Good spotting, but the Bowie ref was actually "Chameleon" by Herbie Hancock.

"Last Train to Clarksville was in there, too...

The show was fun, and the band had alot of energy, but the sound was terrible. If I didn't see Chris' lips moving, I wouldn't know he was singing.I've seen hundreds of shows at Maxwells, and never was the sound as low and bad as Tue. nite. Hope to see the band there again, with a different soundman.

I wasn't in a good position to hear the room sound last night (okay, okay, I fanboyed my way up front), and I'd never heard Chris play a full electric show before Monday night, but I wonder if part of the problem is the range of his voice, which needs to be emphasized at frequencies that are prone to feedng back. (I know feedback was of many problems on Monday night.)

When he went full-tilt (like the middle part of "Happenstance" -- the "well your mother knows what's good" part and the "think for yourself" part) it sounded fine. But the more delicate parts were definitely less audible.

For someone so used to getting just the right sounds in the studio, it must gall Chris to be up there at the mercy of the room/equipment/sound person. (I know he had an in-ear monitor, so maybe it sounded great to him. ) I guess it's just a different model -- other than a few hand gestures of "me - up" to the back of the room, it didn't seem to bother him.

-s

Chris doesn't sing loudly, and doesn't play guitar that loudly (he plays with his fingers, and had what looked like only a little 12-watt Fender Princeton amp.) He also doesn't always have his vocal mic totally lined up (puts his head down a little, out of line with the mic for some lines.) But he's all about subtlety and nuance, and it should be the front of house guy's (not really major) challenge to capture his particular style of performance. I don't know if a headset mic would seem dorky to him, but it would probably do the job nicely...

Thanks for taking notes! I forgot my Palm and was getting terrible pictures where I was standing, so I hoped someone was writing down the set list!

What a great night! I saw a few familiar faces from the old Maxwell's days - Jim Testa remarked that is was like a high school homecoming game! I thought the band sounded great in spite of the technical difficulties (I saw the Swingin' Neckbreakers last Saturday and they were plagued by problems, too)

As far as the songs went, it was great to hear "Love is for Lovers." I think that was the first song I heard getting commercial airplay (on WLIR) and I just *had* to check out the previous albums. "Living a Lie" and "Lonely is as Lonely Does" have personal significance in that they helped me through some rough times my junior year. The others, well, let's say they kept me from falling asleep at the wheel many a night in my car's cassette deck! Overall, the show brought back memories of many other nights at Maxwell's with the extended dB's family, including the Golden Palominos, Mojo Nixon, the Mavericks project and the solo shows.

Oh, and I forgot to mention:

Peter, take care of yourself! I guess I'm not alone in saying how much I hope that everything will get better for you and your family.