| Author | Message | ||
     Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 87 Registered: 10-2004 |
So, I think those of us who attended the San Francisco show on the 17th, at Slim's, may have the, er, privaledge of saying we've been to (what has to be) one of the very few, if not only, Go-Betweens shows to have had a fight break out during the set. In the middle of German Farmhouse, Robert stopped the band, looked off to an area of the audience where we had just noticed a bunch of people clearing away, and asked, very concerned, "What's going on over here?" After a few awkward seconds of stunned silence, this guy starts whining, somewhat childlike, about how, "this guy behind me keeps yapping and yapping, and I keep telling him to shut up so we can enjoy the show, and now he wants to fight me!" At this point, Robert and the rest of the band have this look of utter disbelief that this is actually happening, in SF no less. Then Grant stepped up to the mic and started singing, "If you're going to San Francisco be sure to wear some flowers in your hair..." to which everyone started cracking up. And then they went right back into German Farmhouse. What was really funny about this guy, though, was that he had little microphones attached to the rims of his glasses, and so he was telling the guy behind him to shut up because he was bootlegging the show. What's funnier is that I remember this guy from the last Go-Bee's show in SF, and he was standing right by my friends and I, complete with little microphones on his glasses. Between every song, one of my friends would get particularly spastic and scream and whoop and whatnot, and each time, this guy seriously gave us the most hostile scowl you could imagine, which only made my friend shout even louder. And so I can imagine Mr. Microphones probably got testy with the wrong person last night. But, there's more. Between almost every single song, especially in the first half of the show, this completely drunken, shitfaced, loutish woman kept yelling out "Lavender." She'd even yell it right over Robert, interrupting his between-song banter, which was clearly irritating the band, prompting several people in the audience to tell her to shut the fuck up. And then of course she did the seemingly obligatory drunken dance of bumping into everyone around her and stepping on their feet. Toward the end of the set, she looked at her boyfriend with this sad expression and said, "I don't think they're going to play 'Lavender'." Gee, really? My girlfriend kept joking afterwards about all the hostile and freaky people the Go-Betweens seem to attract. But, it was an absolutely amazing show; the best I've seen them. They were a bit stiff towards the beginning, but loosened up over the course of the show, and by the time they got to an epic, rocking version of "Draining the Pool for You," Robert was in typically awesome form. They played a few more song from Rachel Worth than I would've liked (that's my least favorite album), but the songs from OA all sounded incredible, and half the set consisted songs from their 80s albums, so I was happy. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 37 Registered: 04-2005 |
Wow! You know what they say...if you want to see a show with lots of fights and tense band/audience interaction, you either go see the Brian Jonestown Massacre or the Go-Betweens. Grant's response to the problem was classic! Wonder if Mr. Microphones reads this message board? I'd like to hear his side of the story. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 88 Registered: 10-2004 |
Agreed. Clearly the guy who started trading punches with Mr. Microphones was two sheets to the wind. And, obviously, no matter how annoying Mr. Microphones may have been, I certainly can't comprehend how his behavior (or anyone's behavior, being the hippie-raised pacifist, and just plain weakling, that I am) could bother someone to the point of starting a fist-fight! A raucous evening. Still can't get over the irony of it. | ||
| Sean Alvin Member Username: Hammjammin Post Number: 6 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jeff, we must've been stasnding right next to each other. Queen Lavender was standing directly in front of me and was talking to me the whole show. When she first got there she attempted to enlist me in the lavender crusade, but me being the go-bs nerd that i am informed her that they weren't playing it on the tour. After the fight she quieted down until the encore, when people were yelling out requests left and right. I am proud to have had them oblige me twice in a row with 'Cattle and Cane' and then 'People Say'. That's right, they heard me and changed it up.... of course they did. Anyway, probably one of my favorite shows of all-time. Seriously. Robert is hilarious; how 'bout when he was strutting around after Make Her Day? Highlights-- Draining the Pool For You, Here Comes the City... heck, the entirety of all three encores was incredible... Devil's eye Dive for your memory Too much of one thing Clouds Head full of steam Cattle and cane People say Love goes on You can't beat that encore. and people were clamoring for a fourth one too, but either slim's or the go-bs wouldn't have it. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 89 Registered: 10-2004 |
