6/11/08 @ Remis Auditorium/MFA, Boston, MA

lament · 06-10-2008 8:51pm

Please post your reviews and setlist of the show here.

neverending math equation · 06-11-2008 10:43pm

Setlist: (in order)

Trucker's Atlas
Tiny Cities
Heron Blue
Gentle Moon
Lucky Man
Follow Me, Follow You
Summer Dress
River
Four Fingered Fisherman
Tonight in Bilbao
Blue Orchids
Duk Koo Kim

Encore:

Glenn Tipton/Rock n Roll Singer/Convenient Parking/Three Legged Cat

The set was overall very good. I had previously seen Mark play at Remis in 2006. It's a small stadium seated auditorium located inside the museum of fine arts.

It seemed Mark was in good spirits although he did state that he left his wallet in Rochester, and had been on the phone for hours getting in touch with the hotel. He seemed very curious about the audience. He asked us a few times what we were thinking about while Phil and himself were tuning their guitars. This turned into annoying fans saying meaningless things to Mark. One audience member said, "What's the gossip from set of Shopgirl?" Mark answered very quickly that he was on the set for a day and a half, and no, he's not friends with Jason Swartzman or doesn't even him very well. Another person asked, "When are you getting the band back together?" and Mark just kind of shrugged that one off.

I've noticed in some of the reviews people have said that Mark has been kind of telling people that they'll be going home alone tonight and that they don't have a date and to them it seemed insulting, and he did say something to that effect to an audience member tonight when the audience member spoke out, and at first I thought it was kind of rude for Mark to say something like that, but then I thought about it a little bit more and realized he's just trying to wake up the audience. Mark's music kind of puts people in a comatose state sometimes, and I think he likes to hear people talking between songs, and when he sees us sitting there like statues, he'll say something. So I think that has been misunderstood.

Mark announced Phil's retirement, not really sure if Mark was kidding or if Phil is just sick of touring and driving Mark around. Mark also mentioned the reason why he was playing the audience member is because he's tense. He said driving around all day with Phil not talking to eachother, then getting on stage and playing for 500 people, then going to a hotel alone makes you tense. After he said this he laughed, because, like us, I think he pictured Phil and himself driving cross country not speaking to eachother. But it was funny and made sense.

The songs.

Trucker's Atlas and Tiny Cities were the same as we've heard them before. He added a new main riff to Heron Blue which did add some color to the song and made it a tad melodic. Gentle Moon was brilliant as always. Lucky Man same as on album. Mark switched things up a bit and started playing Follow Me, Follow You and I think changed the melody on Phil, and Mark was kind of half singing waiting for Phil to jump in at any moment and once Phil didn't know what Mark was doing, Mark continued the song by himself. Summer Dress was finger picked and not very appealing. River was strummed and very intense and loud. Four Fingered Fisherman, Tonight in Bilbao, Blue Orchids and Duk Koo Kim were the same as we've heard before.

Encore.

When Mark returned he stated that he only had a couple minutes left to play and started playing something but then soon stopped and seemed like he honestly didn't know what to play and then asked us what he should play. I was about to yell out 'Around and Around' because it's a short song in length but just as I was about to he began Glenn Tipton. He sang the first two verses of that and turned it into the first verse of Rock n Roll Singer, and then the first verse of Convenient Parking (needless to say, people were confused, but fans thought it was funny), then he preceded with a little bit of Three Legged Cat, at which point, most the audience knew what he was doing and started laughing and enjoying it. Overall, a very good show.

Merchandise.

The European tour poster. The current tour poster. Nights of Passed Over w/ Cd. Ghosts of the Great Highway cd. April cd. Tiny Cities cd. April on Vinyl and I think Little Drummer Boy on vinyl. Not sure about the last one though.

Concern Charity Fundrazer · 06-12-2008 8:15am

Jeez a very thorough review

tricycleboy · 06-12-2008 9:35am

Umm, not sure I can add anything to neverendingmathequation's review, except to say that I saw most of his on stage banter as very tongue in cheek; seeing him numerous times you start to pick up on his schtick.

