Tonight, I made my first trip to Studio LuLoo's.  John Shaughnessy had been asking me to go for a while, and I kept putting it off or missing it, but tonight, OutSet was the featured act, and I figured if I was ever going to go, this would be the time...

When I got inside, there were three ladies on stage.  I think they went by the Boogie Woogie Beauties or something...  I have to admit, my expectations were a bit low.  Considering it was an open mic and they were singing to music played from an iPod while reading the lyrics, I was expecting it to be just a step above karaoke night.  But when they started singing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, I was blown away!  They were phenomenal and had beautiful voices.  They sang a second song I don't remember, then finished with Louis Armstrong's What A Wonderful World that sounded really nice.  These three ladies really had beautiful voices, and I was already very impressed with the high quality talent that LuLoo attracted.

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John Shaughnessy played next and was accompanied by Steve Goldstein, playing electric.  They started off with Next of Kin, then Every Good Thing Must Come to an End, and finally wrapped up with what is currently my favorite JS song, In the Morning.  I liked the lead guitar parts that got added, and I thought the solos in Every Good Thing Must Come to an End and In the Morning were especially nice.  However, the guitarist wasn't too familiar with Every Good Thing..., so he had some trouble with that one most of the way through.  It was nice to see John play a few songs, but I hope to see some more of him at the Tin Angel on Thursday.

The next performer was Jerry Thompson.  He was an older guy who was playing some type of four-string acoustic guitar, something I had never seen before.  He played a couple depressing songs, then finished with a very odd one about granny getting a tattoo.  I wasn't too sure I really liked his style of music at first, but it quickly grew on me by the second song, and I thought he had a pretty nice voice.  So he contributed a few more nice songs to the open mic.

Next, it was time for the featured performer, OutSet, which consisted of just Phil and Matt on acoustic guitars for this show.  I actually forget what song they started off with, although I do remember Phil saying it was an older one (I think it may have been Life on an Island, but I'm really not sure).  I may have been a little distracted during the song because Phil seemed to be having some real trouble getting used to the room and the sound (I think the sound may have been a little overpowering as it did seem kind of loud).  He seemed really off for most of the song, so it was a rough start.  During the song, they were joined by John Shaughnessy with some impromptu bongo drumming from across the room, but I thought that actually helped them settle in a little as the song went on, and Phil asked John to keep playing along as they continued.

OutSet's next song was Call My Bluff, and Phil seemed to be settling in and getting more relaxed by this point.  However, some of Matt's lead parts were really soft, so that took away from the song a little.  After mentioning the show John has coming up later this week, they moved on with 26, which Phil explained was about a girl he was with a long time ago.  The song was good, but it feels like it's missing something without the bass part that was always much more prominent in the live shows than on the album.

Phil introduced the next song as their "big one," Yesterday Night, which raised a question from the crowd, so Phil had to explain that Last Night was too common a phrase and he wanted it to be different.  They then finished off their short set with a brand new song that Phil had just written this week and taught to Matt outside before the show.  The song is called Long Way From Home, which is up on their myspace page, and it is already a great song, even if it hasn't been fully fleshed out yet.  Matt did a great job picking up the song so quickly, and it worked really well.  I thought it was risky closing the set with a brand new song, but it ended up being a great idea as it was one of their best songs of the night.  The set seemed to get off to a rough start, but they settled in quickly and looked like they were having fun on stage, and it ended up being a good, albeit too short, set.

Getting back to the open mic was an African man named Chucky.  He played the house acoustic guitar and sang two songs in his native language as well as one that was in English.  He kept saying that he was a drummer, not a guitarist, and that he felt weird doing the open mic, but he did a really good job.  His guitar parts weren't overly complicated, but I found them interesting, and I thought he had an especially nice voice (if you haven't noticed, I was VERY impressed with the vocal talent at LuLoo's).

The next performer was Zach Griffin.  He said he hadn't really planned to come  to the open mic tonight, so he wasn't sure what he was going to play.  I don't know the first song he played, but he followed it with two covers I knew.  First was Bob Dylan's Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn), which was really weird because I had just seen the Black Crowes cover the same song a week ago.  He then finished with another Dylan tune, All Along the Watchtower.

The next performer was Sara O'Brien, who played two songs on acoustic guitar with Steve Goldstein accompanying her on electric guitar.  She wasn't sure what to play, but to people asked for Key West, so she decided to play that.  First, she talked about the story within the song that involved her visiting some friends in Key West who had invited her, but they were shocked to see it because they invited everyone they knew but never really meant it.  Then it somehow involved a pilates instructor and a 75-year old woman in red shorts and tank top too...  I forget what her second song was, but they were both nice songs, and Steve had some very cool lead parts in them.

Finally, the guy who had been doing sound all night did one last song to close the show with Steve once again joining in on electric guitar.  He said it was a song about Satan, so he promptly put on a red cloak and broke out a red pitchfork, although he had to leave it on the floor most of the time while he was playing.  The song was a country/rock song where the singer tells a story over the music, a la Johnny Cash doing Boy Named Sue, which is what it made me think of.  Then, the guy proceeded to go nuts, climbing up on a chair then kneeling on the floor, all while Steve played some cool lead parts.  It was a very high energy ending to a fun night.

Studio LuLoo is a small, very intimate place, but they do put together a good open mic (voted the best in South Jersey).  I was very impressed with the talent here, and it was certainly a good time.  I'll have to make sure I don't wait too long before getting back there again...

This week, the Black Crowes were back in town for three nights, and I had tickets for the first night.  I haven't been to South Street in a while, but I thought I knew where I was going...  Unfortunately, taking the wrong bridge, then going in the wrong direction made me a little late for the show...

When I got to the TLA, it was already pretty full.  However, it's not a very big place, and I was able to work my way through the crowd a bit, so I ended up being in a pretty good spot.  I also managed to get there during the Crowes' first song, Movin' On Down the Line.  They then played Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution, starting off the show with two of the best songs off their new album.  Chris thanked the crowd as the backup singers left the stage, and the band moved on with Cypress Tree, and the show was starting off really strong.

Next, the band slowed things down with Cursed Diamond, which included a really nice outro.  The background singers then returned to the stage for Paint An 8, which I'm not too familiar with.  The next song started with Rich Robinson and Luther Dickinson, both playing guitar.  That soon led into a jam with the rest of the band, which eventually turned into Bring On, Bring On.  The next song was another slower one, There's Gold In Them Hills.  During the song, they were doing some interesting stuff with the lights, and it looked like they were making a cat's face on the screen behind the band, among other things.  I have no idea what the significance of the images could have been though... 

For the next song, an acoustic guitar was brought out for Chris Robinson, and they played a cover of The Band's Long Black Veil.  After that song, Steve Gorman came out from behind his drum kit and down to the front of the stage to play a djembe while Rich switched over to a 12-string acoustic guitar for Whoa Mule.  The song also included some harmonica parts from Chris and some nice slide guitar by Luther, who impressed me throughout the show.

