My ears are still ringing

Gomez, Gomez, Gomez. I can not stress enough how great the band is live. It's been almost two years since the last show, and I was very ready. I arrives at the 9:30 at 8:30, interestingly enough, to procure tickets and have a drink. I ran into bass playing friend Glenn who informed me that opening act was great too (which usually isn't the case with Gomez.) He was right, The Bad Plus is a kick ass trio (piano, bass, and drum) all three of which are the accoustic versions. That is not to say that they wern't miced to the guills, but all the same pretty impressive. More impressive was the thumping and vibrations in the chest and (in my case clothing) that their sound produced. Real "interactive." What I caught of their set was instramental, and I imagine thats what they do - kind of trance, kind of rock, kind of awesome. All three have some serious talent and skill and it was great to be impressed by the opening act for once.

I saw a lot of the usuall faces between the sets. Scott Burgess, Scot McKenzie, Mike Geske, Eileen Daily, Kimberly Gilbert... if you were there and I didn't see you - you suck.

The show was pretty good, but I have to say - a lot of technicall problems. I must preface this by saying that the first time I saw Gomez was on the "In Our Gun" tour and they were spot on perfect on every song, no lag between, no missed note, and no improvisation. Over the past 5 show I've seen they have been loosening up and improving more, which I really like, but sometimes there is a price to pay for that. Last night that price seemed to be technical.

Opening with "Bring it On," it was decent but seemed like they were having tuning issues, or at least Ian did - I'm not sure but I think Ben was already drunk - evidenced later when I believe he slipped and dropped his guitar on "Fill My Cup," funny stuff, but he was missing for the end of the tune which is a great 3 part harmony in concert. There was a 3 minute improve while they changed a mic stand on the drum kit too - those are rare so I really didn't mind - although I would have though they could have just done "Caravan" to fill the time. Late on "Devil Will Ride" Tom took 5 tries to get the talk box to work with his accoustic - again funny, but think I might have started to see some frustration in there faces. That said, the show was still great. It's was probably number three on my list behind 2003 at 9:30 and Atlanta in 2004. They are really experimenting with the music more now, not just effects.

Highlights well you can judge for youself, the show is available here.