Of the 5 times I have seen him without a band (i.e. with Phil), this was the strongest set. His playing was dead on, especially with Duk Koo Kim, where he manged to convey it's emotion very well live. Great crowd... typical "conservative, Boston crowd."

markman · 06-12-2008 10:22am

Just registered for the forum, but have been a fan for 5 years or so and finally made it to my first Koz related show last night. I thought his banter was downright priceless, especially when some questionable attendee asked the band reunification question and he quickly retorted with "I didn't say anything about this being Q&A." I take it the guy texting the playlist is a member here? The show itself was excellent, I need not touch on issues that I'm sure have been discussed on this forum for years, but his vocals are significantly more cathartic live then recorded. While I am about 5-10 shows away from ever becoming slaked enough by his play where I would hope for something more or different, I think one or two more strummed songs in the acoustic set would be nice, for contrast purposes, not because the picked adaptations lack in anyway. Anyway, nice to finally get a koz show under my belt, feel free to banish me from the board at a time of your choosing.

Sonograph · 06-12-2008 12:26pm

thanks for the great reviews ! well, now i've got a request:

would anyone be ok to make some youtube videos during the next shows ?... please.
would love to see something from this tour... basically, i'm very jealous i can't make it to the usa for mk.

desperately looking for some live 'blue orchids', for example.

thanks !

Last edited by Sonograph (06-12-2008 12:27pm)

ChuckCheese1 · 06-12-2008 9:13pm

Never Ending Math Equation is dead on about the music – really good descriptions about the most important thing. In particular, I thought that “Heron Blue” took on a new life for a few minutes, though I don’t think it held up. I had a great time last night, and I have a person who I consider a bit of a genius to thank for that (Mark).

However, as a first-time Mark Kozelek concert viewer, I thought the on-stage banter was a little more aggressive than Math Equation believes, and it affected my enjoyment of the show.

I'll start, as Math Equation does, from a philosophy of forgiveness. Mark had a bad day and told us so. He had to get up early - uh wait....sorry, I can't totally buy into that. I got less sleep than he did. But I'm moving on.

During the story about his lost wallet, Mark threw in the story about Phil's retirement. Now I could be completely wrong, but I took this as complete truth and I thought the dynamic between them was strained. From my view in the 3rd row, if Mark ever smiled about a "joke," Phil never did. Phil never looked up, never felt comfortable, and it was strange to see. The "coup de grace" was Mark was playing faster than Phil could play during the close to "Duk Koo Kim." It seemed mean and deliberate to me. I was not surprised when Mark came out alone for the encore. Yes, this could have been by design, but it was the only song he played without Phil.

The dynamic between the musicians is one thing, the relationship with the audience is another.

I play guitar and am fascinated by Mark Kozelek's songs. Because of this, I realized quickly that with only three guitars at his disposal, he would have to spend a lot of time re-tuning his guitars because of all of the alternate tunings he uses. This produces BIG gaps in the show. It seemed to me like he was trying to do something to lessen/lighten the gaps. But when the artist INVITES conversation, in my opinion, he loses control and needs to understand why they would want a “Q and A” session. What else would we bring up? The weather? Sports?

Is it so terrible to ask about recording with Will Oldham – question ignored? Is it so terrible to ask about how many guitar tunings he uses- question blown off? The first guy (balding) who asked about auditioning for the “vacant’ guitar position was referred to as having a “reverse Mohawk.” Mark said “I wouldn’t get any chicks playing with you.” As standup comedic material, this might be expected, but after a couple repetitions of this type of answer, it was awkward. Silence between songs was not good, but there was not much we were able to say. One person offered “You are amongst friends” but it was not acknowledged.

The worst was when he was questioned about “ripping on his audience.” His response was basically “Do you know what it is like to be me? It’s a weird life, driving for XX miles with Phil who doesn’t talk to me, doing a show and living in a hotel room.”

Mark, we all bought tickets to your show! Of course we don’t know what is like to be you, just in the same way that you don’t know what it is like to be us (me). I drove as far as you did to get to the show. So WHAT? Many people – including me – would have picked a professional musician’s life if they were good enough. We respect you tremendously and want more music. But at some point, if you don’t like the life/sacrifice/reward, you need to stop. We won’t quarrel. We just don’t want whining about the challenges of being adored all over the globe – admittedly in small pockets.

Math Equation saw the above exchange as being funny….I don’t agree.

I’ll try to end on the music. I knew it was coming, but “Duk Koo Kim” is one of the greatest songs ever recorded, but the contrast between sections of the song is a big reason why. That contrast is lost in the live version. My favorite song was probably “Lucky Man.” I wanted to ask if the phrase "Sweet refrains of ocean rain echo" was definitively a reference to Echo and Bunnymen's Ocean Rain album, but the mood did not seem right.

