BOC: Astoria

[M R Godwin]

On Thu, 4 Jun 1998, bart wrote:
> setlist was something like Burn4U/Cities/ETI/BucksBoogie/HarvestMoon/F-Telepath
> s/Vigil/LastDaysMay/SYIB/Godzilla/OD'd/Live4Me/LipsinHills/Reaper Enc: D+s

It was far and away the sloppiest version of 'OD'd' that I've ever heard -
and they missed a chorus cue on 'Lips' as well. Did anyone note the set
order definitively - I thought 'OD'd' was earlier. 'Live for me' was the
only song I hadn't heard live before.

Generally I was less than impressed with the show - not a patch on the
last London gig at the Forum. It wasn't only Eric's guitar that was
playing up; the keyboards were falling apart at one stage (definitely
during BB, but I think they had been misbehaving before that, too).

Allan was obviously enjoying it, but I was listening closely to his guitar
(being right in front of his amp) and he was not always hitting the
notes right (especially on the opener, 'Burnin' for you'). It was very
noticeable how Eric's voice was being paced - in fact I'm pretty sure Buck
asked him if he felt up to singing 'Telepaths' at all. Lines like
'Transformations which were too hard to find' were sung adequately, but he
used to belt that line out Pavarotti-style!

The band started hitting their stride when the equipment problems had been
sorted. 'Last Days' was terrific - I can't wait for this version to appear
on record. 'SYIB' was great - you definitely need some kind of
surround-sound system to hit you with the chorus from all directions.
'Reaper' (surprisingly?) was excellent as well.

I would have liked a cover for an extra encore, preferably 'I feel free'
or 'WGGOTP'.

- Mike (?) -  aka Mike Godwin

PS re openers: I don't think "Burnin' " is a good opener as it requires
all the voices and instruments to be mixed just right. I have seen them
open with 'The red and the black' and either that or 'Stairway' is a
better bet.

PPS Didn't Alexei Sayle have a 'Fat Bastard' song at one time?