I’ve always had a soft spot for people who care enough about a band to follow them around on a tour, night after night, noting the variations in setlists, and which band members were more on it one night than another. Although that soft spot is of course somewhat tempered if the punters in question are following round some crock of shit like Test Icicles, I’ve still got to respect that ‘can’t-miss-a-second’ mentality that just hopes they might play that B-side. There’s not enough passion like that around, even if it is misplaced, and a little bit frightening/OCD.
Indulging my frightening OCD side a little, then, I’ll be doing a minor version of this for the next two nights, as I follow American Music Club on two nights of their UK tour. Thanks to AMC’s manager, we’ve managed to bag guest list spots for the Leicester show (cheers, Chris!), and we already had tickets for London, so we’re trekking from Birmingham and Oxford respectively up to Leicester, then back down to Oxford, then down to London on Thursday for the show there. With two full days of work sandwiched between now and then too.
My reflections on the last AMC show I saw, in London in February:
- Mostly amazing. The first time I’d seen the full band, having put on a Mark Eitzel solo show before which you can read about here.
- No other band has so many songs that kill me to hear them sung live.
- A couple of odd choices, I thought – ‘Hello Amsterdam’, ‘The Revolving Door’. Really? When you’re leaving any number of incredible songs off the setlist? Hey ho.
- Wasn’t massively keen on the bassist on that tour. Bit noodly and attention-seeking, to the detriment of a couple of tracks.
- It missed keyboards. Some of the Love Songs for Patriots stuff really shows off some fabulous synth & key parts.
- The new band has a different bassist and adds keyboards. JOY to both of those.
And to finish in super-geek form, here are the top ten tracks I hope to hear them perform:
1. ‘Another Morning’ (4/5 anticipated likelihood)
2. ‘Sick Of Food’ (2/5)
3. ‘ Hold On To Your Love’ (1/5)
4. ‘Miracle on 8th Street’ (1/5)
5. ‘Outside This Bar’ (3/5)
6. ‘Apology For An Accident’ (3/5)
7. ‘Blue And Grey Shirt’ (2/5)
8. ‘Jesus’ Hands’ (2/5 - I think they’ve stopped closing with this)
9. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’ (2/5)
10. ‘The Hopes And Dreams Of Heaven’s 10,000 Whores’ (2/5)
Nothing from The Golden Age, but let’s face it, they’re gonna play that stuff anyway.
My goodness. This might just be the geekiest fanboy post ever. And all this after I watched a Henry Rollins DVD that explicitly forbade me from doing the bullshit High Fidelity list thing. Sorry Henry, and roll on tomorrow.
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No Johnny Mathis?
I want to hear stuff from Restless Stranger. LIKELY.
They did Johnny Mathis last time. It would of course be welcome again. So many others I could have chosen. Not ‘Bad Liquor’ though. That is rubbish.
dear god. the last time i read anything like this, teenage fanclub fans were producing excel pie charts demonstrating the breakdown of which albums had supplied the tour’s material (and complaining about the lack of material from ‘13′, obviously).
glad you’re having fun, i expect his voice is still annoying though.
You lost your space on the musical high horse when you became a Ting Tings fan, young fella. Ha ha.
Pie chart coming your way, just for you.
that’s not the correct percentage breakdown, that’s not the correct percentage breakdown…
summer’s nearly over!