Note: this is a little experiment to try to simulate mailing list discussion, combining four reviews that sort of play off each other. Enjoy--Mgmt

Indra:

I wasn't sure if I was going, but by telepathic brainwaves I was able to complete a mid-term and decided to walk the block to Irving. I was happy to get in.

I forgot who the first band up was (they were not listed). All I know is that they were three rap artists from Connecticut that sang about the "shit that's gonna break your neck...and get the ladies' panties wet". I actually enjoyed this for it was a new experience. But, I remained "Sure".

Then came the Rustic Overtones; they were pretty okay. They had a nice mix of sound and even had a bit of a brass section.

GVSB went on about...oh, who cares about time anymore? They went on, I thought the sound pretty much sucked, and there was many a time that I thought that Scott's mic was not plugged in. One thing's for sure, Scott's bass wasn't. A bit of a delay between the first and second songs...and a bit throughout, too. After the first instance of difficulty, Scott said something like "What's everybody getting so excited about? Shit." (I paraphrased.)

[I just have to say...O/T...New Kids On The Block's "Hanging Tough" is being played on tv right now. I can't even think straight much less type at the moment...On a similar note, one of the songs played between bands was "Ice Ice, Baby".]

Okay, so, later in the show there was even more difficulty for Scott, and I think this just ruined the show to some degree. Not for the audience necessarily, but maybe for the band (?).

The next thing I knew Scott was saying "We've got two more songs for you because of the technical difficulty". All I remember is Super-Fire (last song) being played. There were a lot of moments where the band was jamming to fill up silent space, at one point Eli started imitating this record scratching noise with his bass, which was cool. Alexis even did a little number with his drums. Johnny's hair is super-black these days.

And, oh, well...okay. I still haven't been able to work the night out in my own head (it was sorta unreal).

Misc: I met a list member, by chance, and she's promised to give a review of the night. She got into gvsb via garbage.

Edwina:

I'm the Misc person in Indra's review and here's mine. I basically have the same thing to say. All four bands played for the New York Underground Film Festival so that means they showed skits that New Yawkers created.  Many of them basically had people falling off skateboards and out of shopping carts, and creating general mayhem.  They were really random and funny, and should have been shown earlier. (Scott was in one of them by the way...I probably missed it when I went to the Restroom downstairs) Anyway back to the show.

The first band, a hip hop trio called House of Reps were a surprise to everyone. The bill originally had three bands. They weren't bad..but I had a lot of work to do and I wanted to hurry the show along...so I didn't get into them as much as I could have. I did think the panties wet line was kind of unneccesary...but what can I do? they're on stage and I'm not.

Next were Rustic Overtones and I kinda liked them (they were also the only band that were selling merchandise...I was pissed about that). They kind of reminded me of a love child between Guster and Brother Chameleon. They're last song needed the assistance of a megaphone. That was a first for me. I thought that was kinda cool.

Indra:

Don't get excited...*nothing* like Drive Like Jehu's Hand Over Fist...

Edwina:

I remember it being after 9 and waiting for Girls Against Boys to come on while watching extreme sports blunders on a screen over the stage. GVSB came out and opened with "Vogue Thing" which was weird because that's one of my favorites from Freak*on*ica.  They did a variety of material.

Indra:

I have to disagree with this. A majority of the stuff seemed...well, I have to disagree. Most of the stuff they played was not as...erm, energetic (?) as their shows usually are. I couldn't really get into it because most of the songs were mixed versions that were, not really slower versions, but drawn out ones that had bursts of energy holding it together? I remember thinking if this is what it's come to for most songs on Freak to have to be reworked to that extent to be "playable". Oh, I know, you think I'm bashing them, ja? I'm not. I guess I'm in some kind of stunned disbelief of the whole night. Maybe my perception may have been a wee bit better w/o the technical difficulties.

I'm with Kris on his view of Freak, therefore I would have preferred a few more older songs...not everyone can be Bartelby, eh? But, there's a time limit for everyone before the main attraction and I *am* looking forward to Mercury Lounge.

Edwina:

I'm sure they would have done more material if it wasn't for the plethora of technical problems.  I might be the only one who was concerned by this, but I love watching Eli on stage to see if his head will collide with the mic stand...I'm happy to report that no such thing occurred, unless I missed it. There was one girl in a tank top (I'm sorry if you're on this list, but it was damn funny watching you) who seemed to imitate dance moves from Madonna's "Ray of Light" video during GVSB's set. That's the only way I can put it.

Next were Run DMC and they took forever to come on. I guess you can do that when you're rap legends. I clocked Jam Master Jay hitting the stage at 11:50pm. Yeah, it was that late. They did such classics as "Mary Mary", "Peter Piper", "King of Rock", and "Walk This Way". They also did a new song and really encouraged audience participation. It was really great. I ended up leaving at 12:30am and they were still going strong. Run gave away his hat to some kid in the audience which I thought was pretty awesome. When I left, I'm pretty sure that I saw Eli in the back of the crowd but I was too tired and pissed off that I had to study for Spanish class to check. Oh well, maybe next time.

Jennie:

I would definately have to agree with Indra's opinion of the show at Irving Plaza.  For those of you that were there, believe it or not, the sound and technical difficulties were even worse at sound check.  Scott's mic didn't work at all and no one knew how to fix it. In fact, I don't think the sound guy even knew that the mic wasn't on. I think we were lucky they got to play at all.  It was a super short set, too bad because I drove all the way from Michigan for the show.  Well worth the trip for me though, to say the least!

Paul:

my best friend from Miss.  came up that same day so we could check it out, midterms and all plus a radio show to do at 3 am until 7  i still went. anyways,  house of reps was decent,  i dug the panties wet line.

next were rustic overtones,   i thought they fucking sucked,  i cant stand that american music is turning to such shite.

gvsb went on and opened with  magatraction which in my opinion is there best song.  for those of you that dont know, it is off the jabberjaw comp.  and continued even playing 2 new songs with no names yet as johnny told me.   i thought they played excellent except for the equipment problems.  they totally handled it like professionals though.  so i had a great time,  we were leaning on the P.A.   and anyways, like i said i thought they were great as usual, ive seen them about 5 times.  anyways, my friend swiped the setlist and here it is,  even though they cut out a new song  called BFF and vera cruz as well. 

Magattraction
kinda muzik
vouge thing
song1/funky
bulletproof cupid
song 3/ res
vera cruz
BFF
exorcisto
superfire