Phoenix 1996 review Phoenix show review 12/10/96 written by Jennifer Sol Hello all, I just thought I'd tell you all my story of last night. This is only my story, and as we all know, you have to make sure it's your own and not someone else's... As usual, downtown Phoenix was deserted when my friend Amy and I arrived. We parked and walked to Union Hall, where we met up with Melissa (whom you on this list know as Sistyrluck) and tried to find will call. Union Hall used to be part of the old Phoenix Union High School, most of which has now been torn down in Phoenix's on-going effrts to rebuild its downtown. It hasn't worked yet. We don't have a downtown, which is why none of us knew about this hall before. It's a cool small place, and you can tell it used to be a school auditorium. Eddie said after the show that it looked very familiar to him, like he'd played there before - I'm not sure how to confirm that. There were a couple of people in front, one of whom told us we had to walk all the way around the building to get to the will-call, and we wound up back where we started. Then she didn't tell us we could get our tickets right away either. But I can't complain, because we got seats in the front row on the right, directly in front of Rich! Thank you Taller, thank you so much. When we got in, and we realized what great seats we had, there was no sitting still waiting for the show to start. Gov't Mule came on ,with a song I didn't recognize - the guys in the row behind me knew, and I relied on them for the setlist. Then they did a killer version of Don't Step... and started a cool jam into Same Thing. When they started Mule I was kind of bummed because I assumed they'd end with that, like they did in the Live at Roseland cd. But they threw a long jam into the middle, including I've Been Working(?), which was just incredible. I was thinking of you, unca, you'd have loved it. Then the Crowes came on. We stood at the front, and the stage was low enough that I could rest my arms on it and pound the wood floor to the beat. They started in with beautiful straight-up versions of Under a Mountain, and Sunflower. And then...chills, chills, they started in on Tied Up & Swallowed. I was so psyched to hear that song, because I had tapes of shows earlier this year and even the tapes freaked me out. The If you haven't heard them do that song, you haven't heard the Crowes at their best. Then they started a jam, with Torn and Frayed, and moved into Descending. It was so cool to see the way they work together, I had never been close enough to the stage before to see the way they look at each other - just the littlest signals, a lifted eyebrow, a quick glance from Rich and the rest follow. I was amazed by the intensity of Marc's gaze, focused on Rich. Wow, with such intense vibes among the band members is it any wonder we fans freak out. Much to Melissa's delight, they then went into Hotel Illness. After that was a very funky song I didn't recognize, which I found out later on the setlist was Spider in the Sugar Bowl. Unfortunately, I couldn't hear the lyrics that well. My major complaint about the show was that some of the speakers, especially the mics, sounded to me like they had weird feedback problems. Rich was making faces at his mic, so it probably wasn't just me. I was looking straight up at Rich, and I was floored to see that he had pedals! I guess I hadn't really realized that he was using effects now, shows you how much I know about guitars! Anyway, then they did a long intro jam into Bring On, which was very heavy and beautiful; so they perked us up with Mr. Spaceman! Ed has a little silver alien on his piano, did anyone else notice? And then a combo of Ballad in Urgency and Wiser Time, perhaps a bit of a cliche since that is the order they're in on amorica, but lovely. Chris really gave his all on Ballad, and some jerk jumped onstage and tried to grab him! What an asshole. Good for him that only the security guards grabbed him - if it had been me I'd have bashed his face in! So of course Chris had to say how one selfish asshole had to ruin stuff - but he was the loser because he got thrown out! And of course everybody cheered. Then they did another song I didn't know at the time, called Somebody's on Your Case - appropriately enough! An extended version of Non-Fiction followed, with a long tail, and then they revved it up at the end with No Speak No Slave, leaving everyone screaming for more! More came soon enough, in the form of Good Friday, slow and sweet, and a trip back in time with Jealous Again. Rich threw some picks and left. The roadies and the lights came on. I begged them - please throw me something? and one of them threw me a setlist! Wow! Then all too soon it was over - or was it? So we hung around outside - should we really go to the back of the building? Could we - would security throw us out? So we wandered back, trying to look innocent (big brown eyes always help:-)) and saw Rich walking between the trucks, so we yelled "great show!!" and he sort of waved, then my friend Amy screamed her head off (sorry Rich). Then we found their bus, and there was a little group of fans hanging around so we joined them. Rich came out of the Hall and down to us, and started signing, and *of course* I had to open mouth and insert foot and tease him about having pedals now, and he laughed and said he's really into thme now that he's gotten old, or something like that, and we all groaned. Seriously, can some guys on the list help me out here? What is it with guys when they get to be 26, 27 and they think the world's ending and senility is imminent? Anyway, Steve came out and I sort of shoved my paper at him, so he wanted to know if it was a present or something but he did sign it. Then Ed came out, actually he went back and forth several times before he came over and signed for us. Between times, Marc came out and signed, and I asked him if he was glad to be going home, and he said very glad, it'd been a long tour. So Melissa asked him about a New Year's show, and he said that because of this long tour, and the long European tour in the new year, that they wouldn't be doing one. Then Ed and Johnny came out and signed, and Johnny jumped on some guy's truck and took pictures of us all for Taller. Later, Steve and Johnny came out and got us all to pose for pictures, one a peacock line and one a football setup. The reason why they had time to do all this was that the Union Hall people had shut the parking lot gate and they couldn't get the bus out! Finally, they figured out how to get it open (!) and the poor tired Crowes could finally flap off to some hotel - although not without followers as Melissa said. What losers - give the guys a break! I mean, the Crowes were so gracious and sweet to us all, coming and signing for us and everything, what more do you want? It was more than I ever expected. Whew, was that a long enough review for you all? I just wanted to share with all of you the joy of being there. Onward to Las Vegas! Peace, Jen Aradia