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| Harper Ave. rychard's rants, raves + reviews |
| "rise to the occasion" jude show review: january 07 2003 the first Jude show of 2003! BEFORE THE SHOW: I arrived at Largo alone (because sometimes seeing Jude alone tops bringing friends...and sometimes you just feel like being alone, y�know?) Anyway, I promptly found a nice seat at the bar, and the bar-lady asked if I wanted my usual (which, incidently, is Ginger Ale.) I was surprised to find that I did in deed have a �usual,� and that she knew my name. Of course, considering how often I�ve been to Largo in the last few years, I shouldn�t be too surprised. Anyway, a few minutes later, I found myself being interviewed by a reporter for The New York Times. I should probably back up a bit. There was this lady there (Monica, nice lady!) And she was doing a blurb on Largo for the NY Times and she was interviewing practically everybody in the room but me, and I was sitting right next to her at the bar!! Finally, she asks me if I�d watch her purse while she went out to have a smoke, and I smiled and said sure. Then she asked if I was a fan of Jude�s. (�Kettle, are you black?�) I said sure, and proceeded to tell her of the numerous times I�d been to Largo. She perked up and asked if I didn�t mind being interviewed when she came back. Again, I smiled and �sure-ed.� The interview was pretty ordinary...why do I like Largo...good food?...friendly staff...etc. So shortly after that, Rae�s friend Emily approached me. We�d met briefly before a few shows ago, and we were each told by Rae to keep an eye out for the other. She invited me over to her table, which was right in the front and to the side of the stage. There, I got to know her two friends a bit, and then the show began. OPENING ACT: A comedian by the name of Fred Belford, who apparently is a friend of Jude�s. Fred�s act began with a joke about his �Indian Lover� named �Cammie.� Oh, I should mention that Flannigan introduced Fred Belford, instead of Jude, who normally introduces the opening act. Flannigan said something along the lines of �Jude sucks at talking at the mike.� I forget the exact words, but it was funny and meant in good humor, I�m sure. THE MAIN EVENT: Jude appears on stage wearing a red and black plaid jacket with a black shirt underneath, and red pants. I envy Jude�s fashion daring :-) He opened his set with �Cuba,� which was met with the usual smiles and laughter from the crowd. Next up came �Your Eyes.� This song seemed a bit faster than Jude usually performs it. Right when Jude got to the part where he would sing the bridge, someone in the crowd took a picture with a bright flash. So instead of singing the bridge, Jude started singing about how the lady took his picture, and he wasn�t ready, so when he counted to four she could take the picture again. But when he got to four, she didn�t take the picture, so the joke kinda fell flat. Too bad. �Rick James� followed, and for some reason I enjoyed this performance of the song more so than I have any other. I can�t really put my finger on why though, so moving on... After the song, Jude started talking to the audience, hoping we had good holidays. He joked that he was still wearing his holiday suit. He teased us a bit about what he would look like once he took the jacket off, saying that if it got hot enough on stage, we�d all �see.� Then he started going into some random story about a meeting he had with a business manager, and how he had, like, no incoming source of income or something. It was kinda weird and unfinished. Then, completely out of the blue, he mentioned that he was recently at Home Depot, shopping for a fridge (does Home Depot even sell refrigerators...?) He said that he say a girl there who had tattoed across her neck �That which does not kill me only makes me stronger.� That inspired him to write the next song, which for the time being I�m referring to �The Past Is Over.� It�s a nice little ditty, kind of reminiscent of old-school Jude ala �Paper Towel� and �I Will Not Die.� Some funny lyrics, too. After that song, he started another random rant on how he buys jackets from stores where widows take their deceased husbands clothes after they die. He didn�t really finish the story, and instead started talking about how Flannigan had said earlier that Jude �sucks� at the mike, and Jude said he guess he�d have to agree, and that it�s about �rising to the expectation.� �Red Room� came next, with some slight lyrical changes in the second verse. This song was followed by �Love Letters,� which he said he had promised someone earlier that he�d play it. He then asked if there were any songs that anyone wanted to hear, and the usual shouting match of requests followed. Jude started to play the first verse of Nirvana�s �Heart Shaped Box,� which was met with some laughter, but quickly turned to admiration-led silence. He segued that song into �I Know.� After that, Jude sat at the piano and played a slightly updated version of the song �Save Me,� which he played at the last concert with a guitar. �On The Dance Floor� came next, followed by �King Of Yesterday� and �My Room.� Once he was done with his �silly piano songs,� Jude walked back to the microphone and took of his jacket, revealing a plain long sleeve black shirt, over his red pants. He referred to himself as a �Christmas Mime.� Jude then played �Money.� Personally, I love the �rawness� that his voice gets during this song. I can�t really describe it in musical terms, but me likes :-) After that came �Out Of LA,� which for the first time that I�ve seen it performed, did not feature any of the extended lyric outro. There was however, a stray line he inserted towards the end of th song about people arriving in LA searching for the fame and Colombia Records, but he stopped himself from continuing with that. �I�m Sorry Now� came next, which featured some mistakes. His voice kind of cracked at one point, he forgot to sing a line at another point. It wasn�t horrible. It just didn�t �rise to the expectation.� After that song, he told a story about how someone had called him up and asked if his song had been on the TV show Alias. He said that it had. Then the person who called him complained that the song was too loud and that she couldn�t hear what was going on between the characters. She asked Jude if he had a tape of the show, and if so, could he tell her what was being said. �All I Wanna Do� came next, and ended the main show. ENCORE - Jude appeared on stage after a few moments in a different jacket, saying �we like to put on a show her.� Last concert I went to that featured �costume changes� was Cher�s Farewell Tour. He joked that it�s all part of �show biz.� Then went on to tell a story about when he was opening for The Cranberries. It wasn�t a very Cranberry-friendly story...suffice to say. He asked again for song suggestions, and a �bidding war� erupted between two guys who wanted, respectively, �Bye Bye� and �Paper Towel.� Jude instigated them on a bit, then chose to play �Paper Towel,� and then �Bye Bye.� He wanted to play �Bye Bye� on his smaller acoustic, but he took it off stage with him and now it was gone, so he had to play it on the bigger guitar, which he said hurt his fingers. To the guy who requested the song, Jude said �I am in pain for you. Ow.� Jude closed the show (for real, this time) with...any guesses...that�s right...�I Do.� Shocker, right? AFTER THE SHOW: I spoke to Jude briefly after the show, and it�s been decided by him that for the time being, he would prefer it if I didn�t post any of the new songs that he�s been performing. He would rather share them with everybody in their finished form before live versions of them hit the net. I thanked him for allowing me to record his shows at all, and he said he appreciated what I do. So yeah, for the time being, I�m only going to be posting songs that we�re already familiar with. Personally, I think the guy has a point...because I know last year, when Alanis Morissette was on tour previewing her new songs, a lot of her fans were �disappointed� once they heard the studio versions of the songs, and I�d hate to be responsible for that with Jude. |