brainflower, damon_cromer, david120974, devomatt, ericariddell, ericrod, geogirl, herodotusjones, hullinger62, inlikearose, jodi, kjhayes, lowkick, Natasha_K, neelyohara, Neverwhere, piwaket, porcupiny, RambleOn, Reviled_Verity, sikris, spinckert, staceyfarias, thestrange, uglypunkling, umlaut, violetawkward, wretchedward, zenlunatic16

uglypunkling says+1 Votes UP / DOWN
awesome show. some technical difficulties with amps, strings, and such but that's how all tours have to start. there were also assholes in the audience but robert did a nice job of flipping them the bird and telling them "fuck off. everyone can play a BAD song..." (to which someone yelled "i don't" and robert said "yes you can"). overall, a very good show. it's about time they toured around the u.s. again!

setlist was 20 or 21 songs, i'd guess about 12 from the new album and 8 from the previous ones. sorry, no official list from memory.

things to look forward to:
* robert on piano - very suave
* peter on trombone and some odd accordion box or something i couldn't make out - band dorks may swoon
* nick looking so very bored behind his drums
* a new (mellower) version of u.s. government
Posted Tuesday, September 13, 2005 am30 at 11:34am
porcupiny says+3 Votes UP / DOWN
I've been to GAMH before, but I never mention how nice it is inside. I've heard it was once a bordello, which might explain why its so fancy-looking. It reminds me of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland. The show started with a girl named Cat singing a solo pedal type performance with a lot of reverb. She had a nice almost operatic voice. Then, Mark Gardener and another guitarist came on stage. Mark had a 12-string guitar, which is something I couldn't see from outside M Theory in San Diego. His songs were pretty exciting and distinctive, and he even played a couple of Ride songs - "Vapour Trail" being the highlight. He also played that song at M Theory.

There was kind of a long wait between when Mark left the stage and BRMC came on, which was around 9:30 PM. I think most of the recent shows start with just Peter with his guitar and harmonica. There were a few technical problems, like guitars sounding funny during "Ain't No Easy Way" and strings breaking during a couple songs. Someone was heckling them from the balcony, so Robert gave them the finger. They handled themselves pretty well during all these glitches and they seemed pretty happy despite the setbacks. I was very close to the stage, second row on Robert's side. It was cool to see Robert play since he really gets into it. He sat down at the piano for a few songs, and even played the bass at the same time! Peter also picked up a trombone for "Promise."

There was no video recorded during "Weight of the World" as was mentioned on the message board. One of the coolest highlights for me was during "Whatever Happened to my Rock 'n Roll?" when Peter moved away from the microphone and was singing to the center of the stage. You couldn't even hear him and he was still singing his heart out! They did their new version of "US Government" which is slower and more acoustic sounding, and did "Sympathetic Noose" in a more electrified version than on the album. They ended the show with Peter's solo of "Open Invitation" sitting down in front of an unusual organ. It looked a little like an accordion turned on its side.

After the show ended, we headed to the merch table. I noticed Nick Jago wandering near the sound board and then I saw him with his parents taking pictures. I couldn't tell if he was smiling for them, but he didn't seem to smile in any photos he took with fans. Nick really is tiny, though most likely a couple inches taller than me. Jodi got some 7" singles signed by him after spending hours at the merch table. I don't usually like to buy stuff at shows, but I saw the coolest black wifebeater for only $15 and I had to get it. It has "BRMC, HOWL, MMV" in white letters in 3 rows. We'd spent so long at the merch table that we decided to stick around to get things signed by Robert and Peter again.

