Thoughts and observations on Hershey

[41 Step]

Fifth show so far for me, and third of this summer after Camden x2. Also the last of the year for me save the possibility of MSG or a winter tour. I went in with Joe (jiggajm18) who was kind enough to drop me off at my house after the show (thanks again, Joe). We arrived at the venue just before the Black Crowes were starting their set. I didn't have a ticket going in, but was able to buy one off a guy who needed to get rid of an extra. The Black Crowes were great; without a doubt the best of the four opening bands I've seen. My seat was in the grandstand, but I watched from the fence separating the grandstand from the field.

The one song I wanted to see more than any other was Two Step. I had seen it at Camden N2 this year, but unfortunately an overambitious security guard ruined it for me by kicking me out of the aisle (where I had been standing because I couldn't see Tim from my seat). It put a damper on the rest of the show for me, and one of the reasons I wanted to make Hershey was to have one more possible opportunity to see a Two Step with Tim.

I was expecting a Bartender opener, but when I didn't see the 12-string out at the beginning, I knew that wouldn't happen, so I called The Stone. Of course, I was completely wrong...

ODH - This actually isn't a bad song at all, but it doesn't work as an opener. That said, I tried to enjoy it as much as I could, even clapping along with it.

Everyday - Standard. The crowd wasn't singing the "Honey Honey" parts as much as they did in Camden. Also, during Boyd's second violin solo, he didn't turn on the wah pedal until midway through the solo, which I thought was pretty bizarre. I like the effect that the light crew shows on the back screen during this solo. Camden's Everyday was much better though.

YMDT - I called this one, my only correct blind prediction for the show. A great performance, much better than the one that closed the main set at Camden N1. Tim completely broke loose during his solo; Roi and Rashawn also had very solid solos.

Eh Hee - Say what you will but I really like this song and was more than happy to finally see it live. Unlike last year, Dave played acoustic on it. Tim was on the Flying V, using a lot of distortion which gave the song sort of a quasi-metal feel. This actually made the song a lot more intense. A woman standing near me didn't know this song and was impressed that I knew all of the words.

Grey Street - For some reason, Dave didn't play his guitar at all until the first chorus ended. As a result, the first verse and chorus sounded empty and lacking. Roi's solo was decent, but I've heard better from him. Side note: Dave has a new 12-string that looks just like his 6-string acoustic.
Not sure of the model.

Bartender - My first Bartender was certainly one to remember. Unlike in Hartford, the intro consisted solely of Boyd playing his violin riff, and Dave and Roi noodling around. The rest of the performance, however, was nothing short of phenomonal. Dave's screams gave me chills. Beautiful solos from Tim on slide guitar and Roi on pennywhistle (although the latter was inexplicably low in the mix). Dave also had a little quasi-solo. During the outro, they showed the lit-up roller coaster in the amusement park (which is easily visible from the stadium) on the screen at the back of the stage. I think I actually liked this one more than Hartford's.

Cornbread - Better than usual and my favorite of the five Cornbreads I've seen live. Tim's slide guitar solo blew the crowd away. I usually don't like it when his solos on this song last a long time, but this one was an exception. Each passing second pumped me up even more, and when Dave came back in, the crowd went wild.

OOMH - When I saw the crew bring out the piano I was hoping for ADSR. I'm not a big fan of OOMH, but it certainly sounds better than last year. Dave said that the reason that there's a curtain behind his piano is to hide his "monkey," which has "a blue penis and bright red balls," whatever the hell that means.

After OOMH, Dave held up a can of Hershey's chocolate syrup, and mentioned that nobody buys it in cans anymore because they don't want to get their fingers messy, but they should because "that's how it's supposed to be." He interpolated this idea into the intro of Nancies.

Nancies - Another song to cross off the list of songs I have yet to see live, and it delivered, though it was slightly slower than usual.

Typical - Glad to see this one back in the rotation, in full no less. Roi had what was probably his best solo of the night. It seemed at this point that the set had done a complete 180 from the relatively weak beginning run.

WAYG - When I saw Roi pick up the soprano, I called Rapunzel, which has been one of the highlights of the tour so far and would have worked perfectly following Typical. Instead we got this momentum-killing dud which sounded exactly the same as every other performance of it.

At this point I began to worry that we might not get a Two Step, because it had closed the main set the previous show and hadn't been played in the encore all year, and the chances of a midset performance were dwindling with each song. Roi picked up the bari sax, which raised my hopes, but these hopes vanished when Dave played the opening notes of the next song.

