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Having been scheduled out-of-town on business the week of the 14th, I thought we'd have to settle for seeing BNL only in Canton on their fall sweep through Ohio. But when my trip was moved back a week and the opportunity to win tickets from Columbus' WWCD 101.1 (which was a bit of a surprise since they only play $1M and Yoko Ono and aren't even aware of BOAPS) presented itself, we found ourselves Athens bound for the last show of the seven month tour. It would be our fourth Ladies show and it was definitely the wildest.
Security was patting down for KD and signs were posted in the lobby saying that in lieu of throwing food, BNL would appreciate donations of similar value being made to local food banks.
Geggy Tah used a completely different set list than the show in Canton five days earlier, and played to the crowd a bit more. "Whoever You Are" was close to the end of their set with "Gina" much earlier in the set and was minus an appearance by Gina. For those who elected not to be in the auditorium for their set though cheated themselves out of a significant piece of Barenaked history.
During Tommy's do it yourself "dance hall" part of the show in which the house lights go out and he twirls four flashlights creating his own disco effect, five shadowy figures burst out from stage right, each equipped with their own lights, dancing crazily under them and complimenting Tom's motions. But with the additional light sources, the figures vaguely revealed themselves. My personal thought process went like this: "Whoa, are those the Ladies? (an accounting of the physiques said it very well could be)... Ha! With those flesh colored body suits they look really naked... (and as the beams from the flashlights indiscriminately offered glimpses of various body parts) hey, wait a minute, there's too much flippin' and floppin' for those to be body suits - these people really are naked! Now. that's funny, getting five frat guys to dance naked at a Barenaked Ladies concert!" But as the lights came up at the end of the bit and the dancers scurried in haste to the safety of the wings, the crowd recognized retreating forms of Ed, Steve, Tyler, Jim and Kevin! At the end of their set Tommy thanked Barenaked Ladies for the help.
In between sets we stopped by the Geggy Tah booth and talked with Amy a little, she remembered us from Canton. She said that all the guys we're pretty pumped up for the last show and that the literal Barenaked appearance was a complete shock to them. She also indicated the Last Show Fun was not over.
BNL were introduced by way of a professor-looking guy coming out to center stage to announce that BNL "have requested that nothing be thrown onto the stage during the performance and that those who do will be ejected from the (Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial) Auditorium."
Before the fourth chord was struck, the assigned seating was abandoned for an impromptu mosh pit. The (real) set list was pretty much the same as Canton's with the exception of Hello City coming much later in the show. After the third or fourth song, Ed began talking to the audience about the manager of a bowling alley near campus: "Can that guy be any F*****' GRUMPIER? He comes up while were standing there and says - not to us, to the girl behind the counter - 'What I really hate is when they come in just before closing time and expect us to hang around'. So I said, 'I'm sorry, is it closing time?' and he just looks at me and says '...No'. So then I said, "Well, we're only bowling a couple of games..." And as he's walkin' away he says "Five guys ain't gonna be able to play two games before closing.' So, what happens? Steve goes first (demonstrating his bowling form with his guitar slung around to his back) STTRRIIIKKEE!! Yes! Next up, Jim: (pantomimes another approach) STTRRIIKKEE!, so I yell up to the counter, 'Hang in there man, ten more balls and were OUTTA here!'"
This story lead into the Athens rap which carried the chorus "Me Oh, My Oh, We're bowling in Athens Oh Hi Oh." At some point during the first half, Steve started playing Smoke On The Water causing Ed to inquire "Is that what yours says?" It was. Ed picked up his set list and his said it was time to play Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue. They compared the goofy set lists the crew had prepared for them for a while but when they questioned why the rest of the band got real lists, Tyler offered it was because it was up to them "to keep the whole thing together."
Throughout the first half of their show, Tom of Geggy Tah kept springing out on stage to mimic Steve but the real Last Show Surprise was during the sails-up, front and center set of songs. From the left side of the stage three pirates emerged. Gregg and Daren were sporting fairly traditional high-seas costumes were as Tom's was a bit of a departure. He had obviously visited the Halloween section of the nearest Wal- or K-Mart and purchased one of those hats that look like it's being worn sideways, a plastic cape and a plastic stump and hook to be attached to the end of one's arm. And while he understood the concept behind the hat and cape, he misinterpreted the placement of the hook, stuffing all his "equipment" into it and wearing it like a very, very revealing bikini.
The pirates tied up the Ladies and proceeded to give the worse rendering of If I Had A Million Dollars ever performed during which Ed teased the crowd by tugging gently at Tom's hook. They reappeared during the good Million Dollar in their superhero underwear with badminton rackets, intermittently dancing and volleying a birdie. At the Kraft Dinner line, they moved into position to bat away any in bounds (two KDs & a green dress - equaling the number of the more assertive female fans who managed to get to Ed and offer their affections). As in Canton, Ed offered to buy John Tesh's remains instead of John Merrick's.
Getty Tah crashed the second encore as well, leaving Steve to do the second half of Madona's Material Girl cover with his shorts around his ankles. Not to be alone, Steve helped himself to Ed's buckle, button and zipper and soon both front men were pantsless and seemed to take it in stride. But when a young lady could not resist the temptation of Ed's shorts as a souvenir, they were negotiated forcibly away by a roadie.
We found ourselves passing the stage door on the way to our car so decided to hang around to see what might happen. With the exception of Steve who briskly walked through the crowd to the bus, the band members spent a lot of time (almost an hour) signing autographs and talking with their fans. Ed didn't seem to be aware of the pre-Christmas show dates but didn't seem to too surprised when I said they had been posted here by Adam at Nettwerk. I asked Ed who's idea it was to come out for the Geggy Tah disco bit and he was happy to tell his audience of about 30 that it was Steve's idea and it was all very last minute - just before the song began. He described the thrash of getting as many Mag-Lights as they could from the crew and stripping off all their clothes in the wings with about two seconds to spare.
I also suggested to him that the marquee at the grand Canton Palace Theater looked odd with "Barenaked Ladies Live" across it and proposed that the Canton sophisticates must have thought the old place had hit rock bottom. He like the observation and told us about the venue in Liverpool which was right next to a strip club and had a steady stream of proper English business men, having seen the marquee there, coming in saying "'Cover charge? I've never had to pay a cover charge before.' 'It's just that there's a band...' 'A band? I'm not interested in a band...'"
The most enlightening thing that came from this experience was in watching Ed sign all those autographs, making special effort to make eye contact with every fan and giving each a sincere thanks for coming out. It would have been easy for him to simply sign whatever was thrust in front of him without looking up, but not Ed. Impressive as an artist, impressive as a regular guy.
Looking towards Detroit in December.
Barenaked in Columbus,
Jim & Dana
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