Liz at First Ave Sat. night in Minneapolis, 10/4/08

Jackstpaul breaks out of RNC jail, crosses the river, attends, hears, observes, writes, fantasizes.

Brought a friend along, who’s generally oblivious to new music of the past 15 years (now getting divorced). He’s familiar with Liz’s name and knows she had the hits a couple years ago, but couldn’t name them or think of them. He said his 16 yo daughter was envious about him going and his 14 year old laughed at him. I told him he’d be known as the hippest dad around.

Liz, lead guitarist, bass player, drummer. A keyboard set-up.

Better sound/musician quality than what I’d seen on YouTube.

Note-for-note versions of songs.

Rocked more than other times on tour, usually. Liz’s playing is much better than in the day. She hits the chords cleaner, better on the beat, and with much more oomph! Strong sound. Very rock-and-roll; the intimate, softer, quieter side of things was less present. Partly due to sound. I was overlooking the stage from stage right, up a level at the top of a staircase. Great view of the whole band and Liz from the side. (Aside: What a side it is).

Sound. I’m going to go on a homicidal rage one of these days seeking out people who run sound at shows. Her voice was too low in the mix—by far. With guitars and a voice overlapping so much in the frequency ranges, and solid, cool-sounding, heavy but too-loud bass and drums, her voice was a bit lost. Leaving aside the EQ issues, boosting her voice would’ve helped greatly. It’s particularly important for an artist whose lyrics are (really, really) important.

At the beginning of Fuck and Run, Liz and the drummer started, and then she stopped because she wanted her amp turned up, saying something like “I want to rock, too” and the lead guitarist went over and turned it up a bit (who knows how much).

For Never Said, a roadie handed her a different guitar (a tele, I think) that she also played for a few songs. It was tuned down 1.5 steps, and so, though it looked like she was playing an E chord, it really was a G. The 2nd chord not only sounded like a minor, it looked like one, too. (Kidding guys). It rocked. A great version.

She dedicated Dance of the Seven Veils to John Henderson (out there, John?) So, was that the known story of the song?

She mostly played her usual guitar with some of the telecaster and some with a red strat. She was consistent on guitar effects what her patented reverb-level ever-present. The lead guitarist had a massive collection of things, and did a great job of creating the swells of background sound and music for a few songs.

The lead guitarist was good, but, since they played note-for-note, it seemed, there wasn’t room to stretch. Not so sure of the bass playing. Eh?

When it came to keys, usu. the lead guitarist played. Liz played it during Chopsticks encore. For one song, it was the two guitars, and so the bass player played the keys.

After, the (non-musician) friend I was with said that the bass player’s piano playing was “pedestrian.” So it must have really sucked. I can barely recall even hearing it, but I guess it sucked. To someone not knowing the story, I’m sure the musicianship overall must have seemed a bit simple—little lead guitar or solos of any sort. Plain.

For Flower, Liz asked for someone to come up, but warning that the person better be able to sing the high part, since so many people come up at shows and end up singing her part. A woman and a guy who looked like a 20-year old Andy Warhol got up and did it. Couldn’t hear a note of them.

The encore was Ding-Dong—which I thought sounded good, but just Liz on guitar, and I'd like to hear it with a band. It can rock. It could go in either a bluesy or soulful direction, or both, of course. The chorus works as a pop song, so maybe she can have a hit—how ironic (speaking of which, Alanis played the same night about 6 blocks away). Then she did Polyester Bride, Chopsticks, and Supernova in there. She said something about challenging each other on stage, saying, "we’re going to do this song, but they don’t know it” and played Supernova. They weren’t clueless; it seemed like they had a decent handle on it, but the bass player messed up enough. The lead guitarist seemed on track soon enough.

Liz, though, was clueless, however, for a while on May Queen during the encore. Worked her way up the scale of notes vocally and on the fretboard to find her way, then finally got to the right chords and finished the song. Everyone clapped. And lived happily ever after.

Liz looked, as she does these days, Like a beautiful 30 year-old. Purple t-shirt. Black boots that zipped up—not quite to the knees, skin-tight pants, jeans I think. Probably a bra. Panties. Socks. I think she came out after the encore break while putting on lipstick or lip-gloss or something. I should’ve found out. Apologies. Would've liked to. Some of that stuff at least. You know, the br…., oh, never mind.

Sounds like it was a great show!! Did she happen to mention when the new album is coming out??

great review!

thanks. i felt like i was there. :tears:

i always feel like listening to EIG right after these things.

Sadly me too, I wish I had been there. Thanks for the description!

wooden and alone Posted Today, 02:43 AM
great review! thanks. i felt like i was there. :tears:

So you'll pay part of my ticket?


Predatory Instinct Posted Today, 01:57 AM
Sounds like it was a great show!! Did she happen to mention when the new album is coming out??

Nothing about the new CD. Barely spoke to the crowd. Aside from a couple of comments/questions about having played MN before--was unsure if she'd been here or specifically 1st Ave. before.

Great review, man. That's the way it's done.

Did Liz really play a red Strat or was it her old Musicmaster (with one pickup)?

Forgot to mention I asked her a couple months ago about the weird chord in "Fuck & Run" ("year alone/life alone"). She said it's 0 0 5 0 5 0. I play it, and it still doesn't sound quite right, but that's what she told me.

So I was the Warhol looking dude. Great show. Liz said she's past deadline with the record.

Loved "May Queen."

haha

awww

Thanks Jeremy.

I don't pay attention to gear, really, but you're right it was the Red Musicmaster. Had to Google. I'm not up on the non-tele, non-strat models, so whenever I see where the top extends beyond the bottom I think "strat." She played her usual Jaguar and a (lite?) ash tele.

I don't know if I've played FnR. When I play, I usu. just play lead along.

Music theory for those interested:
(((((((That thing that you quote is from a harmony scale based on an A major (or A7 shape if played open) --do you know that scale? Take the two fingers on the D and B strings that you have on the “5th fret, bring them down to "2 "and "2"and that's an A7 shape (out of the regular A major chord). It goes up the neck in that shape for the major chords in the scale and in the Am7shape for the minor chords--but the minor shape version is first found on the Bm7 chord. On the Bm7, take those two strings again and you get D string on “4” and B string on "3". The chord scale is the usual A Bm C#m D E F#m G A. Take those two fingers from each chord for the scale. Those two strings are the harmony that is picked, often with the other strings played open. Found in lots of blues and country. If she plays that, are there any other instruments? It might sound better with another guitar and/or a bass to help make netter sense of wheat the underlying chord is. As sometimes people plays partial chords or something that isn't the traditional chord voicing—Liz did a lot in those days when it was just her, but it really does fit the underlying chord, if you can figure it out. So it's not so bizarre to play what she plays--given that common voicing of that scale (sometimes people play just the two notes, all 6 strings, or from the A in the bass but not the E). Don't know how it sounds though for FnR, because I haven't done it,

A scale built of those two fingers is also for the minor scale, but starting with the Am7 shape in the Am7 position, with the chords moving up the minor scale)))))

No offense. It's the hair, not a diss.

You had a choice position, How was the sound?

So Brett, looks like you made YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MgfiHSHdMk

Haha! No, I didn't take it offensively. I get it all the time in the city, so it's funny to me that you said it.

Thanks for the link to the vid!

B

You're welcome on the link to the vid. There's another one up right now of the two of you singing 'Flower' with Liz. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrY0lxVY06U

The sound is much better than what I heard. We should've moved around. Thanks for the link. Know who made it?

Brett, it looked like a close call for both of you in trying to climb up on stage. I didn't think you were going to make it.