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Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA September 25, 2004 Review by Jake Thomas After getting a chance to catch their “warm up” tour in the spring in Davis, in such an intimate venue, there was no way this outing would be able to compare. But still, even being a million miles away from the stage (my own fault for getting there too late and driving around forever looking for parking), it was a good time. The band seemed much surer of themselves, more “together” as a unit and they flat out rocked…you could tell that even from the nosebleed sections. I heard a number of complaints over the weekend about the sound, but it came across great to me. I think one of the major problems with outdoor venues is the sound though, and if you’re not in the right spot it’s very easy to miss huge sections of the music being played. Although it was pretty mellow up on the hill where I was located, I had a bird’s eye view on the activities below and the standing crowd in front of the stage and they were quite raucous. It seemed the entire section below swayed with the music like a rising sea, rarely stopping for a bit of respite. Having been in those situations before, it made me appreciate my old man spot on the grassy knoll that much more, I don’t much have the legs for all of that rambunctiousness anymore. The set wasn’t terribly long, probably just the right amount really – but honestly, since they played “Hey” it didn’t much matter what else happened, it was all icing from that point. There still wasn’t any “Trompe le Monde” songs if I remember correctly, which is unfortunate because I would have loved to hear “Alec Eiffel”. They did surprisingly play that “Lady in the Radiator” Song, both versions of “Wave of Mutilation”, and a great number of tracks from “Surfer Rosa” and “Come On Pilgrim”. Was it a good show? Sure. Was it worth the 50 bucks it cost? Probably not…but you never know, it’s the age old game of “it might be the last time you get a chance to see them”, and I pretty much always go for it. --- |