January 27th, 2005 -
Matt Ventresca w/ Jack Puzio and Keith Dell'Aquila

Here is the setlist from the Free Times show.

It was a pretty fair mixture of songs from Delusions, new 'unreleased' tracks with some covers tossed in there.

New songs included: Beyond the Shadow of a Doubt, Lost + Faded, Sunrise/Sunset, Lights Out and When a Butterfly Flaps its Wings.

Songs covered were Left and Leaving by the Weakerthans, Everywhere and Nowhere by the Lowest of the Low, Pledge of Allegiance by Matthew Good and of course for the super encore, Nothing Else Matters by Metallica.

The rocking Flying the Hindenburg Medley included Every Inambition by the Trews, Summertime Blues by Rush and Hells Bells by AC/DC.

Other Notes:
Keith Dell'Aquila:
The guy could barely stand but still managed to put on an excellent rendition of his 'greatest hits'. Mad World was a particular standout and has developed into one of my favourite songs.

Forgotten One was great as always, and may be recorded in the near future so watch out for that.

And last but not least, I joined him for Civil War by G'n'R, and it was one of the best covers I think I've ever played. I hear Axl Rose has vowed never to play the song again after hearing our cover.
Overall, awesome set Keith, but stop saying 'bitches' so much!

Jack Puzio:
Jack's set was filled with quality riffage from beginning to end. The Way (not by Fastball) and the Asshole Song (not by Denis Leary) were the tunes that I think really compelled the audience.
And of course, you can't go wrong with a Bon Jovi cover.

Jack played a song (To Carry On) back from our Far From Luke days, and did a good job. But I think it honestly lacked the awesome lead guitar work of yours truly (note the sarcasm).
Finally, I joined Jack for Angel's Son by Strait Up and for not practicing it, I think it sounded pretty good. Although I think one of us was playing the prechorus wrong!

My Set:
After Beyond the Shadow of a Doubt and Dehumanize, let's just say the set got off to an emotional start. I had to skip Cliche After Cliche because i really didn't think I'd be able to make it seeing how I barely held it together during Left And Leaving.

Sunrise/Sunset sounded pretty good with the recorded percussion, but you can't beat having a live drummer there! If I could do both I would.

My voice definitely started to give out near the end, but after some much needed H20, it rounded back into form. I was particularly annoyed that it crapped out during Everywhere and Nowhere! Sorry Ron!

The crowd was awesome with some key vocals on Fine Art of Self Defense, and being my human drum machine for Flying the Hindenburg. Gotta love crowd participation.

Not to be too arrogant, but I think Jack and I did justice to Nothing Else Matters. AND WE DIDN'T MESS UP THE HARMONIES!!!!!!! YA!

No techincal goofups and only one forgotten line of lyrics makes for one magical evening. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who braved the cold to show up. It means so much to me, you guys rock the casbah.

BACK