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IN THIS ISSUE:
Mardi Gras! Who's That Girl? Fan Profile News & Links Map of Ezra TTPY Hall of Fame Archives
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THE 3 B'S OF MARDI GRAS: BEADS, BOOZE AND BOURBON
STREET "Normal Town" came next and was a very nice surprise although it was sound checked, but not played, in Baton Rouge last month. The song featured a very sexy Mark Mullins trombone interlude. "Are you having a nice Friday evening so far?," Kevin inquired of the crowd. "We know we’ve been playing a lot in New Orleans lately," he continued "but it’s just so nice to see your shining faces." He then informed the crowd that we would see a new Ezra CD in September, and a greatest hits album for Christmas. The upcoming Christmas shopping season will apparently hold myriad choices for ezralites as "Wang Chung also has a greatest hits coming out at Christmas, so you’ll have two choices!"
The evening’s next song – "A Lifetime" – featured an impressive audience singalong and an exuberant KG toast to: "The beautiful people of New Orleans and surrounding metropolitan areas - Chalmette, Breaux Bridge, River Ridge, LaPlace, Zachary, Houma...all the places that really matter." This may not be funny to national readers, but the local crowd instantly found the humor in it! "Misunderstood" followed, and then "Rolling," which Tom introduced as one of his favorites from Closer. The band then gave a shout-out to their opener, Soul Rebels, and Kevin thanked the crowd for being from New Orleans. This comment, among others and their general attitude on stage, showed how much the guys love this city and their fans here. Mardi Gras seems to bring out the local pride in most everyone!
To the opening strains of "Live Again," KG mentioned that the next song featured the piano prowess of one James Arthur Payne. "When you learn to appreciate the more intricate aspects of music, some things start to sound simple – but that’s not the case. Jim Payne actually spent years studying piano with Van Cliburn in Austria!" Tonight’s version was one of the better ones that I have ever heard. Kevin was having so much fun running around the stage and playing back to back with Tom that he almost missed one of his lyric cues. I was happy when he recognized that Tommy D was "kicking ass in hair glitter," because Tom’s hair it really did deserve its own shout-out! We were then treated to a bit of Ludacris’ "Stand Up," and then came "Extra Ordinary," which featured some particularly sassy KG ass-shaking. Afterwards, the current Led Zeppelin guitar medley was preceded by a bit of John Mellencamp’s "Jack and Diane." After the Zep tribute, Travis started some second-line drumming, which prompted KG to do a little "Hey Pocky A-Way." This was the only Meters’ tune we got from the guys this weekend. Unlike most other Mardi Gras shows, we unfortunately didn’t get to hear the classic "They All Asked For You."
"This is our theme song," KG proclaimed, as the band launched into "King of New Orleans." During the breakdown, Kevin announced that, "We’re going to be here tomorrow night as well, then we won’t be back in New Orleans until September with our new album. Thank you guys so much for your constant love and support." |
Okay, this is when things got really crazy. Dina had taken a digital pic of the set list before the show, and after we zoomed in, I saw "Particle" was listed after "KONO." "Particle" happens to be my all-time favorite Ezra song, and it hasn’t been played live since Christmas 1999 (except for a more or less failed attempt at the Christmas show acoustic after-party). The proper live version was so lush and beautiful and I’ve been requesting/bugging KG and Tom to play it again for 4 years! I was told, as recently as last month, by both Mr. Griffin and Mr. Drummond, that it was just not going to happen. So, you can imagine that I shocked beyond belief to see it on the setlist! My fear was that it would be skipped, but when Kevin said, "We’re going to try something we haven’t tried in a few years," I knew we were getting P-A-R-T-I-C-L-E.! It was absolutely the highlight of the show. It’s just such a gorgeous song. "I’m sorry if my shoes stink," Tom apologized to the front row. It seems he had worn the same shoes to parades earlier in the day. Ick, Tom! KG then instructed Jim Payne to play some Johnny Cash for Tom, BTE’s very own "Man In Black," and we got a good bit of "Folsom Prison Blues." As the dark blue lights came on, the band started to play "At the Stars." "Let’s pretend it’s tomorrow morning when we’re all groggy," KG said, then went into a semi-falsetto version of Prince’s "When Doves Cry." "Aaron Neville ain’t got shit on Better Than Ezra!" He screamed. The guest horn section was spotlighted during "At the Stars." Kevin introduced the players as "Mark Mullins and Barnie Floyd." Mr. Graber does bear a striking resemblance to Mayberry’s Floyd the Barber!) "How can you not like a guy named ‘Barnie Floyd?’ You know, Jim Payne does a great Floyd the Barber impression?!" Jim proceeded to do his impression, and I must admit, it t was pretty great!
"Happy Day MaMa" came next, with Kevin telling us that "a couple weeks after we recorded this song we discovered that you can sing another song to it." What song is that? "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." by The Tokens. And KG spontaneously implored the crowd to "Give it up for Travis McNabb – he’s kept his mask on all night!" Tom and Kevin had discarded theirs a while back in the set. To end the main portion of the set, the guys offered up "Desperately Wanting" along with the usual bit of Nelly’s "Ride Wit Me."
The encore opened with "Recognize," which featured some extended slide guitar solos (my favorite thing in the whole world!) "Thanks for being here tonight for Part One!," said Tommy D. "Anybody get any amazing beads so far?" Kevin asked the crowd. He then went on to describe the "bead greed" that I mentioned earlier. After years of beads getting bigger and more elaborate, plain old beads just aren’t that exciting anymore. "I catch that shit and say, ‘What the fuck?!,’ then I throw that shit down!" It was then that Kevin spotted a guy in the crowd wearing a string of beads the size of baseballs. He pointed him out and the guy passed them up for KG to wear. Kevin remarked that "In the Faubourg Marigny (a somewhat sketchy NOLA neighborhood), these would go for 100 bucks!" He wore them as the band played the night’s final song, "Daylight." After blowing kisses to the crowd and shaking some hands, the BTE boys left the stage. It was a really great show, but their energy level and excitement only hinted at what the next night’s show would bring. Wow! I’d like to take this opportunity to give some personal shout-outs to: my partner in crime, Dina, with whom I have so much in common, and Kelly and Merle from San Francisco... You rock!! (More Mardi Gras Act-Shun on page 3). |
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