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Rock me all
night...Liz
My friend and I arrived at the Crocodile Cafe about an hour before the
doors were supposed to open. I thought that there would be a line, but
it was just empty. I asked one of the guys where the line would be and
he said that we could actually go inside to the back bar. Which we did
since there's nothing really around the area except the urine covered
sidewalks. Not to mention a brisker day than usual. When we went in the
opening act Mat Kearney was still rehearsing. It was after he was done
when we could claim our seats.
Yes, it was kind of awkward to have seats in such a tiny club. It was
the first time I've seen the setup like this. We could've gotten first,
but the stage was just lined with amps. Of course I forgot this was an
acoustic gig or I would've seen about moving up and not worry about the
volume. The show was sold out and they only had as many seats as there
were tickets sold. It took forever though for the place to start filling
up.
The opening act Mat Kearney hit the stage at least after 9:15 (A
few minutes after Liz arrived ). The audience after his set kept trying
to put a finger on what he sounded like. My favorite was John Mayer
meets Eminem. That's totally not it. He's more of a Jack Johnson type
meets this white European rapper Mike Skinner and/or The Streets (I
really didn't bother to figure out the proper name of the guy/group
because I find him annoying). He tried buttering up the crowd letting us
know he was from Eugene, Oregon and how he had a bucket of water
splashed on his head while walking around Seattle. It was pretty funny
when a guy yelled "it wasn't water!" He kept the set pretty
short.
During the break the place was packed. I rushed off to the restrooms
(darn water) and while I was about to leave the stall I heard a man's
voice saying "could she please cut in line?" All the girls
waiting were like "oh yeah, of course." So I peeped out the
crack of the door and saw Liz Phair! She apologized and said that this
was the only bathroom in the place. Then one of the other 2 stalls
opened up and she scurried in. I didn't see her after that and thought
it would be weird to meet her in there so I went back to my seat and saw
Liz rush back into the green room a little bit after. A few moments
after that she appeared on stage.
She wore a short jean skirt a zip up jacket with what seemed to be a
bathing suit top. I guess you could also say that she was wearing
underwear too. Because from the angle she was sitting on the stool and
the audience below her...yeah. I guess the guy behind us (who actually
admitted he was a middle aged pervert) was happy. At first they had some
technical problems with the guitars. Liz said that might not be a
problems for some performers like Madonna. Then she took it back saying
that she loved Madonna and that she was watching her on the View the
other day.
Liz started off the set with a request from her cousins that she wanted
to get out of the way. I was keeping a setlist of my own, but this track
was new to me "Wild Thing". Did see the set list posted up on
a Liz board that matched up to my own...so I'll refer to that once just
in case I missed anything myself. "Help Me Mary"
followed and then the song that hooked it all for me "Polyester
Bride." "Never Said" was just stunning. "Baby
Got Going" I was surprised to hear, but my ears welcomed
gratefully. Liz asked if we were all happy to be here and this drunken
woman said that the guy next to her was and that he went to see her at
this 21+ club when he was 15. She wondered how he managed that and the
woman said that she was his mother. From the look on everyone's faces
she must've been one of those young mothers. That woman was probably the
biggest distraction of the night as she sang drunkenly to a majority of
the songs flailing her arms about. Oh well. Liz demanded that her guitar
player get the acoustics on and asked the crowd if there was anything
she could do for us by herself. Then came "Flower." My
friend was just laughing and in shock. That's part of the charm of Liz.
She can have this sweet voice and melody, but when you listen to the
lyrics....you're nasty Miss Phair. LOL.
After that song Liz commented again about how hot it was in the club. We
were doing pretty well, but I guess the stage lights were making her
grab the towels and dabbing the sweat off her partner, her stool, her
face, and between her legs. Which we had to laugh at. It was nice to see
Liz so talkative with the audience...although I wouldn't mind just songs
either.
"Hurricane Cindy," "Extraordinary,"
"Soap Star Joe," and "Uncle Alvarez" I
think I've heard this song waaaaay too much in the past but it was nice.
"Mesmerizing" then some new songs "Somebody's
Miracle" and her new single "Everything To Me."
The Liz gave us a choice of 3 songs to chose from. She didn't really
feel like going off the setlist that night. So we got both "6'1""
and "May Queen." "Supernova" and ohhh
"HWC." It was funny though since most of the women in
the back were the ones screaming and going "oh yeah." Right
before the "Divorce Song" Liz said they'd just play
right on through for the stuff that they were going to do in the encore
so we can go home early. I was kind of relieved by that since I was
starving! "Why Can't I" and "Fuck And Run"
ended off the set. During the last song the drunk woman left her seat
and the security guard followed to make sure she didn't get anything
else to drink I guess. It was at that point everyone brought out their
cameras and started snapping away. I didn't take very many photos and
none of them really turned out well since it was dark.
I had a very good time at the show.
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