Chris introduced the next song by saying that Rich had a special summertime song that he wanted to play.  Chris got an electric guitar while Rich took over on lead vocals and the band covered Bob Dylan's Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn), which was pretty cool and the band was playing it for the first time ever.  They followed that with Downtown Money Waster, which isn't a song I'm particularly fond of, but it ended with a cool jam.  It started with a nice keyboard solo by Adam MacDougall before Rich took most of the focus with his guitar part.  Rich then switched guitars during the jam, and the band moved right into Thorn In My Pride.  During that song, they got into another jam, which included an extended drum solo by Steve while the rest of the band stopped playing and looked on.  They eventually joined back in, continuing the jam with Chris adding some more harmonica parts, then transitioned back into Thorn In My Pride to finish it off.  After that song, they played Sting Me, which was followed by No Speak No Slave, then they finished off the set with Wounded Bird. 

The band came back for an encore, and Chris got an acoustic guitar again.  They started the encore with a jam, then led into Waiting Guilty.  Chris then kept his guitar as he and Rich shared lead vocals on the last song of the night, a cover of The Band's Don't Do It, which was a nice ending to the show.

Overall, I thought the show was just alright.  They started off strong, and the set ended strong, but the bulk of the show focused on a lot of their slower songs, which I thought made the show drag a bit.  I kept waiting for them to get it going a little more, but it just didn't really happen.  So I was a little disappointed with the show, and I've seen the set lists for the next two shows, which I think look like they may have been more fun.  I guess I should have gone to more than just the one show this time around, but I'm sure I'll see the Crowes again soon...

Thanks to Crowesbase.com for the set list...

I've got a couple blogs to catch up on, but I thought I'd do this one while it's still fresh in my mind...

Tonight featured the debut of the all-new, all-different OutSet.  But first, Derek Fuhrman from the Crash Motive was opening the show.  I'm not terribly familiar with the band's songs, but Derek did mention that most of the songs he was playing were from his latest album, Consequence.  I seem to remember Not Giving Up and No Tomorrow, Just Tonight being included in his set, among others.  Toward the end of his set, Derek played a cover of Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come. He talked about how much he likes the song, but it is one that is often selected on American Idol.  When those contestants sing the song, it is usually either great or horrible, and Derek is always worried his performance of it will fall into the second category.  He decided to go ahead and play the song, despite his concern, and he did a very good job with it.  He then finished his set with Believe It, another song from the Crash Motive's latest album.

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This was the second time I've seen Derek perform solo.  I had seen Omnisoul (the Crash Motive's former name) a few times before that, and I always came away thinking it was okay, but nothing great.  However, I have liked Derek's solo sets lately.  I think I may need to give the full band another chance sometime...  If I like Derek on his own, I should like seeing him play the same songs with a full band...

OutSet was due up next, but the set started with Phil taking the stage by himself.  The sound guy introduced the band over the PA, but Phil was greeted with silence.  That must have been a really strange feeling for him...  I think the problem was that he was introduced as OutSet, so people were probably confused and wondering where the rest of the band was.  Phil explained that he had some newer songs he wanted to play before bringing the full band out to play some of the band's older material.

Phil started off the set by playing Sweet Stuff by himself, which sounded very good.  He then introduced Lauryn Salvo, who he said was the first new member he had found after the band split up.  Phil then proceeded to play two new songs I had never heard before with Lauryn singing harmonies.  The first song was called Against The Wall, which was a nice song, but the bridge felt really out of place, like it came from another song and just got dropped into this one.  Phil then described the next song as being about the rough winter he's recently gone though.  The song was called Upside Down World, which was a very sad song that also sounded very good.

At that point, Phil brought up the rest of the band to join him and Lauryn.  The band consisted of Matt Gentle on lead guitar, Danny Batdorf on bass, and the band's original drummer, Frank DiElsi.  They started off with the clean version of King of the Klingers, but the bass was way too loud, and there was some kind of buzz coming from somewhere.  They got the bass fixed after a few songs, but that buzz lasted for most of the night.  I also thought the solo in the bridge sounded a little strange, so overall, it was a bit of a rough start for the band.

Before the next song, the sound guy asked to have the amp for the electric guitar turned up, possibly to compensate for the bass I thought was too loud.  However, that ended up drowning out Phil quite a bit, which didn't make much sense to me since he was the most familiar with the music.  It seemed to get better later on, but for a while, it was very hard to hear Phil's acoustic guitar, including on their next song, Misbehave.  I was sad to see the part Sue used to sing on that song lacking, but it's a tough choice between dropping that part or dropping the harmony when you only have two singers.  Maybe they'll be able to do both when their keyboardist joins them, since he is also supposed to sing.

Before moving on, Phil talked about the shirt he was wearing, which was from the first time OutSet played as a band at Philly U, about 4 years ago.  He mentioned that Frank was his drummer at the time, and they decided to play one of their older songs that Frank liked back then, Really Wanna.  That was the first song that I thought went pretty well during the set, so it gave me some hope that they would improve as the set progressed.

For the next song, Danny decided that he would teach the crowd how to clap along to the next song.  Phil got everyone to speed it up a little bit, and they played Fly, including repeating the first verse again at the end of the song, making it a little more substantial.  When they finished the song, Danny apologized for being dyslexic and skipping a song to get to Fly. Phil pointed out that Danny didn't need to apologize because no one would have known that the songs were out of order if he hadn't said anything.

OutSet's next song was Life on an Island, which sounded pretty good, although I'm not so sure I like the new part that Lauryn sings in the chorus.  Maybe I just need to get used to it though.  They followed that song up with Who Are You?  That's usually one of my favorite songs, but Matt had some real trouble with the solo, so that hurt the song for me.  After they finished, Phil mentioned that people sometimes think poorly of him after hearing that song, so he explained that it was actually about an old friend of his, so it wasn't based on Phil's own life.

The band's next song was Dreaming Out Loud, which went well, and the band seemed to start coming together a little better from that point on.  Their next song was a cover of Dion's Runaround Sue.  It was something I never would have expected, but it sounded pretty good, and it's actually a song I remember liking when I was a kid.  After quickly promoting some other shows that were coming up, they moved on to Call My Bluff, which seemed a little fast at first, but I think they were going for more of a rock edge with the song as opposed to the slower, bluesy version on DANB. 

Before moving on, Phil talked a little bit about being on WSTW last weekend and that they had played the album version of Yesterday Night on that show.  He also mentioned that the band was planning to work on another album later this year.  That led into the band playing Yesterday Night, which I thought went really well and Matt nailed the solo!  They followed that with 26, which sounded good, but they ended up dropping the guitar solo, and the bass part seemed like it was simplified a bit, so some of the things that made the song unique were gone.  Phil also told Danny to move out of his way at one point, so Phil could share a mic with Lauryn.  That just made the move seem forced, so that took away from the song a bit too.

After 26, Phil announced that they would end the show with a closer that they used to play a lot but hadn't used in a while.  Obviously, he was talking about Walk in the Sun.  I was glad to know I was going to get to hear the song again, but I was a little worried too.  That song was always a highlight, and I was worried that the new band wouldn't be able to live up to that standard, which would be disappointing.  However, they ended up doing a very good job with the song.  The solo/jam section at the end wasn't as long as it used to be, but I didn't really expect that it would.  I liked what Matt did with his solo too.  He didn't try to copy what Brett used to do, but he came up with his own solo that also sounded really good.  There wasn't a bass solo or drum solo, but they still had a nice strong ending to the show.

