Here's my Santa Barbara experience (this is a LONG read, but it was a great night and deserves a little extra attention):
First off the Santa Barbara Bowl is the best place I have ever seen a concert: an outdoor arena with 4300 seats and FANTASTIC sound. At one point Eddie called it the "mini-Gorge" and the band seemed to really enjoy playing there. The show starts early (6 pm) as the venue is in a residential neighborhood with stringent noise ordinances (it is SB, after all), and we pick up our tix about 4:30 (12th row, Mike's side of the stage)
Not bad for a 10c member beginning with 207xxx. Ed comes out promptly at 6, squints into the sun, and plays "You've Got to Hide Your Loveaway" and nails it--great song, and a good way to start the evening. He introduces Sonic Youth and that's my cue to hit the beer line.
So my wife and I are having a few drinks outside of the seating bowl while Sonic Youth is playing and I notice the folks with back stage passes milling about on the other side of a makeshift fence about 10 feet from where I am standing. Nothing exciting until Mike McCready comes out to talk to some folks back there. He chats it up with them and then comes over and signs some autographs for some folks and was kind enough to let me get a
with him seen
here (that's me in the Orioles hat). He also signed my wife's ticket stub and talked to us for a minute. He was super cool about everything--seemed like a real nice, down to earth dude and it was an honor to meet him.
They come out for the first set and everyone in the band sits down and Stone has an acoustic guitar ready to go. The first set list looked like this:
Oceans, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Low Light, Waiting on a Friend, Hard To Imagine, Daughter, Last Kiss, Come Back, Black, Crazy Mary
Amazing set. It was a laid back, but intense (as only PJ can do). Loved hearing the Rolling Stone cover of Waiting on a Friend, along with a couple of my personal faves, Low Light and Hard to Imagine (this song would have been a hit if it had been released as a single). Ed introduced Last Kiss by sayting that Johnny Ramone once told him that PJ was successful playing "teen death songs" because of Jeremy and Last Kiss. It was said earlier by me and a couple of other guys: Come Back is
awesome. Eddie looked visably moved at the end of Black, as the crowd did the "do do do do dooos" and they absolutely KILLED Crazy Mary--this is the best version of the song I have heard--Boom and Mike tear it up and high fived one another after they had finished jamming.
Second set: Interstellar Overdrive, Corduroy, Severed Hand, World Wide Suicide, Given To Fly, Marker In The Sand, Even Flow, Whipping, I Got Id, U, Do The Evolution, Porch
After a "laid back" first set, they got down to business in the 2nd set. I really like all of the songs on the new album and the more I hear of them live, the more I think this is their finest work. I love the fact Matt is doing a drum solo on Even Flow--I still enjoy hearing this song live even though I have heard it at every PJ show I have been to. Porch kicks major ###.
Encore: Big Wave, Better Man, Comatose, Wasted Reprise, Life Wasted, Rockin' In The Free World, Yellow Ledbetter
Big Wave is a great song live (Ed dedicated it to Laird Hamilton, who was in attendance). Better Man is a favorite of my wife's (and I love it because the crowd really gets into it)--follow that up with a strong Comatose and Wasted Reprise/Life Waste. The show ended strongly with RITFW and YL.
Great crowd and the band was really animated throughout the whole show. I already have the bootleg and it sounds just as good as I remember it. Do yourself a favor: find a way to see them the next time they play Santa Barbara. I have seen them virtually every tour since '94 and this was the best all around show I have seen and part of it was because of the small venue and good acoustics there.
A couple of random notes: Jack Irons was in attendance and could be seen on side stage singing along to a couple of songs and having a good time. Ed's girlfriend and his daughter were also there, although his daughter only made it through the 1st set.
Here are a a couple of other pics from the show you might like (some are a little blurry--I was not paying a whole lot of attention when I was taking them):
Ed pre-set
Band minus Stone right before Black
Low Light
Ed during Porch
![[icon]](/data/avatars/m/5/5167.jpg?1660313464){kind=avatar}
), I appreciate it.
ya knew it! 
I thought the vegas show was great. I wish I could've made it to SD, though.
There now, 3 solid excuses...I'm covered. 
