The Del Amitri Concert, April 10, 1996
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 1996 21:29:13 -0500
Subject: DELS IN AMES,IA (warning, this is very long!!)
by Kelli Smith

So my DelFan friends, another incredible concert by our boys!!

First thing I must comment on: JOSH CLAYTON-FELT rocks!! I listened to his album about half of the 4.5 hour drive to Ames and got to know some of the songs really well. I thought he was great the first time I saw him but knowing the songs well made me realize how cool he is. I got to talk to him for a bit before his set and he's really nice. I told him that everybody on the list has been reporting back that he is the favorite of the Dels openers we've seen. He was very happy to hear that.

I'm not sure how many shows the Dels had just played in a row but they were positively goofy last night. I've never seen Justin talk so much. He talked about something between almost every song with topics including: Ames is as irrelevant to them as Australia is to us; that they all had hangovers from the previous nights alcohol abuse and what the individual members were drinking (with a reference that Andy had been drinking some woman's saliva, YUCK!! but Go Andy, Go Andy!!); a contest for old records & videos (Sonny & Cher/Lawnmower Man) for whoever in the audience threw up the most interesting piece of clothing (they got two bras, a sock, and a baseball hat (which Justin threw back and retorted "that's not the least bit fucking interesting); how Ashley is a "spanner/spinner" (Richy???) which Justin translated for us to mean "someone of no intelligence." At one point later in the show Ashley requested a tequilla shot from the bar for a medicinal emergency. He did the shot with lime and salt while Justin watched. Justin then commented that to do the shot properly you're really supposed to lick the salt off someone's neck. So, Ashley beckoned Justin back behind the drums and put salt on Justin's sweaty neck and licked it off. I'm so glad I was in the front row to witness that disgusting display. I told you guys they were acting wacky.

The title of my concert review of this performance will be something like "the incredible contest of errors -- Ashley wins!!" So many things went wrong: Justin missed a phrase in Just Like a Man and caught himself halfway through the verse - same song Ashley missed a drum part resulting in a lovely grimace by Justin. Then in Last to Know as Ashley was starting in on the cowbell thingy it just fell off his set to the great amusement of the band. The song was pretty much over before they could get it back on. They substituted Empty for Crashing Down and Justin said that they would all just follow Andy because Jon had only played it live once before. Andy must not have heard because after the first verse he just stopped playing the starting drinking his beer and looking around. The rest of the band just looked over at him and Justin gave him the "what in the hell are you doing" look so he started up again but Justin still laughed through the entire next verse. Of course Justin missed the "crash the car" phrase in Here & Now. I think I've only heard him play it once without hesitating at that part to make sure he's near the end of the song. Then Ashley just started the completely wrong song close to the end of the set. Iain let him have it for that and that was when they called him a "spanner" (again Richy?? is that right??)

Amidst this comedy of errors and goofiness the sound was amazing and I've rarely heard Justin sound better. They totally rocked Start With Me/Lust for Life and the crowd was really loud. They went out for at least 3-4 minutes and came back for an encore. THIS IS MY GREAT PART: Justin said the band had conferred and that they all agreed to take requests for the whole encore. So everybody starts screaming out songs and handing up napkins and everything. This is so amazing because I didn't think he would remember me or be able to see me because of the lights but he came right over to me and put the microphone down to me and let me request the first song. (Oh my gawd, I spoke into the same mic that Justin sings into every night) I knew they couldn't do Spit because Jon doesn't know it and the first thing that popped in my head was This Side of the Morning because I love that one. So Justin said, "this is for that nice girl right there" then pointed to me. COOL, huh? What a thrill.

The encore was awesome and they ended the show with (excuse my ignorance but I don't think I know the official titles?? help, anyone??) You Can't Always Get What You Want (with Justin strutting around and clapping like Mick Jagger during the guitar solo) and Something's Happening Here/Stop Children (what's the actual name of this). They completely rocked these songs and left the crowd dying for more. But with Mr. Chatty up there talking between every song they ended up being on stage until 1:20am. So, only one awesome 5 song encore.

I grabbed a set list (why do people not grab these, I think maybe they think they can't so I just plow my way over and --RIP-RIP-IT'S MINE!!) and took some notes of the funny stuff and the encore songs so I could report back to you.

Justin started walking back in the door and these girls go "Oh my god, there he is" and he did an about face back onto the bus. Bummer!! But, Jon did come out and oblige them with signatures on their tickets. As I was walking out I said hello to him and told him that I had left the package for them in K.C. and he said he had read it cover to cover. I can't hardly believe that he would be that interested in it but maybe so. He said he appreciated the amount of work I put into putting it together and that he loved reading Alison's web page. I told him that a friend of his had written to Alison to let her know a little about him for the page. He tried to figure out who he knew that was on the Internet and the only person he could think of was his ex-wife. I couldn't remember the name of the woman who wrote though. He was extremely nice and great to talk to. He said that they are probably going to be touring again this summer with Brian Adams doing a bunch of outdoor venues and that they are really looking forward to that. He seemed kind of uncomfortable with the groupie girls around and seemed to want to continue talking to me because I knew so much about the band, which I thought was great. I asked if I could take his picture for the web page and he was happy to oblige (he smiled and everything). Oh, he liked Regis too and thought he was really funny. It must just be us Americans who think he's a big dork!!

Then as I was leaving the club I stopped to talk to these people who were standing up front by me during the show. Ashley came out of the bus so I caught him really quick and asked if I could get his picture for the page. I introduced myself and said I had left the package and he said "Oh, that's you." I took his picture against this really stark wall and he didn't want to smile (I think he wanted that cool musician look) so I think it's going to turn out like a mug shot. We'll see. Alison and Caroline, I made sure to let him know that you were going to the Ventura show and to look for you in front between Justin & Iain's monitors. He remembered meeting you both in San Francisco and said he would definitely look for you.

Well, this is even longer than my message to you from last weeks show. But, I'm telling you this show completely rocked and they were so incredibly entertaining and funny. I seem to enjoy their shows more when they goof around and act silly than when they are all serious and artisty. The crowd was really diverse too and extremely enthusiastic.

Then I turned around and drove the entire 4.5 hours home. I didn't get home until 6:00 a.m. YIKES!! I was pretty much wide awake the whole time. I just never do spontaneous things like that anymore so I'm very proud of myself. This may be the most fun show of theirs I've seen so I'm glad I didn't miss it. The only uptempo music I had grabbed for my trip was the 3 disc Prince collection. I forgot how peppy "Raspberry Beret" can make a person when they really need it. But seriously I had also forgotten how much the song "Purple Rain" formed my listening in high school. I still love that song.

Gotta go get some work done now since I skipped out on 4 hours yesterday and about 6 today. Just wanted you to hear about my fun last night. I'll do my concert reviews soon when I'm all caught up with work.

Kelli :)