October 12 2005: The Mountain Goats, The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers, Beauty Shop – Canopy Club, Urbana IL
Flew into Chicago the day before and then hitched on down to Urbana. Ready to rock and roll. As show time approached I made my way to the Canopy Club and sat down at a coffee shop just down the street. Alex Lazara, keyboardist and all-around good-guy in the Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers, walked by me. I am shy and did not wave. He didn’t recognize me anyway, so it was all the same. Later on the remainder of the Prayers and Tears (to wit: Perry Wright, singer and guitarist; David Daniels, bassist and xylophonist and guitarist and various other thingsist; and Josh Snyder, on drums) walked by and Perry, southern gentleman that he is, not only recognized me but recalled my name with only minimal help on my part. It is nice to not go into these things entirely cold turkey.
And the doors! They opened at eight! And I entered!
Sat through the very competent opener, locals known as Beauty Shop, with a very nice yet musically not-so-bright brother and sister. They had never heard of XTC, who were playing on the PA as we walked in. Then "Figure 8" was played, and it turned out they’d never heard of Elliott Smith. Then "The Soft Bulliten" was played and they collectively failed to identify artist and album, though to their credit they claimed to have "heard of" the Flaming Lips. But the sister was pretty good looking, so all was forgiven. The Prayers and Tears were up next, and they played well. It was nice to hear their live set since acquiring and listening to their record, something I had not experienced prior to Urbana.
And then John and Peter appeared on the stage. “What’s up Midwest? We’re the Mountain Goats!” and right into Broom People. Good times. The show was unique to the tour in many ways: It lasted no more than 45 minutes, no one besides John and Peter played, and many songs were played which were not touched for the rest of the year. “Neon Orange Glimmer Song” amongst them. That one made my day.
And the doors! They opened at eight! And I entered!
Sat through the very competent opener, locals known as Beauty Shop, with a very nice yet musically not-so-bright brother and sister. They had never heard of XTC, who were playing on the PA as we walked in. Then "Figure 8" was played, and it turned out they’d never heard of Elliott Smith. Then "The Soft Bulliten" was played and they collectively failed to identify artist and album, though to their credit they claimed to have "heard of" the Flaming Lips. But the sister was pretty good looking, so all was forgiven. The Prayers and Tears were up next, and they played well. It was nice to hear their live set since acquiring and listening to their record, something I had not experienced prior to Urbana.
And then John and Peter appeared on the stage. “What’s up Midwest? We’re the Mountain Goats!” and right into Broom People. Good times. The show was unique to the tour in many ways: It lasted no more than 45 minutes, no one besides John and Peter played, and many songs were played which were not touched for the rest of the year. “Neon Orange Glimmer Song” amongst them. That one made my day.
posted by Peter Sohriakoff | 12:33 PM
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