REVIEWS:

Los Angeles Times - 5.01.00

First off, I have to admit, we were just a little late getting to the venue.  We attended a taping of VH1's "The List" and we didn't realize that they changed the format to a 1 hour show so we got out a little late.  We managed to catch the last three songs by E and like we've said before, he's really amazing.  An added surprise was the "addition" of Butch Norton from the eels, who appears on Fiona's album.  He appeared onstage clad in a palooka orange shirt, cowboy hat and armed only with a digital camera.  We exchanged snaps of each other between songs.  E complimented him on his tremendous "playing" during the "fast" songs and said he'd slow it down for the last song.  E closed the set with a great cover of (and I'm so ashamed to admit this but he covered an Elvis song, I just hope this is the right one, if it ain't someone tell me) "Can't Help Falling In Love With You."  After the set E walked off the stage to a rousing ovation and Butch slowly rose from his seat, took several bows, tipped his hat and acknowledged the crowd's great admiration for his skills.  He was overcome with pride and appreciation.  

The time came for Fiona to come out and the crowd buzzed with anticipation.  Phil, a guy we met yesterday, gave me a little Christmas bear, to throw on the stage.  I thought it would be fun so I took the challenge.  Fiona looked at the crowd and acknowledged the crowd and started into her set.  

Fiona was very relaxed and you could tell that she was so much more comfortable than the day before.  The crowd responded enthusiastically to her every note.

Fiona then came up to the mic and explained that she just has to resign to the fact that when there are reviewers in the house, she has to just perform and fuck them!  The crowd responded with an eruption of cheers of support.  Just before this I threw the little bear up on the stage and it hit her right at the bottom of her skirt. She looked up to see who threw it, thank goodness she didn't notice it was me. 

She continued talking about the reviewers and said "Fuck them!  I don't care!"  She then turned away, paused, and came back and said "That's a lie."  She then tore into Criminal.

When she did "Limp" she did her normal opening (above) looking very detached and with a distant look in her eyes.  When she sings the chorus, she taunts and challenges people with such conviction and passion you believe that she can take all the poison arrows from everyone.

During her "sit at the piano and play cluster" there were a select few people in the crowd that wanted their voices to be heard and it was a little annoying and distracting.  I'm not sure how she ignores and tunes that out.

She improvised a lot tonight, adding spice to "Sleep to Dream" and "Carrion."  I have to say, and I know I said this yesterday, but her rendition of "A Mistake" is fucking amazing.  She dedicated the song to her friend Richard LaGravenese (famed screenwriter and NLC director) for giving her a new insight to how this song touched him.  The part where she sings, "I'm always doing what I think I should, Almost always doing everybody good.  Why?" she does it with such a guttural roar from deep inside that it just grabs you.

She ended the show with her two covers and funked up "Kissing My Love" and then it was over.  She thanked the crowd about 15 times during the entire concert and was so happy with how it turned out.  The crowd was great and they were very responsive.  It was sad to see her leave the stage.  But, like Fiona told us, "See you on the east coast!"

David

im not sure that you'd want to put this on NIAP, but i have to tell SOMEONE about how great the show was!

Well, i guess David pretty much summed up the concert, but you can never have enough reviews so this is my view. The Eels guy was really great. I got all excited when he played "Novocain for the Soul" because i haven't heard that song in sooo long and i always loved it. I was a little confused with him though. He was apologizing for the lack of Eels on the stage, that the rumors that they were in drug rehab was true but they were all recovering with the guy from Stone Temple Pilots (Scott Weiland). I had no clue if he was serious or not but everyone was laughing so i still don't know why that would be funny. maybe im just a little slow...hehe ANYWAY, he was great. He kept pulling out his cell phone and pretended he was talking to Fiona and you could here his conversation with her. "What? where are you?...the airport? so, whens you flight? Yeah theyre [the audience] good. ok, Fi--thats what her friends call her..." I dont remember what else was said except something like "What? Im kicked off the tour if the audience doesn't warm up? OK, bye.[to the audience] you heard her, my ass is on the line. Oh, well, it the last night of the tour anyway."

Intermission came and i realized my cameras film was used up and i didn't know how to load it! ahh heart attack time! so i was forced to ask the creepy guy behind me if he knew how but he just told me how his camera was automatic bla bla bla but his friend loaded it for me. (Note: its always interesting to meet the crowd around you. This guy was convinced i looked just like fiona -i look NOTHING like her- and kept poking me during the show asking me if i wanted to use his kick ass binoculars and every time i tried to give them back he gave me a weird look like "you can have them". After the show he was convinced i was fiona's look alike and that i should be up there performing...strange.)

Fiona came out and as you all know by now opened with On The Bound. She went on to explain how to tonight would be a good show because there were no reviewers and how to fuck them cuz she didnt care then spun back around and said "Thats a fucking lie cuz i do." So y'know everyone laughed. --OH, BTW David, i saw the bear get thrown! hehe--- She broke into Criminal doing cool little dances all through it. During Limp this stupid girl with butterfly clips in her hair was standing up the whole time so i could barely see anything. But when it was time for the drum solo (WOW! Matt was whaling on those drums!) Fiona went over to the piano and kinda leaned on it just watching him.  Sullen Girl came on. I was SO positive i was not going to cry. i was convinced there was not need to. But Sullen Girl just ripped me up. I must have looked like an idiot cuz i started like choking, the kind not where something gets stuck in your throat but where your trying with all your might not to cry. So i failed wonderfully and burst out crying. jeez... Of course during quieter songs like that there's always the obnoxious people screaming and whistling... Im going to fast forward to The Way Things Are. I love this song but live it gains a whole new personality. I wish i could have a bootleg of the show at least just of The Way Things Are and A Mistake. Especially Mistake. She started roaring and yelling and *wow* i was blown away. In I Know, it was so beautiful, the rude people shut up at least for a little while and everyone was just in a gaze. It was so serene. I wanted to take a picture but it seemed wrong, i didn't want to ruin the atmosphere with a bright flash. Again the stupid butterfly hairclips girl and her friend stood up during Fast As you Can and i could barely see anything. They were trying to do Fiona's dances. They looked ridiculous. They would watch Fi and mimic her and they just couldn't pull it off. Only Fiona can do the Fiona dance!  Fi and the band left the stage and a few minutes later just Fi came out and and sang her heart out along with a record playing Just One of Those Things. Kissing my Love had a great funk effect to it. She thanked the audience and the show was over. I didn't feel one bit like it was a night wasted. I went out and bought an imitation Fiona shirt that some guys outside were apparently selling for $10, but sold to me for $5. I don't know why, they scared me really bad, but hey, it was in the name of Fiona.
                                -*amanda*-



