Reply To: JoCoCruiseCrazy 1.5? – NYC 19 August 2011
@MitchO We we on the other side, probably directly opposite you. We got chairs at first but stood up once we realized we weren’t gonna be able to see sitting down. Unfortunately, John didn’t tell me you were there until after the show when we went up to the upper deck to check out the view and I couldn’t spot you. We will connect up one of these days. It is inevitable 🙂
We were among the first folks on the boat and the skies did indeed open up with torrential rain not long after we boarded. Since the boat was still docked it was pretty rocky and the rain was pouring down the windows in sheets. The sky was also putting on an impressive light show, giving a real techno vibe to the harbor with its neon light-up palm tree. It quieted down quite a bit by the time the boat left dock but it was raining a lot of the trip.
The set-up was rather odd, with the stage in the bow of the boat and the standing crowd filling the room facing it, with a row of chairs along the left wall and a little of the right. This made it so the performers had to fight their way through the entire crowd to get to the stage. Chris and Christian didn’t even bother leaving during the acoustic set. They just sat down on the side of the stage. And there wasn’t an encore because there was no way to leave the stage and return.
David Rees did a very entertaining opening comedy set, particularly his final story about purchasing his first hi-hat. He claimed to have nothing prepared and was just winging it which may or may not have been the case but he was very funny all the same.
Mitch got JoCo’s acoustic middle setlist down, except First of May was also included. I actually hadn’t heard Baby Got Back live before and was very entertained by the audience doing the backing vocals. The rest of the setlist (in no particular order, only remember what was played, not when): Artificial Heart, Shop Vac, Code Monkey, Big Bad World One, The Future Soon, Sticking It To Myself, Nemeses, Sucker Punch, Alone At Home, Good Morning Tucson, and The Stache. It’s entirely possible I’ve forgotten something.
A lot of the banter was related to being on a boat. Jonathan commented on one of the problems of playing on a small boat being that things tended to shift when you stepped away from the mic to rock and he whacked his teeth on the mic when he went back to it. He also suggested later that they should be bungied to the columns flanking the drum kit so they could better keep their footing. Chris suggested ski boots bolted to the floor.
The boat went out and circled The Statue of Liberty before heading back to port. When it passed the Battery Tunnell ventilation building, JoCo exclaimed that The Statue of Liberty had been stolen (cause it looks like the base of the statue). This prompted a couple of funny Carmen Sandiego comments from the crowd.
The new drummer is Christian Cassan. He’s played with some big names (Roger McGuinn, David Byrne, Ronnie Spector) and has his own recording studio in NYC. He also plays with Stew and The Negro Problem which is a band Marty Beller plays with from time to time so that might be how he connected up with JoCo. Though he’s also got TMBG listed in his credits so that could be it too (no idea when or where he might have played with them though as he’s not in any of their album or live show listings). Hard to judge him from one performance but he was quite good, especially considering he was playing on a boat. He was still playing off sheet music but who knows how much rehearsal time he actually had before the show. I did note he didn’t tackle any of what I consider to be the “cool drum songs” (Mandelbrot Set, Glasses, I Feel Fantastic, etc) but that could just be because he hasn’t learned them yet. In short, I am deeply biased towards Marty so am probably not the best judge, but this guy was pretty good. I’m quite curious to see if he ends up being the drummer for the fall tour (I would assume so).
Also, I overheard Chris saying after the show that he is definitely doing most of the shows this fall. There are a few he might have to miss but he is trying to arrange things so he can do all of them. Good news as I have grown quite fond of him.
Except for the string breaking incident I mentioned above those are the only specifics I can recall from the show. My boyfriend got me a TAW boxset after the show so I could have Jonathan sign it. I had to hold his beer while he did so. I was amused by this. A very fun evening despite the rain 🙂