I think the two most important lessons I learned last night are

1. never lose faith in Dan Miller; and
2. it is possible to arrive at a show 15 minutes before doors and still get into the front row, without being rude

I've decided for this set of shows I'm experimenting with embracing the ephemerality of the experience. Which means basically that I might not be doing so much the extremely detailed blow-by-blow I usually do. This still ended up kinda long though...

So anyway, due to various transportation difficulties we didn't get to the Empire until about 15 minutes before doors. As you can imagine, this made me rather anxious because I'm the type who is really paranoid about getting to a venue super-early. My anxiety was compounded by the fact that I also still didn't have a ticket to the show. But the line wasn't actually that long, and then a few minutes after we got there I had the chance to importune Dan Miller with my sad story, and he obligingly put me on the guestlist. Then once we got inside the crowd in front of the stage wasn't too thick, and we managed to slip into an empty space in the front. I think part of the reason nobody was already standing there was that there was a huge wedge speaker right there completely blocking the view of the stage. I was sure they'd be removing that before TMBG came out, so I wasn't worried about it, but the couple to our right invited me to move over in front of them so I could see better (I'm really short); I didn't end up needing to take them up on their offer (the speaker did get moved), but that was just so incredibly kind (it almost never happens that people actually ask you to stand in front of them). Sweet people, those Sacramentans.

Another thing that was incredible, this show was hella early. Doors were at 6:30 and literally within minutes of our getting inside Oppenheimer came on and started their set. They, by the way, were excellent. I've got to remember to buy a CD of theirs tonight.

Then they were done and we waited for TMBG. Oh, and I have to mention, I was mildly disappointed that the venue was not nearly as trashy as their website had led me to believe. It was just kind of dark and square and warehousey.

But anyway, They came on in a blaze of glory and started in on The Cap'm. Here's a scan of the setlist. Lots of the new stuff (not surprisingly). The crowd was very well-behaved, by which I mean, not very energetic? At least not the people near where I was. But that also meant no obnoxious shouters, which is something I'm always happy about. The band sounded great; the new songs are getting really tight.

They fired off the confetti cannons during Dr Worm, after John & John issued extensive warnings to the crowd not to stand directly in front of said cannons during launch. But surely They must have known that the cannons were positioned at least ten feet above the floor, well out of range of our faces. Maybe that was a joke. Take Out the Trash—I still love it. Upside Down Frown—I still can't get into it, although Marty's drumming did get a special mention from Flans. ("California law requires me to inform you that Marty's fingers never leave his hands"—didn't he used to make that joke about Dan Miller?)

Memo to Human Resources is back! (Did it ever leave?) The joke about how They wanted to call it I'm Down but the Beatles stole that title is also back. Okay, that one definitely never left.

The guest for Phone Calls From the Dead was the (fictional) Albert (?) Sac, namesake (sic) of our fair capital city. [Insert labored setup about harvesting Mentos.] Hence, the name Sacramento. Instead of Flans going offstage with the wireless mic, Linnell used his keyboard to make that trumpety Peanuts sound. (There was also some Peanuts music included in the house music before the show started.) The slides they showed during the segment were cute though, and the sight of Flans standing there being all Professor Flansy with the slide projector remote was pretty adorable. Flans, by the way, was looking damn good. Really good hair, and has he lost weight? Anyway, it was a good night for him.

Oh no! Older. Damn you, They Might Be Giants! But thank you for following that with Birdhouse and the Guitar. Especially the Guitar, I never tire of that.

I think Withered Hope is my favorite of the new songs live. It's just—wow. And then they turned on the disco ball and I swear my heart started pounding. Really amazing. I want to see it again! (And I probably will.)

They gave She's an Angel this weird new electronicy-drum machine kind of intro, which I guess was supposed to segue cleverly into the tempo of the song. It didn't really work for me...or maybe I just didn't get it?

And that was nearly the end of the main set. The show was quite short. And did I mention it was early? The main set was over before 9pm. Flans also remarked that it was odd for the band to be performing "on the near side of 9 o'clock."

Anyway it was damn exciting when they came back out for the encore followed by the Velcro Horns! I wonder if the horns will be accompanying them for the rest of the tour. Dan Levine appeared to have stolen Linnell's favorite shirt. Also, that guy is pretty hot. We got With the Dark, which was as mind-blowing as you might expect. But all of the horn songs were absolutely wonderful. I think maybe Mr Me was my favorite of them. Istanbul was pretty exciting too though (though it probably goes without saying that I still prefer the Miller acoustic intro).

Then everybody left the stage, and after a bit John & John came back alone. Flans started introducing Maybe I Know, and then he and Linnell riffed off a Smothers Brothers routine. (? I think—as Linnell pointed out, those of us under 50 were probably not going to get that reference.) Linnell said something like, "John and I are just going to ramble on like this all night," and the audience cheered in approval, and then he got all contrary and admonished us, "But not if you're going to scream like that!" So I booed, but I don't think I did it loud enough, because they played the song instead.

The whole band + horns came back onstage, and Flans took a few minutes to show us the deluxe Else vinyl signed by everyone in the band, explaining all the advantages of this particular format, such as, if you're old, you'll actually be able to read the lyrics printed on the inside. He also pointed out a peculiarity of the cover—it's a gatefold, but there's only one disc, so normally one side of it would be glued shut, but this one, "like a Greek import, is wide open." What the hell did that mean? I couldn't figure out if it was perfectly innocent and just sounded kind of dirty, or whether he meant it to be dirty and it just sounded confusing instead. I guess confusing wins in either case. Anyway when he was done touting the record's virtues he handed it to a lady in the front row and requested "would you hold on to that for me for a minute?" but he didn't take it back from her at the end of the night. She got a free record! Flans is awesome.

And it was time for the last song. Dan Miller picked up his guitar; Flans started introducing the next song, Dan looked down at the setlist, put his guitar back down and started to leave the stage. Flans got all confused and asked Dan where he was going, but upon realizing that Dan wasn't needed for the song (the setlist had Damn Good Times, but They played She's Actual Size instead), allowed him to go, and off he went with a smile and a wave. When he was out of sight:

JF: This last song is dedicated to the memory of Dan Miller.
JL: [wistfully] When I think back on all the good things Dan did for this band during the show... [puts a hand to his chest] I can't go on. John, you take it from here.

Wow, She's Actual Size is so much better with the horns and without the twenty-minute Dial-a-Drum bit in the middle. It was a good closer. I love those horns.

The lights came up, I got a setlist from Marty, and we went over toward the merch table. It was about then that we realized that it was not even 10 o'clock yet. Like whoa, I cannot remember another non-kids show I've been to that finshed so early. So we wandered outside, disoriented by the early hour. The band's bus was actually parked right on the street outside, and there was a bit of a crowd hanging around there, but we decided to head on home.

The drive back was nice & easy, unlike our drive out. I dropped off artmonkeygirl and then had the rare privilege of crossing the Golden Gate Bridge at midnight. Okay, it's a privilege that costs $5 and there were actually quite a few other cars sharing it, but it was still pretty awesome.

I think I might need a nap before heading down to Santa Cruz to meet up with k1cup. And here are last night's pictures and the setlist. I hope tonight will be good too (and longer!).