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IN THIS ISSUE:
2004 Christmas The Bootlog Some Ezra Sights From New Orleans Listening Party Update News & Links TTOY Hall of Fame Cowbell Hall of Fame BTE Impressions Volume 2
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2004 CHRISTMAS SHOWS (CONT'D)
Saturday Night (Cont'd) As the song ended and Howie left the
stage Kevin told the audience that they were now in a “death spiral
towards oblivion” even though he was still “detecting a little
restraint.” “A Lifetime” followed these comments and the rendition was
as bold as this reporter has ever heard and the sing-a-long just as
passionate.
Keeping the momentum going, Kevin started up the Ramones’ “Sedated” as
Tom, Jim and Travis formed the “Sincerely Me Drum huddle.” As the song
kicked into the highest gear possible, a topless “Drunk Santa” (Rod
Ryan) pirouetted across the stage, beer in hand. Kevin changed up
the lyrics a little emphasize that it was indeed a “VERY nasty Greyhound
bus” and then proceeded to “call out” Travis, egging him on nose to
nose. He then proceeded to “lunar walk” to his mic as the show
officially hit “kick ass” level.
“Desperately Wanting” immediately followed “Sincerely Me.” As the guys bounded around the stage and crowd began to move you could feel the floor of the HoB begin to shake. A “Bruce Throwdown” move from Kevin led into a Bono impression of dubious quality: “We’ve played a lot of places *aaggh*, a lot of cities *aaggh*, a lot of lands *aaggh*, but there’s only one place in the world like New Orleans!” Continuing in this vein – and donning his BTE persona – Kevin continued “the heart of the matter in New Orleans and the South is that people are sexy. No matter where we are – New York, Chicago – if you meet a hottie, you bet she’s gonna say ‘I’m from Dallas, Baton Rouge, Biloxi.’ Right now the sh*t is working good! Maybe it’s something in the water?” After a brief cover of Nelly’s “Ride wit Me,” Kevin asked light man Jim Farrar to kick things up with a “pulses of light.” He told the assembled crowd that Mr. Claus was watching and they’d better be good or they’d get coal in their stockings. Then, for some unknown reason, Travis started a “bump, bump, bump” beat and Griffin performed his very own “Ashley Simpson Dance,” causing the crowd to ripple with laughter before they launched into a rock ‘n’ roll ending that shook the HoB to its very core.
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The Encore Next came a simply wonderful cover of U2's “One” song
by Howie with Kevin largely on backing vocals and Tom, Travis and Jim
backing him up. Although Day’s act is a little different from most and
he may not appeal to all, his voice has an undeniable soul that made
this cover yet another highlight of the night. He was singing so
intently he nose was pushing up against Tom’s mic with his nose.
As usual, some quick with entered the mix. An audience member shouted “play ‘Cold Year’” and Kevin quipped “Hey we recorded it, but we haven’t figured out how to play it yet.” For some reason, this humorous pause and the transition from acoustic to electric instruments gave Jim Payne a window to being playing a teaser of Foreigner’s “Cold as Ice” on keyboards. Kevin looked back at him with a grin on his face and proceeded to
tell everyone how Jim can do the “most amazing impression of Lou Gramm
doing ‘Double Vision.’” Jim responded with another keyboard teaser of
SuperTramp’s “Goodbye Stranger” and Kevin sang a little.
“We’re ripping baby, we’re ripping!” Kevin proclaimed and the band launched full-tilt into “In the Blood,” the last song for the evening. Obviously the evening couldn’t end without some crowd participation to “jump us off the precipice,” so Kevin asked for an able cowbell volunteer from the audience. Who better than Kristen from New York City sporting a t-shirt that labeled her a “Classy Broad.” As she got on stage and grabbed her designated instrument, Kevin instructed her to “take the crowd by the short hairs and lift them up so that Santa will turn his sleigh around and come back here to New Orleans” And she did just that as she “used the unused parts of the stage.” As the snow began to fall yet again, she did here thing as KG screamed “Kristen, you’re kicking ass!” and “I love you!”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the story of the
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