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MSG review and what happened afterwards
I have finally gathered together all of my thoughts on the MSG show, my fourth of the year (Camden x2, Hershey) and sixth overall, and what an incredible show it was. I'd say top to bottom it was the best I've seen so far.
I traveled to New York from Philadelphia on the BoltBus. The ticket only cost me ten dollars, which was a huge bargain. On the way up I listened to the tape of 9.7.08 on my iPod. The bus finally arrived in New York shortly before six, and I went to Stout in hopes of meeting up with the Ants. Unfortunately they would not let me in because I'm only 19 so I just walked around the city for a bit until showtime.
No screens in front of the stage, and only two in the back. When the lights went down, the crowd erupted into a deafening roar. I, as well as pretty much everyone else, had been expecting a Bartender opener, but when I saw the six-string guitar I knew this would not happen, so I called The Stone. The person sitting next to me called Seek Up. Of course, both of us were wrong...
Don't Drink the Water - Standard, but it always works well as an opener. Jeff went nuts during the improv sections in the bridge. The crowd, of course, cheered when Dave said "New York island" during the TLIYL bridge. Tim on Flying V.
Proudest Monkey - Happy to see this one since it's been one of the highlights of the tour. Rashawn's solo was a bit lacking, but Tim's was sublime as always. if I remember correctly, Dave did the JTR dance during this song!
Satellite - Knew this was coming after PM. This one was standard, but a standard Satellite is still amazing. Dave played around with the phrasing a bit at the end, which I liked. Everyone in my section (335) was singing along. The energy in this section was absolutely incredible. Nearly everyone was standing up for the entire show, and we were all dancing and singing along and playing off each other's energy. It was such an incredible experience to be part of that, given the opportunity to move to the front row, I probably would have stayed where I was.
So Damn Lucky - The first 2 times I saw this song this year, I wasn't a big fan of it, so I didn't really appreciate it at the time. It has since grown on me and so I was happy to see it once again. And I'll be damned if the band wasn't SPOT-ON during the outro! If you only listen to one performance of SDL from this year, this should be the one.
Cornbread - Not as good as Hershey's, but it featured a sick Carter drum solo intro not unlike his intro to Halloween and a crazy Dave dance during Tim's solo. On a side note, singing "All I wanna do is go down on you" can be A LOT of fun.
Burning Down the House - One of the best covers of '08. Dave, Carter, and Rashawn combined for a completely in-your-face vocal. This is not your grandparents' DMB, folks. This is rock and roll at its finest!
Spoon - Ingrid's vocal adds a nice touch. I do wish they'd have played the outro jam, but hey, any Spoon is a good Spoon!
Stay or Leave - First time hearing this full band and it sounds great.
Eh Hee - Same as any other performance of it this year, but that's not a bad thing at all. Tim on Flying V with mucho distortion, giving the song an extremely heavy feel.
Water Into Wine - This mellow song provides an interesting contrast to its edgier predecessor. Not surprisingly, nobody in my section knew what it was.
#41 - This is the only song on which I prefer Jeff to Roi, so I was happy to see it played in what may be my only show with Jeff. And I'll be damned if Jeff didn't deliver, going absolutely apeshit while providing a face-melting solo at which I could only shake my head in amazement. This one also had the obligatory Sojourn of Arjuna interpolation, as well as a very melodic Tim solo. The only thing this was missing was the old ending; it ended with the crowd singing the Everyday outro.
Louisiana Bayou - When I saw Monk hand Dave the baritone guitar I knew this would be next. Despite the fanbase's consensus opinion of this song I actually enjoy it, and it provided teh energiez as usual. Plus we all got to sing "Down by the ba-YOU!"
Sledgehammer - A really fun cover, the band always seems to enjoy playing it, and the crowd dug it. Not much else to say about it.
Crash Into Me - Same as any other performance except EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the entire venue was singing along. At one point a girl going back to her seat passed me and I sang the lyrics directly to her, which she seemed to get a kick out of.
Two Step - Absolutely mind-blowingly incredible. I was walking up and down the aisle singing the lyrics and prompting everyone to sing along, and the place was literally pulsating with energy. Tim's guitar solo and Carter's drum solo were SICK. Dave was walking circles around the stage if I remember correctly. The outro...I can't even think of any words to describe it. Just listen to it, it speaks for itself.
After Two Step, Dave mentioned Roi for the first time, and the crowd went nuts. There were a bunch of scattered LE-ROI! chants, but unfortunately they were not in unison.
Anyone Seen the Bridge? - No stop-time intro, just the hits at the beginning. The jam has come a long way this year and the transition from the ASZ interpolation into Rashawn's big solo has become much smoother since this interpolation started. Tim's distorted Flying V adds an entire new dimension, and I absolutely LOVE Rashawn on this.
Too Much (fake) - What I said during this fake: "Please go into Ants Marching...please go into Ants Marching...YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Ants Marching - This is one song that I will NEVER tire of hearing. I could hear it at every show for the rest of my life and would be happy about it; in fact, I would actually prefer it that way. The outro gets me every single time. I will probably miss Roi on this song more than any other, but Jeff did a fantastic job filling in. While he doesn't seem to understand the subtle nuances of this song as well as Roi did, he does put a lot into it and the song benefits from it. His solo during the intro was truly phenomenal.
Much to my dismay, they did not show the Roi tribute video during the encore break. On the bright side, this could be a sign that they're moving forward with their lives.
Too Much - You've got to be kidding me, fake and full Too Much in the same show? When was the last time they did that? (Turns out it was only a month earlier at Alpine N2). Nice to see it without ASTB for once.
Watchtower - I knew this was coming when Stefan started his bass intro, and it blew the roof off one last time. Tim's solo delivered as always, and culminated with him playing the guitar with his teeth! A great way to close what was perhaps the most noteworthy DMB tour of all time.
After the show I moved to the area adjacent to stage left where I could see a setlist attached to one of the consoles. I tried to prompt the crew member standing near me to give me the setlist several times, but he ignored me. A few minutes later I called the guy who was supposed to drop me off in Philly several times, but he didn't pick up at all. Panicking, I then called several friends who live in New York in hopes that one of them would be kind enough to let me crash at their place. Only one of them picked up and he didn't have room for me because his girlfriend was sleeping on the couch. I was stranded in New York with no place to sleep!
The only thing I could do was wait for the next train back to Philly, which wasn't until 4:20 AM. I walked around outside for a bit, but I kept on being accosted by homeless people, so I went into the train station to wait. My iPod was dead and I didn't have my laptop or any books with me, so there was nothing I could do to pass the time except wait. I was extremely tired but there was nowhere I could sleep comfortably. I did not arrive in Philly until 7:15 AM, and when I got to my room I immediately fell asleep. When I woke up, I realized I had missed all of my classes for that day. My sleep schedule is still screwed up.
Was it worth it?
You're damn right it was!
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