FraKctured

We've just finished three nights here at Shibuya. The first one was a bit shaky, but solid. The second had some even shakier moments, but the audience was so 'in' to us and the music that all errors were immediately redeemed. They were great -- much better then we were. This is a real treat for a band -- to have audience that on the edge of their seats with you. Yes!

The third show, which began at 5:00pm, was quite another story. While there were a few fantastic moments, it was generally a show with major, major, major disasters and a general lack of focus. I couldn't keep my brain in gear throughout the first hour. Until Larks' came in, actually. And it wasn't like I needed my brain, but it became this out-of-focus questioning presence. Like: "What chord am I on? What is the next chord? Huh?" and "Have we already played the bridge, yet? Is this the section with the fives in it or did we already do that bit?" During One Time, I was completely and utterly lost. I never played a bum note and my hands delivered the parts fine, but I COULD NOT tell where I was throughout the whole thing: "Is this a verse or a chorus transition? Is this where the Ab chord comes, or is it on the next phrase?" What a pain the ass, to endure this mental torture!

Anyway, there were some fantastic moments. Robert wrote the set-list tonight and he put Larks' IV in the middle of the set. Which we have never done, yet. It was awesome. It came in much slower than we normally play it and it was so sexy! Really greasy and raw. I loved it! We couldn't quite keep the momentum up for the duration of the whole piece, but it WAS something!

One of the other hot bits was Thrush. We really stretched it out during Robert's solo in the middle third. And I pulled out all stops in my ending solo. We ended the night with Oyster Soup and Adrian came in blaring on his solo. It was monstrous!

And now, I am so tired that I can't wait for the travel day tomorrow. I shall sleep, sleep, sleep and give my poor soggy head a good rest. I haven't adjusted to the time change (16 hours difference) and at this point, I don't intend to. Some night I go to bed at 11:00pm and wake up at 9:00am. But, other nights it's bed at 2:00am wake up at 5:00, with my body raring to go. For two nights it was bed at 6:00am and rise at 9:00am! Yow!