10 August 1999
Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
support: Mercury Rev
soundcheck included: Life And How To Live It / Lotus
Disc One 60:31
01. Lotus
02. So Fast, So Numb
03. Electrolite
04. Suspicion
05. Pilgrimage
06. The One I Love
07. Jesus - New Test Leper
08. The Apologist
09. Daysleeper
10. E-Bow The Letter
11. Sweetness Follows
12. The Great Beyond
Disc Two 63:15
01. Losing My Religion
02. Country Feedback
03. At My Most Beautiful
04. Life And How To Live It *
05. Walk Unafraid
06. Man On The Moon
encore:
07. Hope (Stipe solo) * MIDDLE
08. Why Not Smile (Mills & Stipe)
09. What's The Frequency, Kenneth?
10. Tongue
11. Half A World Away
12. It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - Gray Squirrel - It's The End Of The World As We Know it (And I Feel Fine)
Timeline notes: 'Jesus' is a Velvet Underground song sung by Michael solo.
Notes:
-Before Suspicion, MS tells of inviting an LA area friend to the show but the friend has to decline because he is "in Budapest playing Jesus".
-MS introduces Daysleeper as his favorite song, then changes his mind. He also notes his dislike of LA cellular which draws a big reaction from the crowd.
-Before E Bow, MS "So you remember the previous monologue about my favorite song? Seems like hours ago. This is it. The problem is though about half the time I forget the words". He goes on to encourage the crowd to sing loudly to cover up his mistakes. After the song he states he is going to quit introducing songs as his favorite. Then "I only dropped one word there, who caught it? That's right dissapoint. 'I don't want to dissapoint you'".
-Country Feedback solo 1:03
-Before L&HTLI MS claims they haven't played the song in a long time which is not true. He goes on to talk about someone in the audience having something to do with a 12 oz. can.
MS stops playing Hope and starts talking. He reciters a few lines of something that I couldn't make out the giggles and refers to his friend playing Jesus Christ in Budapest. He starts playing again for a moment then stops abruptly "But I realized in that moment that's exactly where that line came from. It had never occurred to me it was Birdland, my favorite song. 'Little boy's face lit up with such naked joy' What an incredible line. I hope it's not stolen. I thought I stole the best line from New Test Leper from Vic Chesnutt. I had to call him and say 'Vic, which song of yours has the line 'what a sad parade' in it? And he said 'Well, none of them'. And I said are you sure? And he said 'Yep'. And I said have you ever heard a song with the line 'what a sad parade' in it? And he went 'Hmmmm...nope". [fan yells 'play your guitar!] I guess I will. [plays about three notes] So when I presented this song, my lyric idea and my melody idea to Peter and Mike, they were quiet and they didn't say anything [garbled] they loved the words. They loved the melody too since Leonard Cohen wrote it in a song called 'Suzanne' about 45 years ago. So thanks to the draconian efforts of the Sony Music Publishing Company, they got a healthy chunk of this song. But I love the song. We all love it, that's why we put it on the record. Fine record". He then goes on a semi unintelligible profanity laced rant about music executives (I think) then tries to start playing again but can't break his own train of thought, and stops playing agin swearing and muttering "It's a beautiful lyric right?...I'll get around to singing when I'm ready to alright? If you don't like it you can [unintelligible]. You can always make a call on your cell phone if you're really that bored. I'm sure there's several voicemail messages waiting for you. A couple rave clubs, a little party afterwards. Hot Tuesday night on the town?" He then asks his tormenter if he has anything else to volley at him before "I love you too. Even though I can't see you. I'm sure you're great", before finally finishing out the song.
-MS before ITEOTWAWKI "Believe it or not, I have nothing to say". In the middle of the song, he switches to 'Grey Squirrel'. He actually sings grey squirrel and eventually realizes his mistake.
Grade: D
-Mediocre sound, blown out, wow & flutter, and lots of skips.