Sean, that's funny! Ms. Lavander started out being sort of in front of us but to our left quite a bit, but by the middle of the set was right smack in front of us, and stayed there for the remainder of the show. I was the tall-ish blond guy in a black leather jacket, self-consciously slouching down so the woman behind me could see, while my girlfriend was the short brunette standing in front of me, whose foot was stomped on by the heeled shoe of Ms. Lavender herself. After that we backed up a bit, trying to get a buffer zone between us and Queen Lavender. I agree about the encores being particularly fab. I was especially taken by "Head Full of Steam," and "Love Goes On." I also loved Grant's guitar-less performance during "Cattle and Cane." When he's sans guitar, he totally doesn't know what to do with himself, so he started walking around the stage, making vaguely homeboy-ish hand gestures, and eventually climbed up onto one of the side monitors and rode out a lot of the song there. Very entertaining. | ||
| Parisa Hudson Member Username: Ms_lavander Post Number: 1 Registered: 06-2005 |
first of all, big apologies to everyone! sorry Jeff, and please apologize to your girlfriend! sorry Sean! the eve was no unlike me! so I worked so hard not to peek and checkout this web-site and read the previous setlists.....but right before the show, I started to chat with the the sound guy in the back, quickly peeked at the the eve's list, and the sound guy (with the heavy auzzie accent) convinced me that if I asked for LAVENDER, then I it would be sung! I can blame it on my BLACK MOODS or my TASMANIA so big apologies for going crazy! and I swear to never do such horror to my co-show buddies. I did manage to get GW, Robert and band to sign my black sleeve in a gold pen, so I guess the least I can do is to post in on this site for everyone's enjoyment. highlights for me, despite non-empathy for Lavender: Policy of Truth Cover from the COURT & SPARK Born To A Family Boundary Rider Poison In The Walls TOOO Much of One Thing and especially Surfing Magazines.....I let it go by, I let it go by..... cheers, Ms Lav"a"nder | ||
| Matthew Berlyant Member Username: Incarag Post Number: 5 Registered: 06-2005 |
Did anyone notice that at the Southpaw show in Brooklyn, there was an extremely annoying skinhead guy who was drunkenly shouting "Oceans Apart" between songs and bumping into everyone near him and hooting and hollering loudly during their set as well? He walked by me (I was towards the right-hand side of the stage and fairly close up) to go to the bar (where miraculously they kept serving him) and I almost decked him because I was so angry. Luckily, he simmered down after that, so the annoyance factor after that was minimal. With my luck, he's probably on this board and will tell me to fuck off or something since Ms. Lavender is evidently a board member as well. :-) | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 91 Registered: 10-2004 |
wow, the *real* ms. lavander. apology accepted (sorry, couldn't resist). i sort of wondered if you'd turn up 'round here. sorry to be so harsh when describing you, but you know, i was just afraid of robert being unable to engage in his usual witty between-song banter, what with all the commotion. ;) i love lavander too, and i wished they'd played it, but being the profoundly dorkish fan that i am, i already knew they weren't including it in their sets. it's funny, i imagine most of us probably expect a relatively mellow evening when we go to a go-betweens show, so when fights break out and people get drunk and hollar and fall into other audience members, it harshes one's mellow way more than it would at a ted nugent or iron maiden show or something. | ||
| Sean Alvin Member Username: Hammjammin Post Number: 7 Registered: 05-2005 |
haha! Queen Lavander herself! I was pleased that you seemed to know all the songs and weren't just some drunk person who came to the show and heard an mp3 of lavander that afternoon and knew nothing else about the band. i was one of the two guys who asked your friend if he was australian and he seemed offended by it. don't know if you remember that or not, as you were having a wonderful time...on beers. me too. The soundman set you up, because the band didn't seem to budge an inch when you first yelled it before they'd even played a single song. anyway, jeff, you must've been a few feet behind and to the right of me. Would've preferred 'bye bye pride' in the encore to 'love goes on'. i guess that's probably the only way the encore could've gone any better. Shit, they played a ton of 16LL songs, didn't they? Love Goes On Devil's Eye Streets Was There Anything Dive | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 92 Registered: 10-2004 |
Sean - don't forget the acoustic version of Clouds, which makes a whopping 6 songs from 16LL. As for me, I'd have loved to see them play 'Part Company' at any point during the show, but what are you gonna do? | ||
| Roger Griffin Member Username: Roger Post Number: 20 Registered: 11-2004 |
Wow, another Altamont! The opportunities to say things like "If that cat doesn't cool it, we're not going to play" Or "Come oooonnn.. people! Why are we fighting?" | ||
| Matthew Berlyant Member Username: Incarag Post Number: 6 Registered: 06-2005 |
"Hello all you babies. There's so many of you" | ||
| Sean Alvin Member Username: Hammjammin Post Number: 8 Registered: 05-2005 |
Yes, part company would've been choice. but how could i have forgotten clouds? probably the highlight of the show for me. |