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Info
opening for They might be Giants

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Setlist
1. Payback
2. ???
3. The First Time
4. Dancer
5. Union Dues
6. Princess of Venice
7. Everybody Wants to Rule the World
8. Indie Rockin
9. Fortunate

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Review
Last night's show was brief, but so excellent I'm hoping someone is still going to wander across my ride request post (gas money, that's something!) and say: "We must take her or the evening will be most lackluster, and we'll spend so much time moping we'll entirely miss the spirit of the show!" Tee-hee. I think I can continue so daydreaming 'till about 1pm and then it's just sheer madness unless this daydream Mr/Ms X happened to be a racecar driver.

The band on before Eric, Superman Loses The Girl, was incredibly dissimilar but also really good - so the show started in the perfect music zone. Eric came on a little before 11:30 after contending with mad traffic on the way from Anaheim. He apologized for being late but worked into a couple of song lyrics how mad the traffic was, and also apologized between songs for being unprepared. Perhaps "unprepared" would mean something with other bands, and I think it was probably unsettling to Eric, but I'm pretty sure I can speak for the audience when I say: We don't even notice the difference (save for the sweet passing moments of confusion). I actually even think last night's show was my favorite. It was all about interaction... among "friends" (heh)... and just about playing the music. There was less performance for the sake of performance - antics and the like, I mean - and it just made for one killer aural experience. Some women called up that he was cute, and he responded that was probably not going to help him make it as a musician. I said much too softly, I don't think most of us are here to look at you; we're here for good music. It's the sheer talent and the live experience, of being there to WATCH music happen. Ahhhhhh. My visiting friend echoed my thoughts and was completely bemused by the interaction even though it was largely humorous. Why detract from the music by taking it down to something (i.e. attractiveness) that an artist has no control over?

Anyway, here's the show:

1. Payback

2. ... a song about bar stools

3. The First Time

4. Dancer

5. Union Dues - this song literally gave me goosebumps. I think it's becoming a favorite, along with "Offstage Lines," both of which just hit me right at the core... where I'm not in control of any responses I have because I'm suddenly caught up in this different world where everything else disappears and there's just sound, this amazing sound, and soul. I think it's not too far of a stretch to say the two are linked inextricably.

6. ?Princess of Venice? - a "long-winded pretentious folk-song" to buy time for his OTHER friends (the ones who weren't us to show up. He was informed by the employees he had two songs left. He'd been told he could play till his friends showed up, he said, but went right back to the music...

7. Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Before deciding which song to sing next, he asked for requests. One request, American Pie, led him into a monologue about how he used to go sing all these folksy kinds of gigs at coffee houses. He'd know all these crazy songs but everyone would just want to hear American Pie, which he didn't ever think was that good. When he said he didn't know everyone would be shocked, here joking: "Gimme that guitar." (As in, "You, Eric Kufs, are unfit to call yourself a folk singer!") He did throw in a few references to American Pie at the end, which caused some laughter, especially the "I don't really know the words" bit.

8. Indie Rockin' - very different just by himself, but most excellent still.

9. Fortunate - THIS was where the real tension of the evening happened. After the song was over, he asked if he could play just one more song but the sound guy said most emphatically NO. Eric frustratedly flung the electrical equipment aside, moved up closer, and began singing anyway. About a minute into the song, Adam finally arrived, singing that he was fortunate to have made it almost in time in spite of the mad traffic and being out of gas. It's the most amazing thing how these two can just leap right into that comfortable space of being up there together with no time or no confusion over where they're at. They just picked up like they'd done the whole set together and my friend Jane got to see a taste of what really makes these guys remarkable. They're incredibly talented and clearly pour untold hours into their music, but it's the way they interact that distinguishes them from all the other bands I've enjoyed. (Not near so much, I'd like to add.) They've definitely earned a place in my heart forever, and I know when I'm a little old lady, I'll tell tale of this band I used to love - it was crazy how they always just knew where to go! Anyway, another of Adam's lyrics involved how they'd pissed off the sound-check guy but really didn't care. When they'd finished, the sound-check guy came and gave Adam a piece of his mind we could hear from the front of the stage. Fortunately it was brief (heh, get it, fortunately? I know I suck), 'cause if it was longer I'd have to have given him a taste of my kung fu skills.

Eric thanked us repeatedly after the show, which was silly since we were the ones who'd gained by being there. It was fun though somewhat baffling. I wonder if he's really completely unaware how incredible they are to thank us - like it's an effort to be there!

One more bit about the chemistry... my friend was completely silent and contemplative in the car, amazed at how quickly and clearly the friendship between Eric and Adam expressed itself. I'm glad she got a chance to see those few minutes of the two of them together, because that's really all it takes to see where they differ. I'd have been extraordinarily sad if she'd missed that, even though we both would've gone home jubilant after an AWESOME show. Okay, jubilant and a little depressed it was already over.

Thanks, Eric, for going into that last song even after being told to stop. Thanks, Adam, for coming in and joining the show after a mad evening. Thanks both of you (the whole band really) for just rockin' my world and making LA that much more pleasant a place to live.

You guys rock.

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