Shave Your Bush In 2004
written by… TheLostSoul, HornKnee, TheKinkySoul, ThePsychicSoul, and DumpsterDive (they were all present)
rated: R, for explicit language and sexual content.
Date: April 8, 2003
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Arena: UNO Lakefront ArenaSetlist: Love Boat Captain, Grievance, Corduroy, Brain of J, Save You, Cropduster, Given To Fly, Nothing As It Seems, Even Flow, I Am Mine, Green Disease, Wishlist, Daughter/(Hey Hey Improv), Lukin, Insignificance, I Am A Patriot (reworked), 1/2 Full, Porch
1st encore: Don't Drive Me (SUV Improv), Thumbing My Way, Small Town, Black, Evolution, Spin The Black Circle
2nd encore: Crazy Mary, Know Your Rights by The Clash, Fortunate Son with Sleater-Kinney, Rockin' In The Free World with Sleater-Kinney
I flew solo. Long story. I got up early on Tuesday morning to make the 6 hour drive from Houston to New Orleans. It’s a long ass drive but an exciting one. Its the “we are headed to Mardi Gras” type of excitement. Some of you may know exactly what I'm talking about. It’s the drive back that really sucks. Anywho, after checking into my hotel in the French Quarter, I made the short drive to the South Shore and the UNO Lakefront Arena. I find my way to the tenclub line. It was short. And the dude behind me in line says “Dude I just met Mike McCready”. I was like “The guitar weapon from the 60’s himself!?!?!” He was like “Yup, got a picture taken with him. He was so nice dude”. Such a cool story! Well, we both drove in and parked in the same parking lot around the same time, so I have no idea what the fuck I was looking at but I didn’t see any bleach blonde haired guitar weapon riding an old ass bike. Maybe I’m just blind. ThePsychicSoul failed! Note, that dude’s seats were right next to mine. Remember that.
So I get to the tenclub ticket window, hand over my ID and ticket confirmation and ahem! What a cutie! I was like “need a ticket to the show?” lmao. “What are you doing tomorrow night? Anything special? Wanna have dinner with me?” “Sorry, I can’t, I’ll be in Birmingham” doh! I'm such a dunce. So I look at my tickets and its row fucking 9!!!!! Right in front of Mike McCready the guitar weapon himself!!! You have to understand, I’ve only been a tenclub member for 4 months, my tenclub number has more digits than my social security number. Its all relative folks. Thanks tenclub.
I get inside the UNO Lakefront Arena and I have so say its not really an “arena” per se, its more like a gymnasium! I was told it hold 10,000 people max, they used half of it, so I’m thinking 5000 fans or so. I find my seat and the stage is like across the living room from me. The lady next to me had binoculars. Lmao. I leaned over and said “I don’t think you will be needing those tonite.” Did I mention row 9 yet?
So Sleater Kinney takes the stage. They are really cool I must say. Those girls can rock out. But at this point Ive already seen them 2 twice in San Antonio and Houston. And all I can think of is row fucking 9 and 8:45Pm can’t get here soon enough. At this point the excitement is raging to the point I had to go pee 3 times during Sleater Kinney. So I get back to my seat and the dude next to me says “Dude, I just met Ed”. Yes, same dude who met Mike earlier. I was like “No fucking way, where?” He says, “Right down here, he signed my confirmation letter look”. From what I understood Ed was walking around the on the floor in the dark during Sleater Kinney. I guess to pay Keely a visit or something. So anyways, that dude got to meet Mike and Ed. Kinda cool huh? TheLostSoul is jealous. ThePsychicSoul failed once again! Oh well, that is just God telling me I’m not ready to meet my heros.
So at 8:45Pm on the dot they hit the stage. Yes, they are very punctual. If you plan to see them sometime this year, go pee around 8:40. lol. And for the next 2 plus hours TheLostSoul is in bliss. Mike McCready was right there in front of me. Did I mention row 9 yet? When everyone goes ballistic during the “Mike McCready show” and starts jumping up and down and pointing at Mike and he looks up and points back at me, you know are your really fucking close. It was so neato. I have no idea where he gets his energy from. They played most of my favorites. Cropduster. Given To Fly. Even flow. Green Disease. 1/2 Full. Porch! Small Town. STBC. Daughter. During Do The Evolution Ed went completely nuts. Everyone has seen the picture from the Houston show where he falls straight back towards the end of DTE.
http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/Pe...mages6/hou8.jpg
In New Orleans, at the end of DTE he literally jumps up and back, goes horizontal, and lands flat on his back!!! Insert thud right here! It looked painful. Once the song was over, Jeff had to go over and help him up. If he was trying to get the crowd even more crazed up, well it worked!
And they played I am a patriot. I called Hippiemom once again, kinda like Breath in Houston, but this time she hung up on me!!!!!! Lmao. Kidding. It was one of those cell phones can suck sometimes type stories. This process needs to be perfected.
During ½ Full, and the “Mike McCready show” Ed calls for Keely and this bright narrow beam of light comes down right on Ed’s head. Ed pulls out a mirror, puts it on his head and reflects the beam of light into the crowd. It was neato. Think map room from Raiders of the Lost Ark but way cooler and a whole lot less corny. Of course everyone went ballistic trying to get “into the light”. Finally, Ed stops and leaves the light shining on some fan in the crowd wearing a white t-shirt with a bunch of anti Bush, Dick, Donald, and Ari stuff written on it. I couldn’t read exactly what it said, but once ½ Full was over Ed looked up and gave him a thumbs up. Really cool. And then Ed asks for some lights so he can read another t-shirt in the front and he says “What’s your shirt right there… Shave your Bush in 2004”. This brought out some cheers and some boos. To the boos Ed says “That man has got a right to freedom of speech. And we got it to. And with my right I’m going to say this… 1, 2, 3, 4” and they went right into Porch! TheLostSoul went nuts. For the encore, Ed came out and did Don’t Drive Me(I’m an SUV). Well, I found this to be neato for I drive a Civic and get 38 miles to the gallon. Lmao. And then they played Thumbing My Way, Small Town, and Black all in a row. What are they trying to do? Make TheLostSoul cry!?!?
Ok, Im done!