The Del Amitri Concert, August 5, 1995
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 09:09:30 -0400
Subject: JustinHint
by Doug Brown
Wow. What a show. They were stupendous and I'm only sorry that it had to
end. My life will never be the same.
So five of us went and the first thing we found out was that no one knew
where the warmup band (The Caulfields) was! So we hung out for an hour and
waited for the main event. In the meantime I got to talk to the Dels
production manager Derrick and give him a note with your web page address as
my thanks for sending me the B-sides tape. I just happened to be standing by
their play list taped inside a trunk and saw "Scared to Live" on there - one
of the best tunes from your tape! Cool!!! Anyway Derrick seemed very
interested and made some comments about, "Oh, right, the internet." And said
he'd make sure that the band got my note. I also said in it that you'd be in
the front row in San Fransisco so don't let them down!
In this place there's a rail 3 feet in front of the stage so I grabbed a
front row spot right between Justin and David's monitors. It turned out to a
great choice! When Justin wasn't behind the mike he spent most of the time
playing right in my face (with his new dyed blond hair?)! I'd like to think
it was because I was screaming my head off and waving my arms but it might
have been the cute women I was with. Hey, whatever it takes!
So the band came out and they were awesome right from the start! The sound
people didn't have Justin's voice loud enough for the first few tunes but
they fixed that and everybody sounded just fine. The band seemed to really
be having a good time and Justin confirmed this when he said something like,
"We uh, had a little too much to drink in Toronto last night, but this is
fun. We're really having a good time"! Then Ian and Justin got into a little
debate as to WHO had too much to drink. I think a lot of their pleasure was
the crowd was really into it and there seemed to be quite a few hardcore
fans there. At one point several people were yelling out for them to play,
"Spit in the Rain". Justin said they hadn't practiced that one, but maybe
next time! The fans were all ages too - many college kids to 30's and even
some 40's. And there was even a 10 year old boy in the front row with us!
Anyway he dedicated the next tune to The Caulfields, "Wherever they are".
The band was very lively, and hopped all over the stage! During "Always
the Last to Know" Justin stood on a monitor then stretched out to the
railing we were all leaning on and sang there for a while! The band
thought this was hysterical and stood in a little group in the center of
the stage and laughed at him! Then during another song Justin did a Chuck
Berry one legged hop with his bass all the way across the stage, did a
very precise 180 and hopped back to his mike just in time to catch his
lines! And as I said before a sweat dripping Justin came over often to
where I was, and made faces and stuck his bass right in my face as I was
leaning over the railing yelling and cheering him on!
Some other highlights!
- Justin forgot the words to "Always the Last to Know" and mixed up the
verses! I've heard he's done this often before and I'm beginning to wonder
if he does it on purpose to see if he can screw up the band.
- Their last tune was "Downfall". Sorry if you didn't want to know this
but it helps the story. First they had to change instruments. They
honestly did about 3 instrument changes per song! I wonder why - anyway
the guy on the side tuning them was very busy! Then Justin seemed to be
having technical difficulties and a guy came out and started fiddling with
something on his back. So Justin says,"In case you're wondering what's
going on Brian here is replacing my transmitter pack. By the way Brian is
an excellent masseuse if any of you are feeling a little tight (he wiggles
his shoulders). And he speaks Gaelic". That's probably important. So after
this delay they start the tune - David meanwhile has put his guitar down
and roamed offstage. He then spots his beer behind his monitor and
nonchalantly walks across the stage behind Justin and retrieves it. As
he's walking back behind him, Justin stops, turns around, and jokes with
him," What are you doing? You can't just walk across the stage in the
middle of the song. If you're not going to do anything get off!" So David
walks up to a mike sings one note and then stands behind Justin. Justin
turns to Ian and says, "Where were we?" Ian answered something but Justin
just starts the tune over. David meanwhile joined Ian at his mike to sing
the choruses. So we got to see a longer show then most people will!
- During one break Justin asks the crowd if anyone here has been to
Rochester, England. No one answers and he says,"That's good. It's a f*cking
dump. Stay right f*cking here"! The crowd liked that one!
- They did one cover - a Beatles tune - and I won't tell you which one
in case they do it for you. Anyway it was good! As for their other
material I was happily surprised by how much they did from Waking Hours,
and it was nice to see them do so much with acoustic guitars instead of
subbing in electric like a lot of bands do.
- Justin had a cheap purple shirt on. But it matched his odd blue and
purple crosshatched pants. At one point he said, " Hey, like my shirt?
It's from Scotland - 10 bucks"! What a nut. It was REALLY funny to hear
them talk - they have such thick accents! It's amazing you can't hear more
of it in their songs.
- Finally, Justin kept drinking some yellow stuff from this jar between
songs so we were getting pretty curious as to what it was. After the show
one of the women in our entourage ran up on stage and asked a roadie. He
said it was honey to keep his throat clear! So here's a hint - now you
know what to get Justin when he comes to visit you - one of those little
honey bears!
And that's my story! It was a truly great experience. It sounds like
they do a little different show then you saw so you'll have to see them
again! I know I'd like to ...
Back to work, although ... "From this side of the morning, I couldn't care
less ..."
-Doug!