I Used To Know

This is another one of those bands that belongs to me and my brother.

There's just something about their catchy lyrics that just makes me love the Smithereens. My brother and I would see them whenever possible. Once, we sat behind the Metro listening to them because we both decided that the tickets were too expensive to logically justify paying for them but sitting out back listening was totally fine. 

I don't remember too much about this particular show, although I'm sure we were at the front. We always stood near the stage. Once, the guitar player gave me his pic and I got to play his guitar. That was at Joe's On Weed St, but we can pretend it was this one. 

He's A Fine Figure Of A Man

Finally! A show that I remember.

Somehow, after wearing out My Aim Is True on cassette and listening to Armed Forces until everyone in my dorm hated me, I never managed to see Elvis Costello before this date and I was so incredibly excited to finally get the chance. This may be the most I had paid for a show up to this date (I've paid much more after.  Ahem, Morrissey) and it was worth every single penny.

We had excellent seats and would have been in the second row if it wasn't for that darned orchestra pit. How do people get those orchestra pit seats? I've been buying concert tickets for a long time and I have never gotten one. Not in presale. Not in regular sale. Not when winning tickets. Not when other people get the tickets. Are these people just the luckiest people on earth? Are they friends with someone important? I just don't get it.

Anyway, "second row" was pretty spectacular. The sound was amazing and we could see Elvis and Steve Nieve perfectly. I danced to the hits, which annoyed some people who preferred to sit like old logs. He played some new songs that none of us knew. They would end up on When I was Cruel a couple years later, an album which, in my opinion, was just mediocre and turned out to be the last one of his that I ever purchased. I've always thought that Elvis Costello had an editing problem. All of his albums were half good, with a lot of songs that could have just been cut. The enormous setlist could be a reflection of this or the magnitude of his career. Regardless, he played all the songs I wanted to hear and I left a very happy girl.

For the last song, which was Couldn't Call It Unexpected #4, he stepped away from the mic and stood at the edge of the stage and just sang out to the audience. Being in the pseudo second row we could hear it clearly and beautifully and I was glad that I wasn't stuck in the cheap seats. It was such a perfect way to end the show and still gives me chills when I think about it.

The show lasted so much longer than we expected (who could have guessed that there would have been five encores?!!?)  that I was really late getting home to meet my friend and her boyfriend, who had driven in from Detroit to hang out. They completely understood.

The gigantic setlist (we got our money's worth):

1. The Loved Ones
2. King Horse
3. Blue Chair
4. Rocking Horse Road
5. Party Girl
6. New Lace Sleeves
7. This House Is Empty Now
8. Lesson In Cruelty
9. Shabby Doll
10. Girls Talk
11. Baby Plays Around
12. Couldn't You Keep It To Yourself
13. The Long Honeymoon
14. 45
15. Toledo
16. New Amsterdam/You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
17. When I Was Cruel
18. Radio Sweetheart/Jackie Wilson Said
19. Mystery Dance
20. Alison
21. In The Darkest Place
22. Alibi Factory

Encore 1:
23. Green Shirt
24. Watching The Detectives
25. Inch By Inch/Fever

Encore 2:
26. Suit Of Lights
27. Brilliant Mistake
28. Shipbuilding

Encore 3:
29. Accidents Will Happen
30. I Want You

Encore 4:
31. Everyday I Write The Book
32. God's Comic
33. Red Shoes
34. Radio Radio

Encore 5:
35. O Mistress Mine
36. Couldn't Call It Unexpected #4

Last Week It Was Funny

Yeah, the amount I remember is just not funny anymore.

The internet just told me that Train opened for this show. I sure hope that I got there late so I didn't subject myself to that. 

Another blog, another show I remember very little of.  I'm going to pretend, and you should too, that  I just wrote some awesome blog about this show so I can just move on to the next one (which happened the day after this one and I remember it vividly).