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The Orbit, Grand Rapids, MI, July 9, 2001 The short version: An amazing night and an awesome show! The set list: Backslide, High, Lyla, Eden, Loose Cannon, Sick & Wrong Everthing else: I got to the venue at about 3:30. The Orbit is located right behind a Toys R Us and next door to a strip club (weird!). There were a few Everclear fans waiting around in line and next to the buses. I walked around to the back entrance and Zia was standing outside, getting some sunshine :) He gave me a hug :) And I gave him a picture I drew of him (I drew pictures for each of the guys). Then I went into the club with Zia 'cause all the guys were in there working on the problems with their gear, i guess. I gave each of the guys a drawing (and a hug ;). When Myles saw the drawing I did of Alessandro, he said to him, something like "you're better looking in that picture than in real life" (not true!) but it was funny :) I also gave Marty a birthday card. I thought that the message in was pretty funny so i'll share with all of you: (Front of card): I thought that a big pile of money would be a good birthday present, (inside) But the mall security pulled me out of the fountain before I could collect a sizeable amount. So after that I just sort of hung out in the venue. I talked to the guys some, when they weren't working getting ready for the show. It was really great to just be sitting in the venue, before the show, talking to the guys :) Marty says that the new site will hopefully be up in a couple weeks. From what he described it sounds really cool. And Darren, who's working on the site, will be coming out to some of the shows to get some video for the site. And I guess Marty just got instructions on how to post to the current official site's band notes section so hopefully the guys will start posting message there soon. I got to watch Everclear's sound check. That was alot of fun 'cause they played 4 songs :) Everclear rocks! Art said something about the sound in his earpiece sounding like he was underwater, so Craig got some water and started singing/gargling into the mike. Funny! I saw American Hi-Fi's sound check too. I like their music (now that i've heard them). I was going to pick up their album at last nights show but forgot. But, unfortunately there wasn't enough time before doors for MF4 to do a sound check. So, anyway, I was right up front, at the barrier, for the show, 'cause basically i was the first one there (already in the venue!). And the people around me were really cool. I told the girl standing next to me so much about the 4 that by the time they came on she said she was excited to see them :) The crowd seemed really excited that night. When Flipp came on everyone started screaming. Flipp puts on a fun show. I was more into their songs than the first time i saw them, i guess 'cause they were more familiar. When Mayfield Four came on the crowd was totally screaming again. As usual the MF4 guys put on a fabulous show - they really seemed to get into their playing :) And Myles jumped around alot more than i'd seen before. I couldn't hear the vocals very well, but it may have been because of where I was standing (some other people i talked to said they could hear Myles just fine). One of my favorite things in their show is the part in Lyla where, on the album, the guitar part switches speakers. When they play it live, Myles walks over to Alessandro and plays the riff, then Alessandro plays it, then they play it together. It looks and sounds so cool :) That song just gets better every time I hear it. I think it was somewhere either during Eden or Loose Cannon that this big guy pushes his way up towards the stage, right behind me. He has a beer in each hand and is yelling and pointing at Myles. At first I was worried that he was going to try to push his way in front of me, but he was actually trying to give Myles a beer! He got the security dude to take the beer and hand it to Myles :) I think Myles drank some of it during Loose Cannon. And Loose Cannon was just amazing. Marty does this bass solo in it and during that part he climbed up on an amp! So he's up there, about 5 feet above the stage floor, and the crowd was going crazy. It was awesome. They had some difficulty during Sick & Wrong. There was something wrong with Myles' guitar so he had to walk off stage and get a new one. So, they other three guys are just on stage playing, during the part where Myles was supposed to be singing "let go if you want it...". He eventually came back, with guitar, they finished the song and the crowd seemed pretty happy - lots of noise :) I guess because they'd had so many equiptment problems, they didn't have time to play the last song on their set list (The Who's Baba O'Riley (teenage wasteland)). Myles was alot more talkative during that set than when I saw them in Clarion in April. I dont' remember all the stuff he said but he did say, about Flipp, "keep your children and wives away from them" - so true. And during their set, I saw Art, Craig and Davey from Everclear sitting at the side of the stage watching. After their set I saw one of the security guards with their set list so I asked him for it and he gave it to me. I didn't get any pictures though. The security guard in front of me took my camera. I wasn't really mad at him, 'cause he was pretty nice about it and really cute :) Since I was already up front I decided to stay there for the rest of the night. It was fun but somewhat painful. I must have had 20 people land on me crowd surfing. I have an enormous bruise on the back of my arm from being slammed into the barrier. But it was worth it. American Hi-Fi seemed really cool - they put on a good show. I was a little distracted by the people crowd surfing and pushing their way up to the front (or trying to) but I'd like to see them again, after I get their album. And of course Everclear rocked. They are total performers. It was so much fun being right up front in all that excitement. After the show I bought a shirt then went to look for the guys. I only saw Marty so I talked to him for a bit. I talked to some girls who had gotten their autographs and they were all excited :) Overall it was an awesome show and I had a great time. Yeah! Review by Julia Plummer |