Okay, back from the Hotel Cafe. Apart from wanting a large Cone of Silence for the people toward the bar and a sound balance issue on one of the new (to me) songs, it was great. The lineup consisted of Eric, Adam, Jordan on trumpet and banjo, Ken Beck on percussion, including the famous cojone, Ryan Raddatz on mandolin and piano and Matt Young on stand-up bass, plus a special surprise guest -- more on that in a minute.
The set started with "92 Mics." Excellent sound balance on this one -- great musical interplay and both sets of vocals could be heard clearly.
2. "Try Too Hard" -- one of my favorites, both recorded (in previous live shows) and live. Loved it as much as always -- very driving.
3. "Innocent When You Dream" with a pronounced country waltz tempo. Adam was on glock and Ryan on piano on this one. Very good a cappella section.
4. The "Union Maid" song (with great verbal intro). I actually hadn't heard this one before, and it's absolutely delightful, doubling both as love song and discussion of ... well, what do you think a "Union Maid" song would be about?
Jordan switched from trumpet to banjo and back on this one and Adam was on harmonica. It had kind of a Dixieland feel.
5. This may be called "More Like the Regular You." Again, this was new to me (my computer gives me grief with the Union Maid), but either something happened to my ability to translate linked syllables into English vocabulary words -- never stop fearing what your synapses are doing way above your back -- or the sound balance was off, because I couldn't make out a lot of the lyrics. What I did make out was "More Like the Regular You," so I think that's the title.
Loved the melody and arrangement.
6. Adam introduced "Satan Is Real"/"Satan No" by saying this was part of their discussion series, with the pessimistic view on the ascent and the optimistic view on the descent. He then called out for "Brother Strong" and Danny Strong came onto the stage. Rather than singing along, Danny waited until "Satan Is Real" (I almost typed "Stan Is Real" -- are there any among us who doubt the power of Stan?) ended, then launched into the "testifying" monologue in preacher persona from the album from whence the song and monologue originate (in my ignorance, I had not realized there was an album and monologue, until I later asked if Danny Strong had written the monologue). Very funny and unexpected -- and then they went into another chorus. There was a long musical interlude in the middle of "Satan No," complete with a EUTS reference on the harmonica from Adam. A somewhat new take on the song, very entertaining.
7. "Bluebird" -- yet another new to me song, with beautiful lyrical imagery.
8. Very energetic rendition of "Youth of America."
9. "Plan Ahead" with noticeably percussive bass from Matt as well as customarily strong percussion work from Ken.
10. Off-mike rendition of "Bitter Honey," proving that Eric and Adam can vocally fill a quiet room without amplification (and of course sounding great).
Post-show, Eric (and briefly Adam) manned a small sales booth in the back. Due to the size and shape of the booth, and the red curtain at the back, it looked a lot like a puppet show theatre, a fact commented on by Eric and almost everyone I encountered who went near the booth. The merch of course is available on the website, but I didn't have the live recording of the show from Eddie's Bar in Georgia, so I bought that.
Hope the above has been informative
Shapenew
