January 24, 2004 - PACE - Easthampton, MA - with: Spanish for Hitchhiking
Ken Says: while i'm awake and fending off a just-noticed sore throat, i'll gigdiary a bit about tonight's show at PACE in easthampton, featuring tag-team sets by spanish for hitchhiking and the full-strength five-headed SFTD monster. though i'd been at PACE two months ago, this was my first time seeing the new stage/setup...they very obviously tried to revamp the place so it could present theatre works, and it now seems like a perfect space for that. the stage is very raised, at least twice as big as it used to be, and has nifty secret-curtain-passages out to the hall and the dressing room/rest rooms. not too many folks were in the audience at start time, but the lights went down and during the first couple spanish songs, i could make out figures coming up the walkway and aisles, and there was a very good crowd for the rest of the night. spanhike was, as always, inventive and passionate. no song of theirs ever gets performed the same way twice, and i loved the jammy outros (or intros that suddenly refocused into songs i was familiar with). they played some brand-new songs ("stay soft," "a swan") that were excellent. i really like dennis' guitar playing. i need to ask him to teach me some of those chords! he was miffed when he heard pre-show that his amp had fritzed and he had to use another amp, but i though his guitar tones were excellent. and strangely enough i was sitting right in front of the stage, hearing his amplifier being loud, yet it was somehow pleasantly unloud...i don't know if it's the shape of the room or what, but the band was able to rock out without hassling any unprotected eardrums. so they played six songs, SFTD played six songs, rinse and repeat. A1. something's taking over 2. disgruntled lover 3. rock-and-roll camper 4. ayla 5. journal of lies 6. back to school B1. pick a gripe 2. candy cane 3. superhero 4. roger and mary o'malley and the invisible pirates 5. photobooth curtain 6. v-66 i was excited to be back on keyboard, especially after having spent a lot of the day listening to rough mixes of the new record, getting reacquainted with parts i came up with in henning's treehouse, which i hoped to remember and work into the live versions of the songs. the whole night had a great vibe to it, with lots of friendly faces i'd never seen at an SFTD show before (and lots of good friends, too). highlights for me were: playing four new songs, all of them strong, and a couple lesser-played now-oldies, both of them very fun. henning was "on," making bee banter with tony. i loved the sudden attempts at the cliff richard and "fiddler" covers...earlier in the day i'd hoped both bands could get up on stage together at some point during the show and try an unplanned cover, but i forgot to mention it before we played. maybe someday. it was a wonderful evening! and i'm really happy there's a couple more SFTD shows close by on the calendar. all day long i'd biddy-biddy bum. Brian Says: I was back in Northampton at 3:45 pm. I made dinner at 4:30, talked to Andrea and lied down for a couple minutes before heading off to PACE. I woke up and it was 6:20. I was supposed to be at PACE at 6. I was groggy, my stomach felt funny and it was cold. I thought everyone must be angry at me for being late. After setting up, I got a cup of mint tea and began to relax on the big comfy couch. I didn't feel like I was about to rock. But rock we did. And it sounded so nice onstage. I played PACE with the Figments 2 years ago, when it was new--we may have been the first rock band there. Trace Meek is friends w/ the owners. Like David said, it used to sound and look like a gallery, now it sounds and looks like a theater. I love the warm sound of a theater. We all wanna play there again. I thought our set was very good. The new songs went off w/out a hitch. This morning, I wondered, how many people under my age know "It's So Funny How We Don't Talk Anymore" by Cliff Richard? Ken, lord knows I wish I knew more words to that song, else I would have sung more than that one line. What a great song. It was good to see all the folks that showed up. SFH were very good to watch and hear. They have such a curious collective vibe. They project inward, like we're watching the meeting of a secret society. I think SFTD are the opposite. I've been in bands that are both. Last night must have wreaked havoc on Max's psyche and fingers. (Remember Psyche and Fingers? Tuesday nights at 9 on CBS from '79-81? They could really bring America together. ) Dave put his egg in his mouth and the world gasped. Later he wiggled his hips while playing the ride cymbal standing up. Afterwards, all I could say was EDR EDR EDR. So, Ken, Tony and I went to the Easthampton Diner Restaurant and I got pecan pie and ice cream. We discussed time, creativity, books lack of time, lack of focus and the Old Grey Whistle Test. Next weekend will be more travelling and hijinx. You gotta drive to Provincetown, if you really want to melt the snow, I know we can. Henning Says: Two shows in a row in places that are clean and smoke-free and friendly. Two places that celebrate creativity and expression instead of money and booze. After a weekend like that you can almost get your hopes up too high. The Pace show came through far better than I had imagined. We had a respectable crowd and the sound was wonderful. Switching on and off with Spanish for Hitchhiking was a really good thing, too. It was nice to be able to watch them in between our sets. They were so good. The audience was so nice and quiet that you could hear every nuance of the music. Very intimate and moving. I can't wait for their new album. The sound on the stage was excellent, too. I had a perfect mix in my ears, it was like we were in the studio. I think that was one of the reasons I kept messing up the lyrics to some of the songs, there was nothing to worry about. I didn't have to strain to hear my voice or anything and my mind began to wonder. The new songs sounded really good, I thought. Is this the first show with no Omnivore ever since it's brith? I don't know. Seems like it. Tony Westcott king of bees. Tony Says: Yup, not only no Omnivore at the PACE show but no tunes from the Chain CD either. So anyone who had never seen us before and then picked up a disc in the lobby went home, played it, and did not recognize a single song. Cooler yet, the people who came from the Martin Sexton show would have only recognized Photobooth from your set there since we did not play Uncomfortable, Day Job, One Lady, Omnivore or Campground Daughter. I didn't really plan it that way- I just made up a set list of songs that included all the new ones as well as stuff we rarely play without Ken, like Ayla and V-66. I tried to make a "Queen Bezo" quip the other night but realized it would've been too much of an in-joke.	A1. something's taking over 2. disgruntled lover 3. rock-and-roll camper 4. ayla 5. journal of lies 6. back to school B1. pick a gripe 2. candy cane 3. superhero 4. roger and mary o'malley and the invisible pirates 5. photobooth curtain 6. v-66