One more little footnote on Dave's voice: I think we can expect his voice to be scratchy from now on. The constant touring has seemed to take some of the edge off his vocal sound. He still sounds great, but considering the tour is just beginning and his voice is already weak, it will probably remain that way. He could be sick, but his voice was in that condition throughout the Fall '96 Tour. This should in no way deter you from attending a show; it is just an observation I have made.
The best thing about this performance was the fact that the band decided
to play #41, instead of the expected Tripping Billies, which is the current single, and they always play the current single.
When they first started to play, it took me an extra second to figure out what the hell song it was. I was all set for the opening notes of Billies, but to my surprise they were playing something else.
They didn't play the instrumental beginning of #41, but instead cut right to the lyrics. Dave's voice sounded a little
shaky on the first few notes (probably due to the fact that they have never started the song at that part), but it got better as the song
progressed. When it came time for the first scream by Dave, he decided to sing it an octave lower, which kind of concerned me. Was he no longer able to hit that note? Well, when that part came around the second time, he nailed the note, singing as loud as I have ever heard him.
Back to #41. Once the lyrical part of #41 was over, they had a little time to jam. No where near the length of a concert jam, but decent considering it was a late night show, where little time is alotted for musical performances. Boyd had a terrific little solo and Roi was also given his moment to shine, but unlike Boyd, Roi did not impress. For most of the solo he held a single note. No offense to Roi but WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? We all know he is decent at improving but he decides to hold one note for almost the duration of the solo. This was the only dissappointment of the performance for me......
They ended the song with the usual guitar rift and violin long tones. I love that part.
Overall it was a great performance and for those of you who missed it, I am sorry. Just for the hell of it, here is a little WARDROBE DESCRIPTION:
DAVE: Blue Long-sleeved shirt with baggy pants and his trademarked necklace. He also was wearing some rings on his left arm, which are believed by many to have been supports for his Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
BOYD: Typical tank-top and black pants.
ROI: Blue T-shirt with some cool black and white tennis shoes. Roi appears to have lost some weight since the fall tour. He was also sporting a partial goat-tee.
STEFAN: Typical cool clothes..I don't remember all the details.
CARTER: A nice Adidas jacket and he was wearing his hat forwards for once.