Overall, I thought OutSet did a good job.  It was obvious that they hadn't been playing together long, but I think it went well for their first show together.  Frank did a good job on drums, and Lauryn's harmonies sounded nice.  Matt seemed to have some difficulty early in the show, but he seemed to get more comfortable as the show went on, as did Danny.  And of course, Phil sounded great as the frontman, as he always did.  It's strange to see these new people playing songs that I've been listening to for years, but I can see some potential in them.  Hopefully, as they continue to play together and get more comfortable with one another, the band will start to gel, and they'll continue to improve.  There were points tonight where I thought things clicked and they sounded really good, but eventually, they'll need to stretch that out through the course of a full show.

After seeing Eddie Vedder perform with REM, I was off to see him play with his own band on Friday.  As he did the last time I saw them, Vedder started off the show with a solo song before the opening band came out.  He played a very nice acoustic version of the Beatles' You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, which was a great start to the show.  In the middle of the song, Eddie stopped to chastise a security guard for making some girl put down a sign she was holding.  He told the guy that everyone was having a good time, so he didn't need to be starting problems.  Vedder also commented on how good it was to see so many people there so early because they were in for a treat with the opening band.

That band was Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.  I had heard the name before, but I really didn't know anything about the band.  I thought their songs had a pretty good beat, and they played a variety of rock songs during their set.  Occasionally, a song might get a little tired or repetitive, like the one time when the lead singer sang "it's alright" over a dozen times.  But overall, I thought their music was pretty good, and I may actually try to pick up one of their CDs sometime...

After a somewhat long delay, Pearl Jam finally took the stage to some piano entrance music, although I have no idea what it was.  They started off their set with one of their newer songs, Severed Hand, then followed it up with Brain of J, which sounded great.  That was followed by Animal, which is another great song, with Eddie letting the crowd sing parts of the chorus. 

Pearl Jam slowed things down a bit with Dissident as their next song.  Eddie then talked a bit about the show they had done the night before, then they moved on with Low Light.  The next song was the somewhat rare Down, which was fun to hear.  They then slowed things down a bit again with Nothing As It Seems, but picked it up again with the next song, Green Disease.

The band's next song was Love Boat Captain, which was followed by Eddie Vedder attempting to do a song by himself.  He only got a couple lines into the song before he forgot how it went and gave up.  I know it was very familiar, but I didn't have time to figure out what song it was he was attempting to play.  He had the band get involved again, and they continued the show with Corduroy, which is a great song and really got things going.  That was followed by Evenflow, which is always a highlight.  It featured some nice guitar and drum solos, and you could barely hear Vedder because the crowd was so loud singing along with him.

The next song was another rare one, Thin Air, which they hadn't played in about a year and a half, but it sounded really nice.  Pearl Jam then picked up the pace again with Daughter, which included a bit of Edwin Starr's War after the bridge, where Vedder let the crowd get involved again by letting them sing some of the lines.  That was followed by Insignificance, then WMA.  After that, they played Do the Evolution, which was a lot of fun, then they played Whipping, which was awesome! 

Before the next song, Eddie told the crowd how well they'd been singing all night, so he asked if they'd give him a break by singing part of the next song.  He started playing Better Man by himself, and the crowd quickly took over, singing the whole first verse, into the chorus.  After that first chorus, the rest of the band joined in and Vedder took over again.  I love that song, and it was really cool to hear so many people singing along to it.  Finally, Pearl Jam ended their set with Why Go, which is another great song, included an awesome guitar solo, and provided an amazing end to the band's set!

After a break, the band came back and Vedder thanked the crowd for being so patient while the band decided what to play next, and again commented on what great singers everyone had been.  They decided to start off their encore with what may be the best one-minute song ever, Lukin.  Next, they played Comatose, which is one of the best songs on their last album.  They followed that with another really good song, Given to Fly, which sounded a little fast.  After the first two high-energy songs, the band may have had too much adrenaline to play the song at its normal pace.

Before continuing, Eddie Vedder talked about how the last time they were at this venue, they brought out some wrongly convicted men who were recently proven innocent.  One of the guys had a father that worked for mass transit as a train driver, and he had given Eddie one of his father's hats.  Eddie said he'd been looking forward to wearing the hat in Philly, but I guess Camden was close enough...  He put the hat on, and they played Rearviewmirror.  Toward the end, they broke into a bit of a slow jam, and Vedder started using an e-bow to tease part of Life Wasted.  I actually thought the jam hurt the momentum of the song a bit, but they really picked it up again by the end, and they finished their encore very strong!

When the band came back, they started their second encore with an emotional acoustic rendition of Footsteps.  They followed that up with Once, which they hadn't played in about a year and sounded great.  Next, they played Alive, which is another great song.  They then finished off the show with a cover of The Who's Baba O'Riley, which was another song they hadn't played in about a year.  During the song, Eddie started banging his tambourines together and throwing them out into the crowd.  He also got the crowd involved, singing along to the chorus at the end, and ran back and forth along the stage to shake fans' hands as the song was ending.

Pearl Jam put on another great show, as they always do.  The whole thing was good, but I thought it really picked up from Corduroy on.  It's amazing how many good songs the band has, and for a while, it seemed like every song they started was one I was excited to hear.  I kind of wish I had gotten tickets to the show the night before as well because I'm sure that show was just as good!  I'm already looking forward to the next time Pearl Jam comes to the area!

Last Wednesday, I went to the Mann Center for the first time.  I'd heard of it before, but I didn't really know what it was like. It's an open-air pavilion, similar to the Susquehanna Bank Center or PNC Bank Arts Center, but it's primarily made of wood, and the sides are open, which I think really helps the sound.  At the Susquehanna Bank Center, I always have issues with the way the sound bounces around inside, so the open sides avoid that problem.  There's also a little balcony in the Mann Center, which is where I was sitting, and it wasn't that bad.  Between bands, sitting up there watching people milling around as they made their way to and from the concession stands made me think of being at one of the pavilions at a theme park...

A band called The National was opening the show.  I got there when they were about halfway through their set.  The band had six main members with a lead singer, two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, and a sixth guy who moved between two keyboards and a violin throughout the set.  They also had two other guys on horns that joined the rest of the band on some songs.  The sound was a little boomy during their set, with the bass echoing up in the balcony, but the music sounded pretty good.  They fit in with the show pretty well, as they had an indie rock sound similar to the other two bands.  I didn't love their set, but they were entertaining, and it was a decent start to the show.

Next, Modest Mouse came out to what sounded like an air raid siren.  I've liked the band's music for a while, but this was the first time I got to see them live.  The live band had six members with two guitarists, a keyboardist, a bassist, and two drummers/percussionists.  Sometimes, both drummers were playing their drum kits, but sometimes one or the other would play various types of percussion instruments. The band started off their set with a funky song, The View.  Lead singer Isaac Brock then broke out his banjo to play Satin in a Coffin, which also happens to be the song following The View on Good News For People Who Love Bad News.  The next song was Dance Hall, then they played their first songs from their most recent album and the first not on Good News..., playing Fire It Up and Dashboard.

