Moonlight Gardens, Kickin' it with OtR, that's what I'm talkin' about!

[DustyVolume <dustyvolume at yahoo_com>]

Hey list,

This review will be fragmented, etheral, and probably spelled wrong.  But I
make no apologies, cuz, I hope too, it will be fun.  It's the frame of mind I'm
in, so here we go.

The show did in fact rock.  I was so caught up (Jay Harnish calls it totally
submersed) that I managed to let some of the set slip away from me. In other
words, I totally lost myself in the multi-sensing experience of the awesome
music, the incense wafting from the stage, the cool breeze blowing occasionally
through the crowd, and the visual stimulation of the lights and the band on
stage.


So, now that you all know that I have limited memory of the show, let me tell
you what I do remember as stand out moments.

When the band started to file onstage one at a time, it reminded me of the old
days when there was  more mystique to the shows.  Most of the shows I've seen
in the last five years have been kind of perfunctory in the set up.  The band
just walks out sits down and starts playing.  This show was different.  Paul
opened the show with the sitar, and speaking of visual stimulation, let me tell
you, if you've never seen a sitar before--well this one at least, because
I've never seen one before either, they're big.  I mean huge, like five feet
long with all kinds of little slide levers and red lights on it.  Paul himself
has light brown/blondish short dreds and he was wearing a straw cowboy hat like
I imagine Michelle might be sporting soon, and jeans.  So, let's just say that
bewteen the dreds, the sitar, and the smoke rising from the incense behind him,
you could tell this wasn't going to be your dad's over the rhine show.  

Karin looked gorgeous.  She was wearing a black pinstriped jacket and pants
with a crimson strapped blouse underneath.  The pants were hip hugger, but the
shirt was tucked in and she had a black belt completely trimmed in rhinestones
that jut said "rock star"--I mean where else can you really get away with this
except from a stage?  Her pants had about five or six big buttons down the
outside of each leg starting at the lower calf.  She was wearing high heels,
and her jacket was zippered, except it looked like she either had it pinned in
the middle, or she had run the zipper about half way up and then the unzipped
it from the bottom--it didn't matter much since she took the jacket off after
the first or second song.  She was wearing a great necklace that looked like a
big round stone of some sort with sunburst designs coming out from it--it
sparkled in the stage lights.  Her hair was down and staight it's still long. 
It was blonder than I remember since the last time I saw her.  Did I mention
yet that she was beautiful?  I don't know how she would feel about me saying
this, but her image really just screams frontwoman--we've all known it, now I'm
saying it here.  It works.

Linford was dressed in what I would call normal Linford fashion.  He may have
even been dressed down a little.  He had on a long sleeved plaid button up
shirt, and normal pants.  I can't remember what everyone else was wearing
except that the bassist had on a t-shirt, and I couldn't see Will very well for
the glare from his acrylic sound shield--oh, and the guitar tuner (there  were
over 10 guitars on stage btw) wore a Ramones tee.

I guess someone else has already posted the set list, I acutally lost mine that
I snagged from the stage, but all the songs except one or two were from OHIO. I
know they played All I Need is Everything.  

Bruce said the standout tune for him was BPD,  I actually can't even remember
that song.  I was floating somewhere else at that point.  I'm pretty sure the
version of Bothered they played was close to the album version.

Show Me was a lot more lively.  I can't really say what they did to it, but it
seemed less country, so maybe that's why I liked it more.  It's one of my least
favourites on the CD, but it really fit here without the back up singers and
with Paul on guitar.

I remember at one point during *I have no idea what song* I had my eyes closed
and I heard Linford start his now trademark funky organ notes that I love, so I
opened my eyes to look at him, and when I did, I noticed the bassist was
staring at him with a quizzical look on his face.  It was great.  I honestly
can't remember much of the bassist, except that he was from Boston.  I'm sure
someone will read this and be his greatest fan, but if one person was
expendable from Saturday's show, it would be him.  

Karin did Ohio from the keyboard while the rest of the group left the stage. 
During the next song, Linford came back a little later than the others (like 20
seconds) and joined her on the organ which, if you're familiar with how he sets
his equipment up, was right beside her.  He actually had to stand up and play
kind of bent over while she was on the keys because there was only one seat. 
It was my favourite scene from the entire show. I don't know if it was planned
or not, but it really brought the group into perspective.  Having the both of
them playing side by side just served to remind me that no matter how good the
other musicians were, the driving creativity behind Over the Rhine is them.  I
can't explain it, but it was all kinds of things at the same time.  I mean how
can two people beside each other on stage evoke such an array of emotions.  It
was powerful, personal and private, it was just beautiul really.  That's all I
can say.

So Paul played about 8 different guitars and sung back up on several
songs--Suitcase being the one I remember most vividly.  He really jammed out on
about three or four songs--I honestly wish I could remember more, but there was
several extended jam sessions, Life Long Fling being my favourite.  I think the
entire audience (even the geese flying overhead) felt a little flushed after
that song.  I mean talk about Over the Rhine as and aphrodisiac.  The thought
actually crossed my mind (okay, I entertained it for a bit longer) that this
would have been the best show from which to sneak off and have a "romantic
interlude" and during this song.  Mood music?  Exactly.

I don't think anyone else mentioned it, but we acutally coaxed a second encore
out of them (Karin said we flattered them). It wasn't on the setlist, but they
closed the show with Changes Come.  Linford intro'd the song as being what he
considered a hymn.  My jury is still out on this song.  I don't want to be one
of those who automatically condemn it for its language, and I don't want to
swing back the other way either and embrace for simply based on its raw
honesty.  I think it's one of the most imporant songs of their career, for
several reasons, but I still have to let myself come to any conclusions on my
own terms.  That just hasn't happened yet.

After the show, Zayne came up and found us and then Kylie abandoned the merch
table hang out with us.  Nathan S. was there, Bruce, Drew, Dan, Margarita, and
numerous other non-listees.  It was great.  After the show, Bruce talked us
into going out and we ended up at Kaldi's where we saw the Harnishes.  I know
Bruce was slummin' it at Kaldi's with all the books, but we had fun--that is
until we came out to find a $50 parking ticket.  I just want to know what city
gives parking tickets at 2am on a Saturday?  Oh and did I mention that Bruce,
who parked right in front of us, didn't get a ticket?  The car beside us, did,
the car on the other side of Bruce, got one, but where was Bruce's ticket? 
Here's a word of advice, if you're ever out after midnight in downtown Cincy,
just park anywhere and put a sign on your car "Friend of Bruce Lachey, DO NOT
TICKET."  That's what I'm doing.

I did talk to Kris from Montage, and she said that the DVD release date has
been pushed back to spring 2004 in order to get more footage of the fall dates.
 She expects to have over 100 hours of film at that point and will have to boil
it down to only two hours of final product.  I say we petition for more.  MORE.
 What's wrong with having two hours of performace, two hours of behind the
scenes footage, still images, bios, at least one in-studio track footage, a
bonus song that didn't make it on the CD (even if audio only), fan interviews,
and some hidden menu that gives some freebies away as far as "the story behind
the song"?



Sorry this was so lengthy.  I'll compensate by not posting again for a week.

Mark





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