if i ever get my scanner fixed ill send some of the pictures i took! bye!

The reason this "review" is from a different perspective is because I was under the influence of too much sun. I watched most of the show with my eyes closed, and my mind was trippin' from the overexposure. I'll only "fuck" Fiona once.

The Eel takes the stage: by the way, he is too talented to actually make it big. He starts out pounding the piano left right to left, heading into a dissonant middle, and finishing with a *bamb* as he sat down on the keys. My favorite was the "sunflower" song, and "motherfucker" was memorable as well. And he joked between songs: about how his band is getting together with the "lead singer from Stone Temple Pilots" after their collective rehab stint. Then he "spoke" to Fiona after a few songs with his cell phone: "Wait a minute, I have a call." he tells the audience. "Oh, hello *Fi*." (talking to audience: "That's what her friends call her.") "What are you doing at the airport?" "What am I doing? I'm singing my songs, remember?" "Are you going to come to the show?" "Oh, the audience is fine; here, listen." (as he holds the phone up to the audience.) "I'll call you back in three songs." I liked his guitar work more than the piano songs, and all of the pieces were very short and sweet. He calls back Fiona three songs later, "Stop crying Fiona: we talked about this, remember?" For the last few songs he calls his "recovering" drummer on the stage: I think his name was "Bill", or something like that. "Bill" is a big man with a ten-gallon hat, and the Eel says he will join in. Of course, Bill just sits there doing nothing for the last few songs. When an audience member takes a picture of the Eel, "Bill" takes a picture of them. When the Eel and Bill leave the stage, Bill begs for and gets more applause than the Eel. Good warm up.

At this point I am completely out of it. I am sitting in row FF, which is 8 rows from the stage, but I'm at stage right, so I can't see Fiona when she's at the piona. But listening to the show was the only option at this point for me, as my eyes had been overloaded with sun from the day.

Fiona and the band walk onto the stage, and Fi takes the piona. "On the Bound" is first, with Matt et al slowing this song *way down* from previous shows. "To Your Love" is next, and she ends by holding "To your Loovvee..." beautifully. Now she steps up to center stage, and the flowers are flying. She picks them up and says, "OK, now I need to sing." as she puts the flowers on the piona. "Criminal" is next, and I make sure to open my eyes as Lucky temps the temptress. Then comes "Limp", with Matt's excellent solo, and finally "Sullen Girl": now I can close my eyes for good, and Fi takes the audience and me to another time. Then the syncopated "Paper Bag", and even *I* thought it was a bird, but it was just a paper bag. I was there.

To this point the musing is "perfect", but at the beginning of "Get Gone", Fiona misses a note badly (in jazz terms, an "accidental"), and the crowd laughs. I couldn't see Fiona's reaction, but both Matt and Keith looked up with huge smiles for Fiona. Next is "Love Ridden", and after she sings "and I wanna crawl in with you, but I cry instead..", a girl yells out "don't CCCCRRRRIIIIIYYYYY".  Now she gets up from behind the piona to get to the mic, center stage. "So, I fucked up, but I don't care anymore....Well, actually, that's a lie: I do care." Talk about your stream of conscious: that remark was a little window into the mind and soul of all of us. Outside the show, a man was asking people if they were registered to vote. I told him I was, and he said, "So, what's the attraction?" I said, "The music, the lyrics." He asked, "What is it about the lyrics?", and I said, "The honesty: Fiona doesn't hold back." Walking away, the man said, "Jesus loves you, you know?"

In my notes, I put down "LUCKY!", after "Sleep to Dream" This is my favorite for the night. Lucky ends the song in amazing fashion, and Fiona looks at him as if to say, "Keep it up, I want to dance through this." Sometime I'd like to hear this song *completely* DEconstructed at the end, and then constructed again. "Carrion" was powerful, with my eyes closed, anticipating the force as she sings "My feel for you boy, is decaying in front of me.."  "The way things are": indeed. That is a good description of how I was feeling at this point. Slide Lucky, slide! I get to rest my eyes again for "I Know", but I do look up to see Keith looking to the ceiling for hope. Just beautiful. "A Mistake" is flawless, and Fiona is now bending over to get the strength to belt out "Why Why Why Why Why?", and jumping and dancing. Fiona cheerfully introduces the band next, while the band plays some light jazz. She ends with "Fast as you can", and would rather dance through the end than sing. ;)

Fiona defiantly leaves the stage, waving good bye. At this point I was drained, but I'm glad I stayed for "Just one of those things", which I think is such a nice surprise for the audience. She ends with the funky "Kissing my Love", with the boys funking it up again. Great show. As I walked to the bus stop and contemplated the evening, I felt much better. The pressure had left my head, and my mind was at peace. An Apple a day *does* keep the doctor away. Thanks for the medicine Fi. Can I call you "Fi"? Tim