I should go to bed, but I want to type this thing while the memory trace is still fully intact ...
First, some general notes:
1) The crowd was amazing. Seriously. The energy level was crazy. Yes, I was in the fan club seats, but damn near the whole building was majorly into the show. The dude I went with (Martin, a buddy from my program at the university) commented on how wild it was. He's used to Radiohead shows, but still.
2) The band members had a really good time with this show. The trend towards high energy setlists/performances continued here. Four songs made their tour debuts (more on that later).
a) Ed: Holy crap, it's 1994 era Eddie!!! Check out the hair ... And the energy. OK, he's not climbing scaffolding and shit, but the man is clearly into the show. Ed wasn't that talkative at this show ... He mentioned New Orleans and said a few nice things about Canada, but in general, the songs did the talking. And oh how they talked!
b) Mike: Mike was in classic form. Bounding around during certain songs, tossing picks, making faces at crowd members ...
c) Matt: OK ... So I know many people still love Dave A. He's a really good drummer. His attitude was a refreshing change from the uber-political correctness and "I hate success" lamentations of the early 90s. But MATT IS PJ'S DRUMMER. As far as I am concerned, he always has been. Man, did he kick ass this evening. The man sounded like a thunderstorm. He was hitting the drums really hard, even during Sleight of Hand and Last Kiss. You'd be rocking out, enjoying the general PJ goodness, and suddenly out of nowhere would come this wicked fill ... RVM is what I am thinking about here, specifically, but it happened several times tonight. Matt is what drives this band forward, probably as much or more than anyone else.
d) Stone: Stone has some new moves ... This side-to-side head groove, this pose where it looks like he is about to do a sommersault or something ... Ah, Stone. He kinda hung out near the back at first, but by the end of the show he was sitting on the front monitors, strumming away ... Hmmm ... I think Stone has changed his sound more than anyone else in the band for this tour. I think he's got some new effects, and appears to be using an e-bow here and there ... Stone's solos during Not For You blew me away. Very "swampy", bluesy ...