We talked to Robert again, this time about how he was in the Beggars with a guy in Better Than Ezra - a band that Jodi and Kimberly seem to love. Robert laughed at them for being fans, which was funny. He said he hadn't seen any of those guys in a couple years. After he left, we waited for Peter. He was downstairs smoking and he apologized to us for making us wait. They were all cool about posing for pictures with fans, but I never do that since I feel really silly and self-conscious about that. When we finally left the venue, we were all kind of hungry. We saw Robert heading down the street to a pizza place across the street. It seemed like a nice place to eat and the pizza was really good after a long night. I got a slice of Combo pizza for only $3! Nothing beats a good late night snack!
Posted Thursday, September 15, 2005 pm30 at 4:43pm
ericariddell says+1 Votes UP / DOWN
This was such a great show!Black Rebel Motorcycle Club never seems to fail me! Every song was spot on and during Aint' No Easy Way, Peter had some minor problems, but what can you expect from someone who is a great musician. He only wants to give his best performance. I've seen BRMC play since the begining and they just keep getting better and better. I took some photos and will post them soon.
Posted Friday, September 16, 2005 pm30 at 12:55pm
david120974 says+1 Votes UP / DOWN
I was on me hols from the UK so luckily, i could go the gig! (Went oasis the night before too at shoreline... Lucky me!).

I was excited about seeing the boys in their hometown so i dragged the missus to the show as well. She aint really into BRMC, but she tagged along anyway, and come out saying she really enjoyed it and was well glad she went. She loves the new stuff!

Personally, i was a bit disappointed with the crowd. I've been to quite a few gigs in the states now (not just BRMC and Oasis), and they are nothing like as mad for it as those in the UK are. If you even brush into someone, they give u some right evils :-( (However, there was a couple at the front who were going crazy like they were in their own moshpit! A boy and girl team! Good effort guys!)

During Aint no easy way, the heckling was bloody stupid - i told the people round me (especially the most ignorant woman i ever met, who I’m glad lives on the other side of the Atlantic to me) if they didn't like what the band were doing, they knew where the door was.
By the end of the show - long before the end of the encore - loads of people had indeed walked out... There was loads of room around me. Shame on them. Robert asked the crowd near the end if they were still with him... Those who were still there definitely were still with him, but many had given up.

Like i say, a real shame because the music was great i thought. I'd heard the slow version of US government at Leeds in June, and it’s good (the fast one is better tho!).
Playing the 8 new songs back to back from the start was a brill idea, and the last track - according to the guy on the mixing desk who i got the set list from - is the hidden track on the LP! Nice one! I thought it quite cool when they said they'd never tried it before live - they seemed really nervous about it :-)

Overall, top show lads, and good effort for getting stuck into the morons who had a dig!
And cheers Robert for letting my lass take that pic of me and u before the show!

Posted Wednesday, September 21, 2005 pm30 at 3:58pm
lowkick says0 Votes UP / DOWN
Actually, we aren't a couple but brother and sister ;)
Great show btw! Crowd was a bit lame, but we had fun!
Posted Friday, October 7, 2005 am31 at 6:56am
thestrange says0 Votes UP / DOWN
They were SOOO good. If any of you have a chance to check them out on this tour, GO. I missed the instore thing at Amoeba (stupid buses) but that probably would have been just acoustic guitars, the full show was the whole band and they flat out rocked. They opened soft, with just Peter playing acoustic guitar by himself for two songs. The first half of the show was mostly from the new album, which I do like and grows on me every time I hear it. But then they got down and dirty, played some stuff from the first album, played all the songs I wanted to hear. TORE IT UP on spread your love!!! I was right up front, only 2 people from the stage and they were short girls so I had a great view.
Ain't No Easy Way (3 times partial due to tech problems, 1 time full-
The guitar was making a wierd tremolo sound so he switched guitars 3 times, then the third one broke string but he just went ahead and finished the song anyway!)

BRMC is great and so diverse, really they cover the whole range from soft acoustic bluesy stuff all the way to screaming distortion and wah-wah rock and roll. They played piano, some wicked hamonica , TROMBONE (now how often do you see a frikkin trombone at a rock show?), and some wierd little box organ thing.

Mark Gardener was really good too, I think I will get his new CD. He just had 2 acoustic guitars and a keyboardist for this show, it reminded me alot of The Byrds with the chiming guitars and harmonies. (but darker) AND they played Ride's Vapour Trail which is my favorite Ride song.
Posted Friday, May 11, 2007 pm31 at 9:38pm