Sorry, I swear I had a great time last night…..Would I have had a better time if Mark had said nothing between songs? Hate to say it, but the answer is probably yes, though I am a big fan and will be around the next time - no question.

andrzej · 06-13-2008 4:10am

I can understand entirely where your coming from chuckcheese1 but it seems that's just the nature of the man, you just don't know which Kozelek is going to turn up, the witty charming one or the, in a bad mood belligerent one, i have seen him a few times and i do think he does like to wind up the audience on occasions, even when he is in a good mood, i saw him in Manchester on the last tour and he seemed surprised at how reserved the crowed was, he even asked if we were scared of him.....!!! its a shame because i do think it affected that gig, people did seem reluctent to engage with him a first, and it did effect the atmosphere, on this occasion he did seem in a fair mood and tried to engage the crowed with banter about the Ricky Hatton fight, my girlfriend, like me loves his music, but cannot understand how someone who can write such tender, touching, heartfelt songs can be such an arse in the flesh.....her words..............

neverending math equation · 06-13-2008 4:27am

A few comments about ChuckCheese1 said about the show.

I completely understand everything that he said, and as I've been to three Kozelek shows, I just wanted to let him know a few things that I've picked up. First, Phil doesn't talk. haha. He's not a very talkative guy. At the show two years ago he barely spoke a word, so I don't think the friendship was strained because of that. And two years ago, Mark did come out by himself for the encore. Phil didn't join him. But by some of the comments Mark said, it looks like the friendship is a tad strained.

As far as being punchy with the crowd, I'm siding with Mark. I don't like people at shows who yell out during shows and try to be comical and ask questions we already know the answer to. Or people who yell out song requests. It's one thing to open up a dialogue with a musician but it's another thing just to talk for the sake of talking. Overall, I think Mark was just having a bad day, and the few people that asked him the questions he's been asked a million times, he just didn't have any tolerance for it.

3legcat · 06-13-2008 12:54pm

i have seen mark 7 times now, as far as the between song banter stuff goes, wed night's is as good as it gets. i think he is uncomfortable with it and is very defensive, for example he invites questions and doesn't answer any, but instead shoots down the question itself and then rants off topic whatever, . it doesn't effect my enjoyment. oh and yes he probably does want sports questions, not kidding. i think mark also gets a small charge out of breaking what our expectations of him are, it is a way of saying "you think you know me but you don't"

that aside, it was a great show

Last edited by 3legcat (06-13-2008 12:55pm)

tricycleboy · 06-14-2008 9:22am

ChuckCheese1 wrote:

I’ll try to end on the music. I knew it was coming, but “Duk Koo Kim” is one of the greatest songs ever recorded, but the contrast between sections of the song is a big reason why. That contrast is lost in the live version. My favorite song was probably “Lucky Man.” I wanted to ask if the phrase "Sweet refrains of ocean rain echo" was definitively a reference to Echo and Bunnymen's Ocean Rain album, but the mood did not seem right.

It is a reference to the Echo & the Bunnymen album, just like Celebrated Summer is a reference to Husker Du and Lucky Man is to Emerson lake & Palmer.

Many of you are taking his banter way too seriously. He is an ass, and I have found that most amazing artists are. It's a way of keeping themselves insulated, I think. For me, hearing his caustic wit is a third of the reason why I buy the ticket.

Sad Reminders

Announcement

This forum is now READ ONLY. The new forum is here. Read why we have a new forum here.

#1 06-10-2008 8:51pm

6/11/08 @ Remis Auditorium/MFA, Boston, MA

#2 06-11-2008 10:43pm

Re: 6/11/08 @ Remis Auditorium/MFA, Boston, MA

#3 06-12-2008 8:15am

Re: 6/11/08 @ Remis Auditorium/MFA, Boston, MA

#4 06-12-2008 9:35am

Re: 6/11/08 @ Remis Auditorium/MFA, Boston, MA

#5 06-12-2008 10:22am

Re: 6/11/08 @ Remis Auditorium/MFA, Boston, MA

#6 06-12-2008 12:26pm

Re: 6/11/08 @ Remis Auditorium/MFA, Boston, MA

#7 06-12-2008 9:13pm

Re: 6/11/08 @ Remis Auditorium/MFA, Boston, MA

#8 06-13-2008 4:10am

Re: 6/11/08 @ Remis Auditorium/MFA, Boston, MA

#9 06-13-2008 4:27am

Re: 6/11/08 @ Remis Auditorium/MFA, Boston, MA

#10 06-13-2008 12:54pm

Re: 6/11/08 @ Remis Auditorium/MFA, Boston, MA

#11 06-14-2008 9:22am

Re: 6/11/08 @ Remis Auditorium/MFA, Boston, MA

Board footer