OK, so last night was my first Liz show ever. Listers Katie, Nicole, and Justin were there too and I met them!
THE VENUE. It was this big theater not unlike my junior-high school auditorium. It was general admission, but there were SEATS. Too bad the first eight rows, center section were reserved for Wellesley girls. Not my favorite people. More later on that. And there were, like, twelve men in the whole place, and THREE of them were right in front of me. By the third or so song I was pissed; I couldn’t see a thing. But I couldn’t believe how easy this was to fix. Basically, the crowd was so low-key that I just vacated my seat and made my way up to the front row, elbows on the stage--next to Katie, it turns out! We were both amused at how NOT into the performance the chicks running the show were--for the most part, they were far more interested in telling us [me really] why we shouldn’t be in their *reserved* area. Meantime, I’m four feet from Luscious Liz and I’m like: shut the fuck up and enjoy the show! But I couldn’t believe this setup: there was NO barrier whatsover between the crowd and the stage. Nothing. Unbelievable.
I’ll avoid talking about the set list b/c Katie will cover that, I’m sure. I will say that I *so* dug Don’t Apologize and ominously absent was Dance of the Seven Veils.
Opener was not David Mead. She was this southern girl (Kyler?) with a fantastic voice (technically better than Liz’s) who sang (IMHO) boring songs about inspiration and romance. Interesting juxtaposed with Liz to say the least. I enjoyed her cover of One Good Reason (T. Chapman) far more than her originals.
Before Liz came on, I was impressed to hear Beth Orton’s excellent Central Reservation playing. Either the girls running the show had really good taste (doubtful) or Liz did. You know what I’m hoping for.
About Liz’s outfit: with a red miniskirt she had on a tiny top w/ spaghetti straps [what do you call that anyway? I wear them myself but I am *not* 17 so perhaps I don’t have the proper lingo] ... anyway this shirt looked as if it had two layers of fabric, one red underneath and one iridescent white overlaying it (both skin tight) so the whole effect was of a semi-sparkly light red (not pink). As I noticed toward the end of the show, her outfit sorta matched her guitar--red with an iridescent white center. Oh, and she had white toenails. (In black platform sandals)
I don’t know if it was the light, or I hadn’t been paying attention, or what, but all of a sudden, it was like the last song and Liz was facing me, and it was like, Jeez Louise! Hello! There are your breasts! Her shirt was *entirely* transparent. I wonder if she realized that ... I almost felt voyeuristic; thank god the show was over. I wanted to run up there and help her out: Sweetie, do you realize ...? Perhaps she did, in fact. Room fulla grrls?
OK, so for my first Liz experience ... the songs that affected me the most weren’t the songs I would have expected. Like, of course I wanted to hear (and knew I would hear) Flower ... she sang it, like, fifth or so. But it was hypnotizing. She got all floaty in her arm movements (particularly during: Your face reminds me of a flower, kind of like you’re underwater ...) ... and I for one was transfixed. The cop next to me (there were, like, two total at the whole show) was a little thrown by Flower’s lyrics; I could tell. I caught his eye right after the final line and he sorta smiled and looked all embarrassed. I’m 28, not 18-21 like the rest of the crowd, so I thought this was kind of a riot. He was probably not much older than me.
She is so thin. Waify. But muscular. She looked great.
And yes, Katie, I saw her smile at you! And thanks for the tape, Justin! Love it! See you, Justin, and Nicole tonight I’m sure ...
I’ve already gone on for too long. Only six hours till the next show.
- -Sandra-
Well, here's my quickie review of the wellesley show. Highlight: When I screamed and screamed for May Queen, and she finally played it. :) I think she got a little annoyed by me? Ahh well, at least she played May Queen again. It was funny, cuz the crowd was awful... bunch of cunts (no offense if you were there, I'm sure *some* of the crowd was allright, but
the only cool people I met were listers, and there were only like four or five of us) so it was really quiet, and I was like "PLAY MAY QUEEN!" And she was like "I messed that up the other night!" And I was like "I DON'T CARE! PLAY IT ANYWAY! I'LL HELP YOU!" and she was like... what did she say? I forgot. Shit. Oh well. So much for my story.
Anyway, the acoustics in this place were pretty bad, Liz's vox
weren't turned up high enough, and the girls who worked on this concert were biatches! They wouldn't let us stand anywhere good, cuz their seats were "RESERVED" but no one was in them, and there was a cop standing right in the aisle up against the stage... and I was like rubbing up against his... gun. I was first in line for the concert, by the way.
Now tonight I'm going to WPI, but my friend is being a real bitch about gettign there at a decent time. UGH! I'm on the phone with her
right now. BITCH!
New subject. Has this happened to anyone else?
"What are you doing tonight?"
"I'm going to see Liz Phair."
"Oh. Who is playing at that?"
"Liz Phair."
"No... like who is playing at it?"
"Liz Phair. She's a musician."
"Isn't that this tour with a bunch of women?"
"No. That's LILITH FAIR."
"Then what is Liz Phair?"
"Huh?"
"Like that's her name. Like Elizabeth Clark Phair."
"Uhh..."
"She's a musician. She's awesome."
"Uhhh... okay."
This happens to me quite frequently. It's usually guys who are the dumb ones. :)
Ahh well. Gotta go shower so maybe I can catch Ben Folds Five's
set here at Tufts.
Later all, and hope I make it up to the front of the auditorium @ wpi.
Nicole
Wellesley College, 4-30-99
chopsticks
f & r
johnny feelgood
mesmerizing
cinco de mayo
flower
firewalker
never said
6'1"
go on ahead
may queen (solo)
uncle alvarez
don't apoligize
p bride
supernova
whitechocolatespaceegg
encore:
perfect world
stratford
support system
divorce song
i had a blast at this show! it was a beautiful day but i had a shitty day at work, so i was in full KB form and ready to party like parker posey (mwah! that's me blowing a kiss to my little whore-hey) so justin and i took a walk to the lake, wellesley college is breathtaking in the spring, and smoked a nice joint on the lake and met up with nicole in line. the girls in back of her did not apreciate this, so i had little talk with them and then they liked me. i felt like a bitch but hey not enough to stnad in the back and defintly not as much as the bitches at the show! i mean damn! nicole and sandra posted about them and i was glad nicole that you ised the word "cunts" becuase that is the most appropriate term. Poor sorry wenches couldn't even enjoy the show without telling me i was too close to their reserved seats or that i shouldn't be taking pictures. sad, i know.
note:
i am rushing through this so that i can do my providence review which is much more exciting than this one....
hanging out after the show was fun too, especially talking to buddy (buddy was like i'll tell liz you're here, but then liz wasn't there...) and kevin, nicole and i were being silly singing lauryn hill and then can't get out of what i'm into... then there was mcdonalds and cigarettes on the way home...
it was great to talk to alex and sandra b that night too. alex, if you have joined this list yet, email me biotch! i didn't see you last night....
next review comin' right up...
hope you're paying attention, ken lee...
KB's review continued at Providence