Setlist
Duke’s Revenge, The Wave, Ticket, The First Show, Pixilxil, Four Turtles, Reload
Review
The band decided to play a trick on the drummer, and leads the whole show with Duke’s Revenge. Torn between putting on a good show and standing up for himself, he ends up playing along.
The Wave delights a small percentage of “Wavers” in the audience, but drags down the show. A decent showing, but not great.
Concert rating: 55/100
Details
Date: 22th April, 2020
Concert id: 2020-04-22
Setlist
The Wave, On the Low Rung, Blended Together, Lilliput, Duke’s Revenge, Blue Orange
Review
A truly awful show for the band. The Wave kicks things off, which gets a groan from a sizeable portion of the crowd. Then the show manages to get even worse. A subpar rendition of Blue Orange finishes out the set on a bit of a high note, not that most people even stuck around that long.
Concert rating: 44/100
Details
Date: 24th April, 2020
Concert id: 2020-04-24
Setlist
Lilliput[1], Pixilixl, Blue Orange, Ticket, Reload, Sure
[1] Debut
Review
“We have a curse! We have to stop debuting songs at the front of the show!” the drummer yelled backstage.
“We don’t have a curse,” the singer said. “Lilliput is going to work, trust me.”
It did not work. To salvage the show, the band played The Big Three as a triad in the middle of the show. That works, and in fact the band registers their best show to date. Morale is running high after this show, but there continues to be a debate within the band about the “always start with a new song” strategy.
Concert rating: 64/100
Details
Date: 23th April, 2020
Concert id: 2020-04-23
Setlist
Top, Ticket, Waiting for Fred, Pixilixl, Blue Orange, Reload, The First Show
Review
A better show than San Francisco, but a bit uneven. Blue Orange and Reload are standouts but The First Show is not a strong closer.
Concert rating: 63/100
Details:
Date: 25th April, 2020
Concert id: 2020-04-25
Setlist
F-12[1], Midst[2], High School[3], Patrick Swayze[4], Guyute[5], Celsius[6]
[1-6] Debuts
[5] Phish cover
Review
This concert was arranged at the last minute with a cryptic poster. Online sleuths quickly determined that the “stars and moons” motif in the flag was morse code that spelled out “New Album,” which led to a lot of anticipation leading up to the show.
Even casual fans of the band know that the band has no studio albums, only recordings of live shows. This made the hint “New Album” all the more mysterious. Shouldn’t you have a first album before you can call the next one new?
The concert kicked off with a new song called F-12, but was then followed up with five more, for a total of six brand new songs from the band. The Big Three didn’t make an appearance, and neither did any of their other songs. For people new to the band, it was an average show. But for EP’s rabid fan base, it was an instant classic.
The stand-out songs of the night were in the middle of the show: Midst, High School, and Patrick Swayze. The rendition of Guyute was technically a cover, but thoroughly reworked to feel like a fully EP song.
With that, the short US leg of the tour was over. Up next: Canada!
Concert rating: 55/100
Details
Date: 24th April, 2020
Concert id: 2020-04-24
Setlist
Needle[1], Lilliput, Sure, Four Turtles, Reload, Blue Orange, Ticket
[1] Debut
Review
The curse of the debut song continued in the Emerald City. Needle was a new song inspired by the Pacific Northwest, and the band was excited to try it out. But halfway through its maiden performance, the crowd booed until the band stopped the song.
Lilliput didn’t fare much better, but Sure punched way above its weight to save the show, then the Big Three closed out the night on a high note.
This concert is emblematic of the kind of rut the band began to get into. New, adventurous songs weren’t being received well while older, more played out songs were getting huge responses. Increasingly the band began to resent those crowd pleasing songs but didn’t feel they had any choice.
Concert rating: 55/100
Details
Date: 26th April, 2020
Concert id: 2020-04-26
