The Del Amitri Concert, August 1, 1997
by Doug Brown

Onward.

First a BIG public thanks to Lori, Taire, and Karen for putting us up Fri. night and Jere for putting all of us up Sat. night. What a DelFest!

So the club was good, I met tons of DelFans, including a guy with a Dels hat that I really need, and the opening bands were OK but not even close to showing up our boys.

The band played nearly the same set as in Philly, Boston and NYC. The only difference was apparently in Downfall encore and the lack of Driving With The Brakes On at Sea Bright. In Philly they did part of Springsteen tune in the middle, Boston fans got to hear all of Drowned on Dry Land, and they did a cheesy New York, New York at the Supper Club. At Sea Bright we got Whiskey Remorse and the regular version of Downfall.

They did only an hour set with 4(?) encores. Pooey. I want more!

They opened with a bizarre taped message that I wasn't sure meant anything until I heard something about "Del Amitri" and "the best night of their lives". Somebody please post the text for this!

Well, in my usual ramshackle way here's some random song comments:

They opened with a rousing version of SOSP which makes a fine straight rock and roll tune. It was tough to hear Andy but the band seemed to be having a good time. Iain was on fire and played with lots of energy, Justin bopped around as always, just missing Iain several times although someone said they collided once. Chris is a decent guitarist and a great addition on the stage with his great stage manner.

Jimmy Blue: I don't know why but I was surprised at this one. It was great to hear it again though! I was kind of surprised at how many people were singing along with it.

Cruel Light of Day: It was very well played live although I'll never like it. That damn snare drum is just as annoying live as ever.

Medicine: Iain on bass, Justin in guitar. Much better live than on the album for me. They played it faster and the beginning wasn't so strange. Definitely a highlight!

Hat Full of Rain: I love this song and will never get tired of hearing it live. THe crowd really got into this one too.

Start With Me: The straight version, sorry no Lust for Love insert. It's funny, the recorded version is not one of my favorites but I sure love it in concert.

Be My Downfall: Straight acoustic version as encore. Was this the tune where Iain was banging his forehead (on the beat) against the microphone? On another tune later, Justin tapped the mic with his finger on the beat. The crowd sang along quite loudly with it.

Not Where Its At: This is a lot thinner live as you might expect. I don't think Chris played his 12-string electric on this one.

Here and Now: Decent but much better with John on guitar, he really used to rip on this one.

Kiss This Thing: 12 string electric by Chris. It sounded good but maybe I've just heard it too often.

Roll To Me: Straight ahead, but they seemed to enjoy playing it.

Always the Last To Know: With the new beginning. I for one don't think it's for the better, but at least it's something different. I could only tell what tune it was at the beginning because it sounded like the right key. Still a great concert song after all these years!

One's That You Love: Ya know this was great! It really rocked and the band was just so up for the high energy tunes.

Just Like A Man: Very nicely done. Maybe Justin isn't the best bassist in the world but I really enjoy his playing on this one. Ruby finds the groove.

What I Think She Sees: A lowlight. Maybe the band was just more up for the faster tunes but this one sounded uninspired and the generic music sounds even more so live.

Paper Thin: This was SOOOOO cool! And Justin does it so well. At the end Justin made a gun with his finger and pretended to shoot it offstage. Smoke came out of mouth, I swear. Maybe it was the backlighting but it was a magical moment.

Whiskey Remorse: I felt like I was in a dream for this one. Could Justin really be playing this right in front of me? He started off solo but Andy joined in (to much applause) in the middle. Andy hit a strange note in there and Justin bobbled the lyrics at the end but it was the other really special moment in a great show.

Other random comments:
Chris smiles and dances and plays with Andy and flirts with the crowd. I don't think he's quite the guitarist that John is but he's certainly pretty darned good and like everyone has said, his stage antics really add a lot to the show. He also must have had a good time in NYC the night before as one side of his neck was covered with hickeys! Oh shame on me for the gossip. Did David or John play 12-string electrics live? Chris played one on a few tunes and it sounded just great.

Iain was energized! He seemed to be having the time of his life and was all over every inch of the stage on his side. He shuffled around a lot with Chris and Justin and played GREAT! I've got to say that the guitar he uses the most live, I think it's that beat up tan Gibson, does not sound as good as the other guitars he uses. He has another Gibson that sounded a lot better.

Justin wore black leather pants and a new (still with fold lines) dark green shirt that nicely matched Mark's green drums but clashes with the big Orange amp and speaker in front of the drums. He had a little fuzz on his head but otherwise the big dimples are now quite visible. He managed to climb one of the speaker towers once in there and jumped back down onto the stage from quite a height right in front of Chris, who had a concerned look on his face. The stage room was a little tight so he was very careful with his spins and jumping around, but managed to get a lot in! He, Iain and Chris were really feeding off of each other's energy. Justin almost bopped someone in the front on the head with his bass (Taire?), and almost stepped on Taire's hand! A funny moment was when after doing some complicated dance step he wound up right in front of Iain. He quickly jumped to the side and look apologetically at Iain who laughed.

Justin also had a nice commentary going between almost every song. A shy girl gave him flowers and he was very nice about taking them, and gave her some celery and carrot sticks in exchange as someone mentioned.

Someone threw a pair of shoelaces onstage, which seems to be a trend for this tour, and which Justin did not seem too pleased about. He picked them up and threw them in the back with no comment.

Taire, Lori and Karen made up laminated signs with song titles and lyrics (hah!) that they held up for Justin. He made some comment about "you again", obviously remembering them from the previous nights. He picked up one and looked at it to see what it said on the back and smirked when he saw it was the lyrics. The ladies worked him over during the encores and we have Taire's Whiskey Remorse sign to thank for getting him to play that tune for us!

In-ear monitors were worn by at least Iain and Chris. The backing vocals were mostly very well done. Good work Dave!

Mark is a good rock drummer. He does the job quietly, well sort of. I have to say I think Ashley was better, but Mark is no slouch.

Andy was hilarious. Chris kept going back and saying something to him, and Andy was laughing and for one tune was doing some really stiff moves that appeared to be dancing!

On the downside, the band, especially Mark and Justin got really pissed, apparently about the monitor levels, over the course of the show. For the last several tunes Mark would stand up and make a "down sign" with his fingers and was obviously getting annoyed with the lack of response. Justin was doing the same thing and getting quite annoyed too. In the middle somewhere Justin said, "How are you all doing tonight. I'm feeling a bit picky". Well, that's what I thought he said. As Karen mentioned, Iain kicked his floor monitor away at some point. People that tried to get backstage after the show were turned away by Quinner, who reportedly said it wouldn't be such a good time to visit.

Too bad, as I thought the show was superb except for that incredibly annoying backlighting. Someone needs to tell the light people at this place that the fans don't want all of these bright lights right in their faces. For Cruel Light of Day they turned on some painful white and red lights and I couldn't even watch the band.

I don't think any DelFans will be disappointed with the show for this tour!

That's all for now ...

-Doug Brown