expository (if you just care about liz, go to next paragraph) ok. so i went to the show tonight at the warfield. if you know the warfield, the balcony sucks. it gets hot and you can barely see shit unless you are low and in the middle. i was in the upper corner. tried to get the people downstairs to let me down on the floor for liz, but they wouldn't let me. tried standing at the front of balcony, but got kicked out. so i just sat in empty seats in the center hoping no one would kick me out even though the ushers were pulling ridiculous attitude on me.
liz came out. to warm applause. there still weren't alot of people in there. she was accompanied by some hipster guy on acoustic and the bass player from the starlight mints (a band from OK city that opened the show). she was playing her silvery-white guitar (not the red one). they sat in two chairs on either side of liz, who stood up and played. it was really cool. it reminded me of how it would be on her first tours solo or whatever. just her standing stark there by herself--kindof--on stage.
she took a couple of songs to loosen up, but got into it and she looked super happy. i've been shitting on the new album w/ all the other indie kids, but i gotta say that liz is so fucking charming live, that it didn't matter what kind of bullshit she was singing. i also think that having her live and raw helped instead of the super-produced stuff that's on her record. like you can't hear all the cheesey effects, and it's just liz's voice and guitar so you can appreciate it better---unlike what i thought her wcse tour was like w/ the full band, this was much more of an intimate sound, obviously.
i even was sitting there during the breakdown/bridge part of "why can't i"--which i hate the recorded version of--thinking that it was SO LIZ. i know it sounds crazy. i didn't even cringe when she sang the "xbox" line during "rock me." i think that if you are taken enough by liz to be on a list like this, you will enjoy seeing her play even the new songs live-at least in the stripped down form. so go see her if you get the chance even if you hate the new album.
some of the songs she sang and played w/o accompaniment. usually the other guys played with her. the acoustic guitar guy kind of sucked. he played a couple of the songs too fast. he also would strum the high strings really hard which made this terrible vibrating sound that would make the first half of every measure sound like crap.
liz said she was reall happy to be on tour and she looked it. talked about how much she loves the warfield. i know people are interested in what she wears, so: some boots and an army jumper looking thing. the flaming lips mount a camera on the front mic stand so that was on the whole time she was singing w/ a huge thing of her face projected behind her.
at the end of her set, wayne from the lips came out and got everyone to clap really loud (if you have been to a lips show, you know what i'm talking about) and i thought she would come back out and do another song, but she didn't.
here's the setlist:
glory
johnny feelgood
stratford
why can't i
divorce song
rock me
johnny feelgood
fuck and run