Modest Mouse went back to their Good News... album by breaking out the banjo again for Bukowski.  After that, they moved on to an even older song, Trucker's Atlas, which was a good rock song.  After that, they slowed things down with another older song, Here It Comes, then picked things back up right away with We've Got Everything.  That was followed by Paper Thin Walls, which is one of my favorite songs and was also the only song of the night from The Moon and Antarctica.  Modest Mouse then finished off their set with Spitting Venom, which I hadn't heard before, but the song rocked, and it was a great finish to a very strong set.  Apparently, that song also included a lyrical tease of I Came As A Rat, but I totally missed it.

Having never seen Modest Mouse before, I wasn't sure how much I'd like their show.  A lot of their songs are kind of mellow and pretty unusual, so I thought it might be a pretty low-key show that could get a little boring.  However, they had a lot of energy and played a lot of exciting songs, but mixed things up well with some slower stuff.  It was a really fun set, but my one complaint would be that they had some feedback issues throughout the show, which got a little annoying at times.  Other than that, I thought it Modest Mouse's set was great, and I'm going to have to make sure I catch them during their next headlining tour because I'm sure it will be even better!

REM, of course, was headlining the show.  The had a pretty cool video screen behind them that was used to flash a bunch of live shots, often in black and white or black and some other color (i.e. green or red).  It was a really cool look, and it almost felt like watching a music video as it was being shot.

The band started off strong with one of their older songs, These Days, then followed it up with a new song from their upcoming album Living Well Is The Best Revenge, and both songs rocked!  That was followed by What's the Frequency, Kenneth?, which has always been one of my favorite REM rock songs and was one of the first songs that got me interested in the band.  They followed that with one of their oldest songs, Wolves, Lower, then followed it up with another new song, Man-Sized Wreath. 

REM slowed things down a bit with their next song, Turn You Inside Out, which sounded really good.  Michael Stipe then introduced the band's next song as being their first 1 single in Japan.  The song was Imitation of Life, which was a surprise for the simple fact that I can't believe they didn't hit number one in Japan until Reveal came out... 

Before moving on, Michael Stipe paused and asked the crowd if it was raining outside.  Luckily, I was in the balcony, so I didn't have to worry about that, but it sounded like it wasn't raining at the time anyway based on the crowd's response.  Stipe then explained that they have been debuting a new song at each show during the tour.  The next song was the debut for the night, which was called Staring Down the Barrel, a song that ended up not making it onto the new album.  After that song, Stipe started talking about the hostage crisis back in the '80s, and commented on how it led to so many years of Reagan and Bush presidencies.  That led into a song about the hostage crisis, Ignoreland, which was great!

REM's next song was Bad Day, which I hadn't heard before as it only appeared on one of their hits albums, but it rocked and featured Stipe on harmonica toward the end of the song.  That was followed by one of their new songs, Hollow Man, which started with a very nice piano intro.  Stipe then previewed the next song, mentioning that it was a rare song for them to play, and it had been a very long time since they played it in Philly.  The song was The Great Beyond, which is a slower song that sounded really nice.  After that was another new song called Houston, which Stipe described as being about Hurricane Katrina and the wonderful job that George Bush did in helping people in its aftermath.

Following Houston, Michael Stipe again took some time to talk to the crowd.  He talked about the next song saying that the first time he played it he thought it was awful.  One of the other band members managed to convince him to put it on the Hi Fi album, and it has since become on of his favorite songs to play.  They then played the song he was talking about, Electrolite, which sounded very nice.  The next song was the first one they played from the Up album, Walk Unafraid, then picked things up a bit with The One I Love. 

For the next song, Mike Mills moved over to one of the pianos on stage, and the band played Find The River.  Stipe mentioned that the song had been requested backstage, and I think he also may have mentioned that Pearl Jam was there for the show at that point.  I think Peter Buck took over on piano next while Mills took over on acoustic guitar, and everyone gathered around the piano for a nice acoustic version of Let Me In. 

REM picked things up a bit again by playing Departure next, then Life And How To Live It.  They followed that up with Orange Crush, which was fantastic, then finished off their set with I'm Gonna DJ.  During the song, Stipe walked around on some of the barriers between sections of the crowd, interacting with as many people as he could.  I was surprised they would end the set with a song that many people may not be familiar with, but it sounded really good, and I thought it worked well as their closer.

The band came back for an encore, starting with the first single from their new album, Supernatural Superserious, which was a very good start.  They followed that with Losing My Religion, which the crowd obviously loved, and I can never get enough of that mandolin part. 

Before moving on to the next song, Michael Stipe introduced a special guest to sing on the next song - Eddie Vedder, who was in town for two Pearl Jam shows over the next couple nights.  Together, Vedder and Stipe traded off singing on Begin The Begin, which was really fun to hear.

After the one song, Vedder left the stage, but they brought out Johnny Marr from Modest Mouse (and formerly the Smiths) to play guitar on their last couple songs.  The next song was Fall On Me, which was another great one.  Stipe then took some time to thank the bands that played before REM and introduced the band.  They then finished the night with Man on the Moon, which is one of my favorite REM songs.  As they got toward the end of the song, Stipe again made his way out onto the barriers in the crowd before returning to the stage for the conclusion.

REM put on a great show!  Although I have just about every album they've put out, I've never seen them live before.  I hadn't heard any of the new songs before the show, so I was a little worried that the show might be a disappointment because their last few albums have been kind of soft, and I thought it might be a slow show.  The opposite was actually true though, as REM rocked on just about every song!  The new songs sounded really good too, so I think they may have put together their first solid album since Monster. 

Unfortunately, the night was ruined a little by the awful setup of the Mann Center.  It seems like they just put the venue in a park where it was never meant to be, and the streets in and out of the park are not set up for that many cars to be leaving at once.  I don't know how long it would have taken to get out of there, but we ended up just going over the curb to get on another street and get home...  Even that took a long time because cars can barely move due to the horrendous setup.  While the venue is pretty nice, I think I'm going to try to avoid it in the future simply because of the logistical nightmare trying to get in and out of the place...  The show was great though, so it was definitely worth the hassle!

Thanks to interstate-8.com and remhq.com for the set lists because I never would have remembered them all on my own...

I haven't seen John Shaughnessy play in over 4 months!  That's ridiculous!  I just checked my blog to see how long it's been, and I can't believe I let it go that long...  So the fact that he was playing tonight was reason enough to look forward to the show.  However, it also happened to be Brett Talley's first solo CD Release show.  It was certainly going to be a good night!

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John Shaughnessy played first, and after sound checking with some Red Hot Chili Peppers, he started his set with Coming to Your Rescue.  He followed that with one of his newer songs, Every Good Thing Must Come to an End, which he mentioned was on his new CD.  He encouraged the crowd to buy one of his CDs if they didn't have them already, with his older full-length CD and a newer CD with a few more tracks that he has recently recorded both available.  He then played another song from the newer CD, In the Morning, which is a lovely song.  Many times, I'm not a big fan of slower songs, but when they are this beautiful, they are amazing!

