative audience of the bassist's aunt, the only person in the building who's there because of and not in spite of there being a band playing.

Your comment reminded me of the last time I saw Nick Lowe. He was doing his Christmas show with Los Straitjackets. People were enjoying the music, and really getting into the whole show; at least, I don't remember anyone in our vicinity talking during the show.

For the closing number, Nick came out with just an acoustic guitar and announced that he was going to play a song written by his old friend Elvis Costello -- a song called "Alison." I would've thought this would prompt a big sing-along ... which would've been fine. Instead, from the moment Nick started playing, the audience grew so quiet that I swear I couldn't even hear anyone breathing. Don't ask me how it happened, but the entire crowd treated that song as a holy moment.

Worse talking I ever heard was at a tiny John Otway gig. There were a group of Otway fanatics who obviously go to every gig who just talked amongst themselves the whole night and annoyed everyone in their vicinity. When I saw the reformed Skids last year Richard Jobson stopped the show to call out a talker very amusing.