LA Shows at Amoeba/Spaceland

[zack26]

Man, I'm still reeling over seeing Daniel play twice in one evening... These shows were simply gorgeous, especially the evening performance at Spaceland.

Before the show at Amoeba, the store held an auction for one of his drawings, with all of the proceeds going to Katrina victims.  The store matched the selling price of $550 totaling $1100... very cool.

From where I was standing I got my first glimpse of Daniel backstage waiting to go on.  I must say, I've never seen someone smoke a cigarette with such conviction.

He came out wearing a "Hi, How Are You?" t-shirt and began a set of songs on guitar.  Six songs... all of them apparently new.  I wish I could remember lyrics (I'm awful at that stuff)... I'm ashamed to admit the only word I remember was something about being a  "retard"... it just sort of stuck out.  They were beautiful songs.. hopefully they're from the Lost and Found CD soon to be released here.  One of the tunes was the one someone else wrote about that has a few lyrics from "Worried Shoes" in it.  And his guitar was in tune!  Fantastic!  His guitar playing was more clear than in the past, and he even tried a few chords up high on the neck.  He appeared pretty nervous and admitted at one point that he was more nervous that usual.  After these six songs he switched to piano and did four songs - Love Enchanted, You Could Care Less (a new one?), Forever Your Love, and Without You (another new one?).  At some point during the performance he apologized for the "amateur performance".  After the show he was signing shirt and copies of "Welcome to my World"  He looked exhausted.  I was wondering how he was going to get through the Spaceland show.

But not only did he get through it, he was amazing.  He came out wearing the Amoeba shirt that he had thrown on for the CD signing and smoking a cigarette (with the same enthusiasm).  He quickly launched in "I Had A Dream"... an unforgettable moment.  The crowd was dead silent.  As I remember his piano set included the same songs from the Amoeba show ( + I Had a Dream).  Someone shouted for "Speeding Motorcycle" but it didn't happen.  He opened the acoustic set with "Frito-Lay" and followed with "Now".  He sounded even better than the earlier show!  He did about three more acoustic numbers, including the "retard" one (sorry!... I should have brought a pen and paper to write some lyrics down). 

His exit was somewhat comical.  The crowd was cheering wildly as he rushed to throw his guitar in its case, and snap it shut... he really looked like he wanted to get the hell off stage.  He opened the backstage door, bustled through, gave a little wave and SLAMMED the door shut... it was pretty clear that he had no intention of coming back out no matter how much the crowd called for an encore.  After a few minutes, the sound man hopped up on stage and poked his head through the door to see if there was any chance of him coming out again.  He quickly turned to the crowd and gave the fingers-across-the-neck "cut" sign.  And that was it...  All I kept thinking the rest of the night was how much I loved these songs.  Went home and listened to Peek-a-Boo... perfect end to the night.

I wish I could remember the acoustic songs better.  If anyone has lyrics or titles for some of the new songs he's been playing, please post them - I'd love to figure out what I heard!  And if anyone else was there please let us know!



 

[zack26]

Part of the mystery is solved...  I just found the review of the Barbican show that included the lyrics for his songs in that set.  He did all three of those at both shows. 

Tears That Hate Me
Lost My Head
As the Story Goes (the one with the "retarded" line)

The lyrics are in the "My Barbican Review" post... thanks for transcribing them!

Tears That Hate Me is especially beautiful.  I really hope that one finds it way onto a recording.

[Stress Records]

http://sundial.csun.edu/media/storage/paper862/news/2006/05/08/Entertainment/Johnstons.Live.Love.And.Pain-1922104.shtml?norewrite200605081411&sourcedomain=sundial.csun.edu

[ondafritz]

Can you give a guess as to the audience count for each show?

[zack26]

It's hard to estimate the numbers... maybe 300-400 at the Amoeba show.  Spaceland was packed. I don't know their capacity but it was probably about the same number... probably a lot of the same people too...

Jeff T. - thanks for posting the link to the review!  I'd been searching for one online and couldn't find one...

Ever since I saw the show I keep thinking how much I want to hear another "just-Daniel" studio album.  I love Fear Yourself, Rejected Unknown, and the other recent collaborations, but after seeing him live, I realized that what I loved the most was simply Daniel by himself playing his songs.  I know the days of him singing songs into a portable tape recorder and putting it out as an official release are gone, but I'm hoping someday in the future we'll get something along the lines of "1990".  I think Kramer's work on that record is absolutely brilliant.  The little moments of "guest-musicianing" add color but don't overpower the songs or the performance.  It never feels like Daniel is being immersed in someone else's sound (I get that feeling from "Fear Yourself" sometimes).  I guess I favor the David Briggs (Neil Young's producer) style of producing: get the right mics, put them in the right place, and let them play.  I don't know... maybe some of you who know Daniel or have worked with him can comment on this... I haven't heard "Lost and Found" yet... is this with a full band, or do we get some solo performances?

[HowdyHowRU]

I think Kramer's work on that record is absolutely brilliant. 

That it is.

[wickedwill]

Great Review!