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John's next couple songs were both covers.  I didn't catch the name of the first one, and the second was a Death Cab for Cutie song that I didn't know.  After that, he played Don't Let Go, which is another beautiful song, but one he hasn't gotten a chance to record yet.  He followed that with a cover of the Monkees' Nine Times Blue, which has a really nice beat to it, and John does a good job with it.  Next, he played I'm Not Myself, another strong original, then he covered Pearl Jam's Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, which was a new one I hadn't heard him play before, but it also sounded good.

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Before his next song, John brought up Sue Talley (or is it Steen?  Is it only Steen when she plays her solo stuff?  I'm so confused...  hehe) to accompany him on bass.  They started with Cigarettes Will Kill You (If I Don't Get You First), which is always one of my favorites.  They followed that with Feelin' Good Again, which is another very good song.  Sue thought she was done at that point, but John decided to squeeze one more song into his set, and asked Sue to play it with him.  After giving her a quick refresher, they played Falling Back To Me, which John said he hadn't played since his Tin Angel show, where Sue was part of his band.  It was another good song and a nice ending to John's set.

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Brett Talley took the stage next, with Sue coming back to join him on bass.  While Brett was still getting ready, Sue pushed the special mocha milkshake drink that the Treehouse was selling that night, and also encouraged people to buy Brett and John's CDs.  Brett also added that he had posters to give away, suggesting that people take them to hang up in their bathroom or something.

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Once they were all set, Brett and Sue started off their set with Buzzing, which is always a good song.  Next was a song Brett said was one of the first ones he wrote around ten years ago, Sorry That I Lied.  After the song, Brett was feeling a bit out of breath, and commented on how his heart was pounding because he hadn't done this in so long.  After catching his breath a bit, he set up the next song, saying it was loosely based on his brother, who likes the ladies and Brett described as a pimp (or amateur pimp according to Mark Rogers).  The song was Ask Me To Dance, which is a very good song.

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The next song was September, which Brett said was his favorite song on his new CD.  It's a slower song, but it's also the most emotional one on Brett's album, making it a great song.  His voice did crack a little during the song, which he apologized for because he had been practicing too much and was losing his voice.  Throughout the rest of the night, I really didn't think it was an issue though.

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I think it was after September that Sue mentioned that she and Brett were going to be part of the Preston & Steve blood drive soon, and because of that, they found out that Brett's blood type is B negative.  It's very fitting for Brett, and got a good laugh from the crowd.  Brett then moved on with his next song, Wrong To Give Love, a newer one that was the last song he recorded for his album.  That also made it the first time he was ever playing it live, but it sounded very good.

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Before moving on, Brett took some time to thank John Shaughnessy for all his support, commenting on how much he does to support local music.  Brett then moved on to describe his next song which he said he wrote after watching JFK, 1963, another good song.  After that one, Brett called John up to play bongos on the next song.  He said it was a cover of a song that he and Sue had danced to at their wedding.  He said it was an Eminem song, but that joke was met with silence from the crowd.  Personally, I was so confused that I didn't have time to figure out he was joking before he added "that went over well," which finally got a laugh from the crowd.  The song was actually U2's With Or Without You, which Brett does very well, and quite a few people commented on how good it was.

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John was about to leave, but Brett asked him to keep playing bongos, and John ended up playing with Brett and Sue for the rest of the set.  Brett described the next song as being one that he wrote on a napkin while he was at the Tin Angel for one of Sue's shows.  Brett was ready to play, but Sue was still tuning, so we got to hear the return of the tuning song that Brett used to play during OutSet shows!  He joked that it was a hidden track on his new CD, but I actually think that would have been a really good idea...  Once Sue was set, they played This Life Unknown.  Brett then set up the next song, saying it was his favorite song that he had written for Sue.  He added that she was his muse, then also said I am his muse and I inspire him (to do what, I'm not sure...  got to comic book conventions??).  The song was Science, which I think is also a favorite among many people that have heard it.  Unfortunately, it is missing from Brett's CD, but he does have plans to possibly record it again and release it later.

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Brett's next song was a very deep, dark song that I had never heard before.  It was a cover of Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart, and it sounded pretty cool.  Sue had some effect on her bass that made it sound really deep, and her part drove the song.  Brett's next song was another newer one called Into A Place.  After the song, he again mentioned the free posters he had, adding that there's nothing better to look at while you're on the can then his picture.  He then moved on to talk about the next song, which he said was an older one, but it had new meaning due to things that were going on in his life recently.  The song was Our Time to Bleed, which is another nice song.

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Brett said his next song would be a cover, then joked that it would be Deathbed.  The song was actually a cover of the Killers' Mr. Brightside, which sounded really good.  I especially liked what John did on the bongos during that song.  Brett then decided to end the night with one of his more uplifting songs, Remember This Day.  It is a very positive song that makes for a good closer to the set as well as his CD.

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Both John and Brett did a great job last night.  Sue also did a great job, especially considering that she just learned most of Brett's songs this week, and didn't even know she'd be playing with John until a little while before the show.  John's been adding a lot of newer songs to his catalog it seems, but unfortunately, that means he can't play all of the songs I like at every show.  Brett doesn't have that problem as he played most of the songs on his CD, but unfortunately, my favorite songs are the bigger rock songs that he hasn't been able to arrange for an acoustic show yet.  Hopefully, he'll schedule another show soon, and maybe he'll be able to work those songs in then, but all of the songs he played last night are also really good. 

Last night was a very fun night, and it was a nice cap to my week of shows from some of my favorite singer-songwriters (with Jeffrey Gaines and Sue Steen playing earlier in the week)!

The other night, Sue Steen played her first show in about four months, so I was looking forward to it.  None of her shows have ever disappointed, so I had no reason to think this wouldn't be another good one.

I got to Puck right around the time Sue was supposed to start playing, and there was already a good handful of people there to see her.  There was also a group of people that were there for the headlining band who started to come in, helping to fill out the crowd a bit more.

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Sue took the stage and decided to start her set with a new song.  She described it as such, then tried to elaborate, and I think she meant to say that all her songs would be new to most people, but it didn't come out quite right, so she just moved on to play the song.  It was called Start Again, a fitting title for the first song of the set.  It was another strong song for Sue to add to her repertoire, and I especially liked the bridge.

Sue greeted the new arrivals, then moved on to another new song, which I believe was called Wake Up.  She followed that with Bring Me Home, but I didn't really like the sound of her guitar on that one.  Throughout the rest of the show, it had a really full, rich sound to it, but she used a capo pretty high on the neck, and it seemed to affect the quality.  It was still a fun song, but it didn't sound as great as it could have.

Sue introduced herself again for people that had walked in during her first few songs, directing them to the cards on the table and pointing out that she will be back at Puck next month.  She then moved on in her set with Enlighten Me.  After that, she played Don't Wanna, which she mentioned is my favorite song, and it sounded great, as always.  I think that was also the song where she had a pause toward the end, leading the crowd to start clapping even before she finished the song.

