LOCATION: Swedish American Hall, San Fracisco, CA
LINEUP: Karin, Linford, Devon Ashley, Rick Plant, Kim Taylor
REVIEW BY:
Wednesday night’s show was at the Swedish American Hall above Cafe Du Nour on Market Street near The Castro neighborhood of San Francisco. Rachel met me there and we went upstairs. The venue was so different from the Starry Plough. It felt something like a church really. No bar. (Which meant no beer). Rows of chairs…and a guy selling snacks. Sortof odd. Rachel saw a bunch of her friends from Calvin College and when people asked up how we knew each other, we would say, “we met online” and then talk about how we see each other all the time even though I live in the South Bay and she’s in Berkeley. I really think we were giving off the lesbian vibe pretty strong, but maybe that’s just cause we were in SF.
Anyway, here’s how the show went on Sunday evening.
# I want you to be my love (After this first song, Karin tells
a story of being in the women’s restroom and hearing some guys on the street
say, “Yeeeeah….let’s get arrested tonight!” Linford responds with, “It
ain’t an Over the Rhine show unless they drag someone away in cuffs.” The
crowd laughs at this, and I realize they are in a good mood tonight. )
# Born
# Spark
# Looking Forward (Karin says that song always makes her want
to wear boots)
# Anything At All
# Suitcase
# Bluer (Linford sings along).
# Little Did I Know
# Drunkard’s Prayer (Karin had moved to the keyboard for this
one, but they realize that Linford forgot his accordian. So he moves back
to keyboard and she just sings. The interchange was funny as was watching
them climb around the stage switching places and stuff . Made me smile).
# All I Need is Everything
# Cruel and Pretty
Encore:
# Hush Now
# My Love is a Fever
# Latter Days
2nd Encore!!!! (Haven’t ever seen them do a 2nd encore
outside of Cincinnati. This was great, and obviously they weren’t planning
it because they took their time figuring out what to play.
# Long Lost Brother (Linford sings along)
# Hometown Boy(This was AWESOME! I love Hometown Boy live, so
it was just icing on the cake to hear this at the end of a great show.
Right before they started this song Karin told a story of Devon (the drummer)
being in the hotel restroom, grabbing the doorknob to leave and having
the doorknob slide right off the door, out of his hand, and into the toilet
and out of sight! She’s a great story teller. I laughed for awhile about
that one).
Linford invited people to “stay after and chat”. I talked to some other fans I knew would be there….introduced myself, chatted about days gone by and other shows we’ve been to. I met Shelly and we talked about the shows in the Cincy in the mid-90s when I first started seeing Over the Rhine. And I even spoke to K&L saying I appreciated them coming out to California and how it’s so much more convenient than flying to Ohio from here for shows. But I didn’t have much to say, and I think I realized that I’m so much more interested in the audience and the other people who are fans of the band than I am of the actual band members.
(Which is why, for me, it’s not quite completely 100% Over the Rhine without my apples).
So it’s been a great week of music. Now I’m looking forward to a laid back weekend. I think I might finish the 1st season of West Wing that I started in Arkansas. I think that could seriously become an addiction.