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Concert Reviews
 

 
Review of concert from 2002-05-22: San Francisco, CA: KFOG private concert - Solo
- Nick Edmunds

 

I lost the 'first to post after the Astoria show' contest, but this time I like my odds. I just got home from the private KFOG concert -- I was NOT the lucky lister who actually won the contest, but I had to meet said lister to pick up my Berkeley tickets, so it seemed like a good place to do it. A couple other people were loitering in front hoping to make it into the taping, so I joined them and, after semi-politely accosting Elvis as he walked from the limo to the building, we were able to fill the slots of a few no-shows.

The room itself was tiny, kind of like a conference room in a mid-sized law firm. There were approximately 45 folding chairs set up for us, and some KFOG employees standing in the back. Elvis was solo with various guitars and electronic beat-box and sampling gear. He introduced the performance by telling us that he had written most of the new album this way, with a few beat boxes and guitars. The set list:

Spooky Girlfriend
Tart
When I Was Cruel 2
Dust
Watching the Detectives

With the exception of "Tart," which was played just on acoustic guitar, the rest were all with electric guitar and some degree of electronic accompaniment. During "Spooky Girlfriend" the audience was invited to provide some of the "do do do do do do do" stuff, but it was a pretty quiet crowd. Elvis assured us that we would sound much better when it was mixed for radio. He also made a crack about how KFOG usually played "whispering girl music." And there were plenty of facial contortions, as you would expect.

At the end Elvis stood up and cracked something along the lines of "those are the only songs the band knows!" as he walked out. I know this came as a tremendous disappointment to the contest-winning lister in attendance, as she spoke at length about how much she wanted to hear "Alison."

We were invited to wait in the KFOG lobby and have Elvis sign things on the way out. I hadn't brought anything, not expecting to be there, but the foreign-born husband of the contest-winning lister, perhaps out of shyness, had me ask Elvis to sign, of all things, the CD sleeve to "For the Stars." When I stuck it in front of him, he said "Oh, you've got this!" as if I wouldn't. I kept my clever response to myself.

So, an uber-intimate performance and my car didn't even get a ticket: a good time had by all. Hope to see some of you tonight in Berkeley!

 
         
 

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