Before her next song, Sue asked who in the crowd was not married.  Of course, her husband, Brett, raised his hand, so she had to yell at him.  I think her father raised his hand as well, but she didn't notice that.  Although she's now married, Sue recently wrote a song about the starting point of a relationship called Come Undone, which she played next.  That was followed by For You To Notice, which is simply a beautiful song with a sad/somber feel to it, but a positive message of self-reliance.

Sue announced that she had just one last song, prompting a sigh from part of the crowd.  Sue heard it, and commented on how sweet it was that they were sad to see her go.  Sue finished her set with Goodbye, again, a very fitting title for where it fell in the set.  It was another great song, and a nice ending to the set.

Sue's set was great, as expected.  There were some bumps along the way where things weren't perfect, but nothing she wasn't able to quickly rebound from.  Sue has some great songs and an amazing voice, so she always puts on a great show.  It looked like she was very glad to be playing again as well, and by the time she got to Goodbye, she looked like she was having a lot of fun on stage.  The crowd, which was primarily made up of people that were not familiar with Sue's music, also seemed to really enjoy the show.  I overheard quite a few compliments regarding her set, and the crowd provided a great response to every song.  All around, it was a very strong set.

Following Sue was a band called The Band of Heathens.  They're a band from Austin, TX, which is somewhat obvious based on their southern rock/country sound.  The band had five members with a drummer, bassist, and three guitarists who swapped off singing lead one ach song.  One of the three started out on a lap steel for about three songs, then switched over to another guitar, where he continued to play a lot of slide parts.  A lot of their songs were kind of slow and didn't really catch my interest.  However, there were flashes that were very impressive.  There were some more upbeat songs that they would jam on for a while, and those parts would sound wonderful.  I think I stayed for about an hour of their set, and I thought it started off pretty strong.  However, they got into more of the slower stuff, which just wasn't as interesting to me, as they went. I started losing interest a bit, I was getting tired, and I had a long drive home, so I decided to head for home before they finished.  They drew a pretty good crowd, especially considering they are from pretty far away, and those people really enjoyed what they heard.  I can see some of the appeal, but overall, their set just sounded okay to me.  But the trip to Doylestown was certainly worth it!

Tonight, Jeffrey Gaines was playing a free show at a park in Washington Township.  He had a special guest with him, but I missed her set.  I got there just as Jeffrey Gaines was being introduced.  There was some lady there that announced him, then Gaines went right into his first song, Scares Me More.  Unfortunately, I thought the sound of his guitar was kind of twangy.  I ended up getting used to it as the night wore on, but at first, I found it pretty distracting.

Gaines's next song was Didn't Wanna Be A Daddy, which I don't remember hearing him play before.  After the song, he started talking about the music that was playing before he started his set.  He said that he heard a really good country hook in the song, but he couldn't remember it and the sound guy that played it didn't remember it either.  That led him to play one of his songs that he said was covered by a Nashville band for a while, What It Is.

Before the next song, Gaines wiped the sweat from his face with a towel and commented on how he doesn't fit in with summer.  He talked about how now, with the longer days, he has to go out to his shows, dressed all in black, while the sun is still up, and his neighbors must think he is crazy.  He pondered who may have it worse then him before coming up with Marilyn Manson as an example, since he has to get to his show in skin tight latex and makeup.  That led to Jeffrey talking about being on the road, so his next song was about that subject, Shake It Off.  During the song, he started using the large, empty stage and rocking out during the bridge.  By this point, you could tell he was getting really loose and comfortable and just having a great time on stage.

Gaines started playing the beginning of Falling Apart, then asked the sound guy if he could put it on infinite, which I assume would put the riff on a loop so Jeffrey could switch guitars.  Apparently, they didn't have that option, so Jeffrey just kept playing until another sound tech brought out Jeffrey's other guitar.  Once he made the switch, Gaines got back to the song and played Falling Apart, the opening track on his Toward the Sun album.

Jeffrey described his next song as something that came out of a night where he couldn't sleep and just stayed up all night thinking, Anything New.  After that song, he talked about how he gets messages online all the time asking about when he'll make his way out to the west coast again.  He commented that due to the high gas prices, he was getting much more selective in deciding where to play, so he might not get out there anytime soon.  Somehow, that then led into him talking about traveling to Europe and how hard it was for him to drive on the left side of the road.  The moral of the whole spiel was that Jeffrey wanted to ask people to buy merch to help him get back out on the road.  He added that there are a lot of Save the Music programs in schools, so we should just think of him as a big kid!

After his spiel, Gaines asked for requests and got a few of them all at once.  He decided to play I Know A Man first, which is one of my favorites.  After the song, he talked about how the warm weather reminded him of when he used to go to pools when he was a kid.  Since it was so hot today, he said he already felt like he had been in a pool all day because he was so wet with sweat.  He then moved on to set up his next song, talking about another show he did.  After the show, a guy came up and told Gaines what a great job he did sounding like the guy that gets played on WXPN.  Of course, that guy is Jeffrey, but the fan refused to believe it because people on the radio are famous and wouldn't be playing wherever Jeffrey was that night.  The song that the guy was talking about was Hero In Me, so Jeffrey played that next and commented on how nice it was to see so many people singing along to it.

By the time Gaines finished Hero In Me, the wind had changed, the air was starting to cool, and you could feel a storm rolling in.  Jeffrey took a poll of the crowd, asking if they wanted it to rain or not.  Most of the people did not, but Gaines thought it would be fun if it did because it could create a Woodstock-esque muddy crowd.  He had expected the vote to go the other way, and was planning to play a "raindance" song, but based on the poll, he decided to skip it.  Somehow, he got off on how he's been called a "hoodlum wannabe" because he dresses like a badass, but when anything happens, like getting pulled over by a cop, he's very compliant and does what he's told.

Gaines decided what to play and said that anyone who knows what love is would appreciate it before starting Always Be.  After the song, he started talking about Cheap Trick, Journey, and Heart touring soon.  He said he toured with Heart himself, so he would use his connections to sneak into the show.  He then went on to talk about how he's been sneaking into things for a long time, going all the way back to when he was a kid.  He'd get his mom to drop him off at the skating rink, then he'd go over to club to see the rock bands.  The bouncer would let him in, telling him to just stay put and not try to buy a drink, and he'd be okay.  All the bands ended up loving having him there too because he'd be the first guy to start dancing, which would get the rest of the crowd to join in. 

After finishing that story, Gaines went back to the guy who refused to believe that Jeffrey was the guy on WXPN.  The guy was with a girl who insisted that Gaines's version of In Your Eyes was actually done by Ben Harper.  Jeffrey argued that he ripped it off fair and square, so he should get the credit for it.

Gaines played In Your Eyes next, which is always great, even if he did say he didn't play it exactly as it usually sounds.  During the song, he noticed that people were videotaping him, so he apologized for his bad hair.  He said he had combed it up real nice at home (I imagine it being something like the Toward the Sun album cover), where he keeps it nice and cold.  Then, on his way to the show, he kept his car nice and cold, and it still looked good.  But when he got to the show, it all fell down.  So he told everyone that taped him to enjoy their videos privately because he did not want to see them on YouTube or anything. 

