I just got back from the Austin Liz show, so heres some rambling...
First off - the setlist (from what I can remember). I know I'm wrong on the order, so someone else who was there PLEASE post the correct one... and I may have forgotten a few due to beer:
6'1"
Polyester Bride
Divorce Song
Rock Me
Help Me Mary
Johnny Feelgood
Fuck and Run
Why Can't I?
HWC
Extraordinary
Supernova
Liz was wearing a half quasi-80s deco and half solid purple top with a jean skirt. The shirt had an oval in the center of her chest and was definitely see-through. Not much left to the imagination, but also tasteful.
The sound of the band was very different from the acoustic sound of the Lips tour shows... sometimes for better and sometimes for not as good. The huge sound on the opener was amazing though - such a hook and further proof that 6'1" is a natural opener. At the same time I missed hearing Perfect World and Why Can't I seemed to be solidly there as "the single."
Dino, the guitar player, is getting much more comfortable with the music and Liz is digging it. He did an extended guitar solo/break at the end of Divorce Song that was simply amazing. Liz had a huge, almost giddy, smile on her face the whole time. I really like his playing the more I see and hear it - very complimentary and creative without upshowing what Liz has created. I really like him as a band member.
She made the same joke about the predictive songs - Divorce, having a child, and then about winning the lottery.
No encore... crap-tacular. There was a fairly big time frame between her and Jason, so there should have been one.
The crowd was much more into Mr. Mraz who didnt' do too much for me. He started his set out very well - very lively and not too bad, but after a while he went into what seemed like an hour of slow whining that made me and a lot of people I saw just start to yawn. He brought it back out and then did whatever the radio song was... and we left... who knows. While talking BS with the bartender he said that he heard Mraz played for over two hours the night before in Dallas and I didn't care to find out.
It was a great show and I was there with great people, so all is well. We're lucky to have such a goddess.
John-Paul
Stubbs BBQ in Austin - August 2
Liz came out at 8:30 in jean shorts, a cute backless top, and (of course)
high heels. She's also gotten hold of a world-class hair stylist since I last
saw her. The setlist was similar to the Dallas list described by David Crider
yesterday, but a little shorter. Again, no encore.
She seemed in a pretty decent mood, the new songs do indeed work very well in
concert, and there were a few real highlights (especially a fine Help Me
Mary) but overall this was definitely the flattest of the four Liz shows I've seen over the years. Liz is clearly more sensitive to her audience than most
other performers, and I think the main problem was a very high infusion of
teenyboppers who came solely because they're infatuated with Jason Mraz. Jason is not a breath of fresh air, and I drove back to San Antonio after he played a few songs.
The secondary problem was that Liz' band just wasn't tight. Hopefully, they
were only having an off night, and my creeping suspicion that they were chosen
largely on the basis of eye candy appeal is as unfounded as it is
uncharitable.
Time will tell - she'll be back next month without Mr. Mraz for the Austin
City Limits Festival, and I can't wait to hear how she'll perform in front of a more Liz-centric audience.
Mr. Bill