Crash - Proof that the band does not know how to properly write a setlist: they played WAYG and Crash back-to-back. They are pretty much exactly the same song except one sucks and one doesn't. (If they had played Rapunzel like I had called, this problem would not have occurred, as the set would have continued to flow perfectly.) This one, like its predecessor in the set, sounded exactly the same as every other performance of it.

Jimi Thing - Not as good as Camden's, but still pretty damned impressive nonetheless. Dave extended the intro of this song, presumably so the crowd could possibly sing the first verse. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, the rest of the crowd did not join in. Tim was on Flying V, and his solo was much jazzier than I normally hear from him. There was a FWIW outro, but it consisted solely of the band playing around with the melody and the crowd singing during the start-stop.

SDL - This arrangement doesn't do much for me; would've much rather seen Gravedigger. I love the extended outro though. Tim still on Flying V.

R&R - Tim's solo was much shorter than usual, but it still cooked. Unfortunately Dave didn't do his stomp-around-the-stage-like-a-madman dance like he did at Camden. The horns still seem to playing around with the riff they play during Tim's solo.

SMTS - When I heard the intro to this, I knew that it would lead into ASTB>Too Much, which would close the set. I accepted that we wouldn't be getting a Two Step and decided to enjoy the rest of the show for what it was. This one was standard, but I like what Tim adds.

ASTB - First time hearing the stop-time intro live, and it was incredibly thrilling. The lead-in to the solos was kind of weak though, and it didn't seem like the band members were all on the same page when they went into Too Much.

Too Much - An extremely unusual performance. Dave broke a string somewhere in the beginning of the song, and had to have his guitar replaced. He also entirely skipped Roi's solo after the second verse. During Boyd's first solo, he turned his back to the crowd and started shaking his ass, and then proceeded to do a very strange dance with the guitar on top of his head. This caused the crowd to go absolutely wild.

The encore break was much shorter than usual, presumably because they were already going over the curfew.

Money - When I saw that Rashawn was not onstage, I knew this would be coming next. During the intro, Dave stopped playing in the middle of the main riff for some reason, but came back in soon afterwards. Tim seemed to be deviating from the written solo much more than usual, which I liked. When the band faded out, I figured that they would either go into Money (That's What I Want) or Thank You, which would close the show. Then Boyd started strumming his violin, and I pretty much lost it right then and there.

TWO STEP - And not only did I get exactly what I came here for after having already coming to the conclusion that I would not, but it was fucking PERFECT. I normally let the best songs from each show speak for themselves, so I am going to do the same here. I will say though, that this performance more than made up for any and all inconsistencies and problems in the main set. And it was so incredible it seemed like the band was personally making it up to me for what had happened at Camden. It alone was worth the price of admission, the half-hour wait to get out the parking lot, and the two-hour ride back to my house. Without a doubt the greatest thirteen and a half minutes of my entire life.

Ants Marching - And it wasn't over yet. This was just icing on the cake. As soon as it started, I jumped over the rail and onto the field. Nobody cared because it was the last song. Though the instrumental intro was a bit weak, I didn't care, because the electricity going through the stadium at this point was beyond anything I had ever experienced. The rest of the performance was incredible and perfect in every way. For the first time in my presence, Dave let the crowd sing "People in every direction," and I took advantage of the opportunity and sang it at the top of my lungs. Boyd went absolutely nuts during his solo at the end. A perfect ending to a not-so-perfect show.

Overall, this show was inconsistent. It had a bad opener, a few weak performances, and a run of two songs that should never under any circumstances be played next to each other. However, the high points of the show were MUCH higher than the low points were low. I rank this show third out of five, behind 8.8.07 and in front of 6.4.08.

[TheLastStop123]

excellent review! I attended Hershey as well and agree with 100% everything you said. that two step was certainly special. I will say, even though the set may have been a little strange, there was something about those boys last night....they were on fire and they loved it...they didn't want to stop playing. In another thread I saw a guy said that they just added ants to the end of the set....they just didn't want to stop!!! and boyd's solo in ants was double time, and it was just unreal. great show from my standpoint.

[bibby1044]

Not the worst show Ive seen this year, alot of problems with equipment might have made it a tad better, but I enjoyed it, Typical made up for everything.

[pittlovesdmb]

Finally great to see the guys having a great time again. Been awhile. Saw the first two shows at PPG in Pittsburgh, and just weren't in the groove. I played it off to the loss of Butch. Enjoyed the show and all of the goofy antics those boys pulled off. especially Stephan finally getting loose and boogying across the stage!

[born 1991]

Excellent review, very unbiased and insightful. Haha I was trying to get the people around me to start singing Jimi Thing too, which of course didn't work. Two Step was thirteen and a half minutes!? It felt like about five to me.