By this point, it had started to rain, so Jeffrey decided it was time to play the raindance song he had skipped earlier.  The song was a cover that sounded familiar, and I would guess is called "I Wish It Would Rain," but I'm not sure...  After that song, Jeffrey talked about how school was ending and tried to play Alice Cooper's School's Out, but he didn't know it, so he just sang a bit of it, saying he wished he could play it.  Then, he played Sweet Janine, which is another great song, and followed it up pretty quickly with Headmasters of Mine. 

Before moving on, Jeffrey announced that it was last call, and asked everyone to raise their drinks.  He drank some of the Diet Coke that was sitting on stage with him all night, then realized that warm Coke wasn't the best choice for a singer.  As he lamented his decision, someone got him a bottle of water while he talked about a lime juicer that he got recently.  Since it was new, he wanted to use it, and he just squeezed lime after lime.  He had intended to make margaritas, but he ended up just drinking the lime juice, then taking a shot of liquor and mixing it together in his belly.

Gaines got back to the music by playing To Be Free, getting the crowd to clap along to the chorus.  Before moving on, he talked about how the heat and humidity created passion, which creates a chemical change in people.  He used that to segue into his final song of the night, Come Out Tonight.

Gaines's show was a lot of fun.  He was very laid back and seemed very relaxed on stage.  His shows seem to change based on his mood, and I think we got the best Jeffrey has to offer.  Sometimes, he's very quiet and just plows through his songs.  I think shows like tonight's are a lot more fun where he goes off on different stories and usually comes off as being pretty funny.  I actually thought with this being a free show that might attract a lot of people that aren't too familiar with his music, Jeffrey might try to just play songs and not bore people with talk.  With that being my expectation, I was pleasantly surprised at the show we got.

I forgot to bring my camera with me, so no pictures this time...

This week, I went to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' first of two shows at the Wachovia Center.  I think I've only seen Petty once before, during the Echo tour.  I'm kind of surprised I haven't seen him more than that since I do like his music...  I guess I just haven't paid much attention to when he's been on tour or I just didn't feel like ponying up the cash to go to one of his expensive shows (the cheap seat were $75 at this one!).

I got to the show a bit late because I knew Steve Winwood was opening.  The name seemed familiar, but I didn't know much about him, so I checked out some of his music online.  It was okay, but it was kind of slow, so I wasn't terribly concerned with catching his whole set.  When I got to my seat, Winwood was on stage playing guitar, along with a drummer and a guy playing the Hammond B3 organ.  The songs were okay, but when Winwood went of on his solos, they were fantastic!  The instrumental parts of those songs were definitely the most exciting for me.  After a song or two, Winwood moved over to the organ himself.  A second drummer came out as well as a sax player, and the guy who was playing organ switched over to guitar.  They played a few more songs in this format, but they weren't nearly as exciting.  Winwood would go off on some organ solos, and they were fine, but they weren't as good as the guitar stuff he had done earlier.  After a while, they ended their set.  The crowd was very receptive, but I thought the set was just okay overall.  There were some really good parts to it, but not much of it really stood out to me.

After about forty-five minutes, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers finally took the stage to a huge ovation!  They had a really cool stage setup, with this tree looking support structure in the back of the stage.  It came up and curved out to the crowd where it held video screens in a curve around the stage.  There were also some cubes hanging form it that they would use to show individual members of the band, with the video continuing across all of the faces of the cube.  Finally, there was a big video screen behind the support structure that had big square holes in it.  It sounds like a bad idea, but it made for a cool effect when they would show a big picture on the screen and pieces would be missing from it.  The only problem was that that big screen was behind the support structure for the other monitors, so it blocked a portion of the big screen for everyone in the crowd.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers started off strong with You Wreck Me, letting the crowd get involved early by letting them sing some of the "oh's" and "yeah's" in the chorus.  The song also included a nice breakdown/jam bit toward the end.  They followed that with Mary Jane's Last Dance before Petty switched over to an acoustic guitar and they played I Won't Back Down.  For the next song, Petty switched back to his electric guitar and Mike Campbell broke out his 2-neck guitar for the first time.  Petty introduced the song by saying he was taking us back to the swinging '70s, and they played Even the Losers.

The band decided to slow things down for the next song, Free Fallin', although they did pick things up at the end of the song.  After that, they played Honey Bee, which was fantastic!  That's one of my favorite songs off the Wildflowers album, and I was really excited when they played it.  They then followed it with a song that Petty said was only available on some German EP.  The song was called Sweet William, and it was a very bluesy song that sounded pretty cool, but then it would stop, and they'd go into this really fast part with Mike Campbell playing some very cool solos.  I thought it sounded great, even if it inspired most of the crowd to sit on their asses...  That song combined with Honey Bee was definitely the highlight of the show for me!

Up to that point, I thought the show was going great, and I was looking forward to a great night, but the next song was Breakdown, and I thought that just killed the momentum of the show.  Most of the crowd was really into it, but my perverse nature kicked in.  After the crowd was so disinterested in a song that sounded as cool as Sweet William, it annoyed me that they were so excited by a slow, plodding song like Breakdown.  It's a fine song, but I've never liked it that much, and the crowd's reaction just turned me off even more...  I try not to let that bother me, but sometimes I can't help it...  When everyone likes something, it just makes me want to hate it.  I'm weird like that..

The next song was a Traveling Wilburys' song called End of the Line.  The Traveling Wilburys were a supergroup that Petty was a part of back in the late '80s with the likes of George Harrison, Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison.  The song was one I didn't remember hearing before, and I thought it was alright, but most of the crowd seemed to really enjoy it.

Before moving on to the next song, Tom Petty took some time to introduce the Heartbreakers.  He started off with Scott Thurston on guitar, harmonica, and keys, then introducing Benmont Tench ..s and organ.  He then introduced the drummer, Steve Ferrone, and original Heartbreaker Ron Blair on bass.  Finally, he introduced the guy that he called the "co-pilot" of the band, who helps keep it going, Mike Campbell on lead guitar.

Following the introductions, the band played The Waiting, then they played Saving Grace, which ended up being the only song from their last album in the show.  They started it off with a different intro, and the whole song sounded a bit different from the recorded version.  They also ended it with a long, slow outro that they probably should have skipped...  The next song was A Face In the Crowd, which is a pretty slow one that I don't think is one of their stronger songs. 

They picked things up a bit with You Don't Know How It Feels, but they ended that song with another long outro that wasn't particularly memorable.  Petty then switched over to an acoustic guitar again, and they played a very soft version of Learning to Fly.  The whole band was playing, but it really focused on Petty's acoustic guitar and vocals.  It was cool to see them change it up with such a different version of the song, but the show already felt kind of slow at this point, and their new take on the song didn't help change that.  However, the band did pick things up a bit with Don't Come Around Here No More, which sounded good.  Then, they ended their set with Refugee, which is another good song.

After letting the crowd cheer for a while, the band came back and started off their encore with Runnin' Down A Dream, which is a very cool song.  One thing that's cool about it is how Thurston's acoustic guitar really drives the chorus.  It was an expected encore song though, considering they are promoting their DVD by the same name.  For their next song, they decided to pay tribute to the recently passed Bo Diddley by playing one of his songs, Bo Diddley Was A Gunslinger, which was a fitting tribute.  Finally, they ended the show with one of their biggest hits, American Girl.

