Sinister: NYC May 5 gig report (random blathering plus a setlist)

[Aruni J]

**the part about me (skimmable)**
first of all, a scream of excitement! my first time seeing b&s live...i wish 
i could've made it to the sini-picnic, but i was sunning in astoria park 
with Best Friend jessica, with whom i saw the concert. after dawdling far 
too long, we finally got over to the hammerstein ballroom. 5:30ish and the 
faithful were already on line. hunger won out, though, and we grabbed dinner 
at the cute tick-tock diner on the corner. i urge you to frequent it on the 
chance that you might get the young and charming waiter.

back on line: we were let in at ~6:30 and managed to secure spots three-deep 
in the crowd, in front of what would be stevie's mike. (wow!) the floor was 
still pretty empty, even after 7. (perhaps people didn't know when the doors 
were supposed to open, or perhaps, as the kid in front of us opined, they 
were too cool to show up until one hour after the show started.) we marveled 
at our prime positions. apologies to anyone who was standing beside us and 
bored by our conversation (which was dominated by the statement "this is so 
cool!" etc...).

**it begins**
in any case, the aislers set were soon on and played a short but sweet 
set...as jess said, "i love it when the opening act doesn't suck." the crowd 
wasn't super-enthusiastic (e.g. with the hand-claps), but got into it at 
times, like when amy grabbed a trumpet with one hand and a guitar with the 
other and proceeded to play! the band took pictures of the crowd and each 
other...it was adorable.

our heroes were on soon after 9. the setlist was definitely a crowd-pleaser 
(see below). apologies if it is incorrect, since i was writing on my hand in 
the dark, while dancing.

**setlist (which apparently differed drastically from the plan)**
1 sleep the clock around
2 there's too much love
3 magic of a kind word
4 i'm waking up to us
5 if you're feeling sinister
6 mayfly
7 consuela leaving
8 scooby driver (i think)
9 don't leave the lights on baby
10 the model
11 the loneliness of a middle-distance runner
12 stayin' alive
13 simple things
14 tbwtas
15 you made me forget my dreams (abortive; stuart kept trying!)
16 fox in the snow
17 family tree
18 dog on wheels
19 the state i am in
20 happy birthday to a large assortment of people
21 wrong girl
22 dirty dream #2
23 legal man
encore: get me away from here, i'm dying

**impressions**
at first, i was a little afraid they weren't going to talk to the crowd at 
all...there was a lack of general banter for the first few songs. later, 
they were more jokey and talking directly to us.

the audience itself was a little strange (and not just because of the 
inordinate number of ironic t-shirts and black-rimmed fake glasses). not 
strange in a bad way, but i expected more screaming and pushing and dancing. 
we were very "well-behaved," as stuart (or struan, or sturan, if you will) 
told us, especially for a group of several thousand. it was rather a young 
crowd--lots of college kids, but lots of high-schoolers as well. (i lamented 
the fact that b&s were barely around when i was in high school.)

i loved the show. maybe it could've used a little more spark (with some help 
from the audience), but it was still great. isobel directed the full force 
of her pout at us (i agree--it seemed more shyness than a hissy-fit). to her 
credit, she was as interested in the shaky egg thing as one could expect. 
sarah and mick looked a bit "off" at times, too--i just wanted to grab them 
and start dancing. at least they had a sense of humor about it, as when 
bobby and isobel appeared twice during a song just to shake a tambourine and 
shaky egg thing, respectively. (is there an official name for the shaky egg 
thing?)

i had no idea that stevie was so adorable! with his suit and glasses and 
funny little guitar-playing dances and arm motions. i fell in love, briefly. 
i mean, yes, stuart's arms, but stevie was very much the conductor. and 
funny. i'm glad he looked at ease with us. he also bore a striking 
resemblance to a young elvis costello, so i wondered if, as jenny said, 
they'd play 'oliver's army.' but no such luck.

**memorable moments and the end**
this email's rather long, so i'll leave detailed musical reviews to others. 
i must, however, agree that 'stayin' alive' was fab, esp. struan's falsetto 
(and his false start, which stevie laughingly corrected). audience volunteer 
amanda got onstage during dirty dream #2 and bounced about suitably. oh, and 
to the girls who lifted their shirts during the "showing her chest" bit in 
'the model'--shame on you! :) (i was directly behind.) but the band didn't 
react.

stuart claimed that todd solondz was in the audience (and would be 
interested in hearing the new stuff). verification, anyone?

and we got an encore! i felt favored. we saw no signs of beans' post-gig dj 
stunt, alas, so that was it for the night. was there anything going on? 
stuart claimed the band was still recovering from the previous night, so i 
think you boston kids tired them out. :)

i hope those of you who were there were equally wowed by the show. (i was on 
the lookout for upside-down b&s badges, but saw none. i'm the girl who was 
dancing up front with a bandanna in her hair and her arms in the air.) i 
thought it would be hard for the show to meet my obsessed-fan expectations, 
but it was without a doubt worth a plane ride from north carolina and 
missing two days of classes. as jess said this morning on the train to her 
job interview, "i should be nervous about the interview, but i just keep 
thinking about how great the show was.  i'm going to have a smile on my face 
all week." "boo to the business world," i replied. one little hole in my 
heart is filled.

love, aruni

ps things i wanted to shout
1 play 'the state i am in' (after 'dog on wheels.' i didn't say it, but 
stuart started into it right then! i think it speaks to our profound psychic 
bond.)
2 freebird (but thought the crowd might be too young and hip to find it 
funny)
3 that song should've been 3 times as long (after simple things)
4 i love you, stevie (was he cute, or was he cute?)





_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: 
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
        +---+  Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list  +---+
     To send to the list mail sinister at missprint.org. To unsubscribe
     send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
     majordomo at missprint.org.  WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister
 +-+       "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper           +-+
 +-+  "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+
 +-+    "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000     +-+
 +-+  "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000  +-+
 +-+  "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001   +-+
 +-+               Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa                 +-+
 +-+               Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut!                +-+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+