speed of dark

We caught Colin Meloy at the Henry Fonda the Monday following Coachella, so we were a bit wiped out from that experience, and we were bummed to find out that the Music Box (or Colin himself, possibly) did not allow digital cameras. While Alt-gramma's camera is excellent, it is not exactly small and we could not sneak it in. Thankfully I had brought along my Olympus XA and some ISO 1600 film. The only problem with this type of camera? No zoom - but I like the photos that came out.




Colin's banter made the show - he was funny and charming, interacting with the audience while still keeping a polite distance, sipping his wine, and showing off his stage trinkets. He's the consummate showman, someone who might have sold snake oil in another time, in another life. We wrote down some of his witticisms between songs, but it's difficult to say if they are only funny if you were there.

Setlist:
1. Shiny
a song about gypsies
2. The Apology Song
Missoula, MT is the epicenter of bike theft
3. Perfect Crime
this song originally started out at a slower tempo, but with the band it reminded him of mid-career Steely Dan
4. Dracula's Daughter
5. O Valencia
6. First of the Gang to Die (Morrissey - first part of the song only)
7. Two new songs that go together, about a mother sending her son Avery off to work in a mine, and then the son's funeral
8. Cupid (Sam Cooke cover with Laura Gibson)
referred to as a teenage makout anthem, the audience is encouraged to sing along...Colin is considering the next artist for his series of cover albums, and Depeche Mode is a popular choice
9. Los Angeles, I'm Yours
the L.A. crowd cheers the loudest at this song, I'm sure, and we hummed and doot-de-dooed the guitar solo, while Colin "forgot" the lyrics and the audience eagerly reminded him
10. The Landlord's Daughter
11. Engine Driver
we are warned not to shout things at Colin while he is singing - "it's a fragile thing" - if we want him to be able to finish the song
12. The Landlord's Daughter
13. One More Time With Feeling (Regina Spektor cover)
Colin tells us that when he's singing these sad and heartfelt lyrics, he's really just wondering if his hair looks OK
14. The Shankill Butchers
15. A Cautionary Song
Colin sings this song just in time for Mother's Day and shows off his trinkets, including a mermaid named Consuela bought in Austin, a piece of quartz from Atlanta named Cornwallis, a framed picture of a sock puppet named Alex that has "his own myspace page", and a half-eaten, crumpled bag of M&M's named Blaine
Encore
16. Clementine
17. Mariner's Revenge Song (much audience interaction and screaming lessons)

(Note - except for "Clementine", the songs above were recorded live at Schuba's Tavern in Chicago in 2005)

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