Overall, I was kind of disappointed....  The show was just okay.  It started really strong, and was great all the way through Sweet William.  Once they played Breakdown, it killed the energy for me, and they never really got it back.  The end of the set and the encore were pretty good, but the gap in the middle, from Breakdown to Learning to Fly just didn't click with me.  By the time things picked up, it had just been too long for me to really get into it again.

I think part of the problem was that they were promoting their DVD (which is pretty damn good, by the way), making it more of a greatest hits show.  Those are always the worst shows for me...  I've heard all of these songs a million times.  Even if they weren't live performances, the songs are so familiar that I don't want to see a show that just focuses on them.  I want to hear some new stuff that I haven't heard before.  They did mix in a few rarer songs, which was nice, but it wasn't enough for me.  When I bought the ticket, I actually thought they were still promoting their last album, Highway Companion, and that album has really grown on me, so I was hoping to hear at least a few songs from it besides the single.  There were also zero songs from Echo and Last DJ, which are by far two of my favorite Petty albums (and I have a feeling that I may never get to see any of those songs live since I don't think those albums were commercially successful).  It reminded me of when I went to see Aerosmith once, and I really wanted to hear some songs from Just Push Play, which was their last original album at the time, and I really liked some of the songs on it.  However, they were promoting a hits album (I had missed the tour for Just Push Play), so they focused on those songs and I found that show very disappointing... I think that's actually the last time I've seen them too.  I probably need to start paying more attention to what bands are promoting on their tours so I only go to the shows that I think I'll really like... 

Anyway, I found the Petty show to be kind of disappointing, and definitely not worth the ticket price!  I'm sure I'll see them again sometime, but it may be a while after this one...

I had a few shows on my calendar tonight, but I was thinking of skipping them altogether because I was feeling kind of lazy...  However, I realized that there were no other shows on my calendar for this weekend (or at all until Thursday), so I figured I'd better go to something while I could.  My compromise was to go to the closes, most convenient, and cheapest show of the night, just 15 minutes down the street...

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When I got to Mugs, Dom had already started his show.  Mugs is something like Stir It Up in Mullica Hill in that it's an old house that has been converted into a coffee shop.  Dom was set up in a corner at the front of the place, but I made my way to the back to get a drink before coming back to watch him.  Unfortunately, the place was kind of dead, but I suppose a coffee house isn't exactly a hot spot during the summer, especially during a holiday weekend when everyone is at the beach...

When I got to my seat, Dom was playing a song called One of These Days, which I don't remember hearing before.  After the song, he explained that it was inspired by the show the Honeymooners (bang, zoom).  He then asked what was on my shirt, which was from Tom Petty's Echo tour, so he played a song that he said my shirt requested, Walls, which was a very nice cover.  There were a couple other people that came up to the front room, and a girl bought a copy of Dom's Remember Me EP, so next he decided to play a song from that CD, Proud of Him, which is a very good, emotional song from the perspective of the friends of family of people in the military.

For his next song, Dom brought out his harmonica for the first time (at least the first time I saw), and played a song called Cold, which he said was not meteorologically correct for the current season.  The next song was called Boat, and both that and Cold were songs I didn't remember hearing Dom play before.  He ended Boat by saying that the boat capsized and everyone died because the girl that was in the front room mentioned that she liked sad songs and Dom thought Boat might not be sad enough for her, although she said she liked the song anyway.

Before the next song, Dom described how he wrote the lyrics to it on a map of Salem county while he was at a diner.  He said he used the Salem county map because there aren't many roads there, so there's a lot of blank space on the map.  Two songs came out of the lyrics he jotted down in the diner, and the first one he played was Getting So Big, which he said he wrote for his nephew that he was on his way to see that day.  The second song that came from the map was Say Hi To Angelo's.  After the song, he explained that Angelo's was another diner, which he decided to use in the song because the name rhymed so well.

Next, Dom sang his "happy song about rejection, lies, and people wanting your head on a chopping block," Lost Along the Way, which I think is one of Dom's better songs.  Next, he sang Wish You Were Here, then he mentioned that he will be on the Tim Qualls show tonight, so the performance there will provide him with his second music video on his web site for the song When I Get Back.  He followed that with the first song he had a video for, which was from the same television show.  He said he originally wrote the song as a joke, but it eventually became a real song after he played it so much, The Song With the Cheesy Rhymes. 

Dom described that his next song was about having something on the tip of your tongue, but not knowing what to say.  The song was Not Really, which is another good song.  After that, Dom played Bright, Full Moon, which he said he usually saves for the end of his set because he has a tendency to break a string on that song.  He decided to take a chance on it though, and he'd figure out what to do if he did break a string, but luckily that didn't happen.

Dom's next song was a cover he said he was just learning from the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack.  The song was Pete Droge's If You Don't Love Me (I'll Kill Myself), which is a pretty good song that Dom covered well.  Before moving on, Dom was asked what his day job was, and he described himself as a professional bum.  He said he used to work as a sports writer, but he gave that up a while ago because he was tired of working nights and weekends. He said that now, he plays a game called see how long the money lasts.  As long as he's still in the game, he says he's winning.

Dom moved on with Remember Me, the title track from his new EP for the military.  He followed that with another song from the EP called Heartbeat Lullaby, which he explained was the one song that he played piano on for the whole song.  However, not having a piano with him, he decided to fingerpick it on his guitar.

Before continuing on to his next song, Dom talked about how he recently played a Welcome Home show for some troops returning from Iraq.  He had to do a one hour set, so he played the five songs on his EP, then wanted to add some of his other songs to fill out the set.  He was trying to find other songs that fit, and found that some of them took on a whole new meaning in the context of the show.  One of those songs was the next one he played called Good Or Lucky.  He then followed that with Port of Call, which he said was written on a dare.  He was at a restaurant called Port of Call out near the shore, and he played Angelo's.  Since that was named after a diner, someone said he should write a song named after Port of Call.  Since it was easily rhymable, Dom wrote the song, but it was another one that took on a whole different meaning for the returning troops.

Dom's next song was Halfway.  After the song, the girl that was up there gave her interpretation of it being about someone stuck in Purgatory or someone that flatlined, then came back to life.  Dom suggested that death didn't have anything to do with it, but he didn't want to tell her that her interpretation was wrong.  He left it open, saying that he doesn't put all of the details in a song, so they are open to interpretation.  Dom then finished off his set with Hugs and Kisses.  He talked about how the song drove his engineer crazy because it had no instrumentation, and just had a choir of about nine Doms singing and clapping.  However, since there was only one Dom, he would have to play it on his guitar, and also used his harmonica a bit, playing that "La La La" part on the studio version.

Dom put on a good show tonight.  Despite the small group of people there to see him, he didn't let it affect his performance.  There were a few songs in his set that I didn't remember hearing before, which was somewhat surprising because I've seen Dom play longer sets on multiple occasions, so I thought by now I would have heard almost all of his songs...  It's good to see he can still mix it up after so many shows.