20th Century Theatre Cincinnati OH: November 15, 2002
Notable:
Hill Street Blues (TV show) theme started by Joel on the piano. The band comes in to support, and they morph the music into an improv jam to start the show.
Front Porch > Resolution > Jazz Odyssey > Front Porch is excellent. Ends with a Uninvited tease (Alanis Morrissett), labeled Living Again in the track list at archive.org.
They smoothly bend into Professor Wormbog. (No zoom zoom zoom zaya)
Some great banter here with Joel and fans apparently holding up a sign with song requests on it. He says “you have to choose just one. Then tells them they have to put the sign down now.” Haha.
Divisions! As the drum solo section proceeds, it evolves into an improv jam with ambient piano and other soft sounds, before going back into the next section with Bayliss’ solo.
As Jake starts in on the Nothing Too Fancy guitar solo, they quiet it down nicely and it builds up in energy rapidly. This version of NTF feels purposeful and deliberate.
They quickly let the built-up jam deflate into the beginning of Pay the Snucka. In Mike’s last few shows, it’s likely one of the last times they sing the original lyrics: “Vegas, don’t fuck with Mirro, cause Mirro will fuckin’ pay the snucka.”
Set 2 begins with an improv jam built on the In the Kitchen riff; Brendan sings the start of his lyrics for the first time ever, building what will become the song eventually, it’s debut is just 3 weeks away on December 6.
“It was cold in the kitchen and the lights were low, and the truth of the matter, we did not know…”
It’s almost a song, with a couple verses, a short instrumental section, and another verse, before they let the music drift into the beginning of The Fuzz.
As usual in this period, you can really hear Joel and Mikey on the vocals. After the song Mikey says “hey Kev, you can take the third tom down a little bit in the mix.”
The Triple Wide is well-developed now, sounding solid and confident. As it finishes quickly, they move suddenly back into Nothing Too Fancy to finish the song that was started during the first set.
Push the Pig is also getting very polished, showing off its gangsta-rap roots in the way the rhythm plods along and the synth sounds flow like swells across the top.
The jam after Push the Pig drift seamlessly into the completion of Front Porch, another song from the first set that they are wrapping up with a nice bow. Thanks Joel!
It ends with a piano solo segment and then Joel starts the Billy Joel piece, The Stranger, followed by the band. Brendan sings the first verses, but they leave the song unfinished.
They break it down into a jam that sounds a bit like a hip-hop bass line.
Blue Echo comes in very slowly as usual. Almost immediately within the jam to end the song they start teasing In Violation of Yes, going into the song quickly.
IVOY has a short jam to end the set.
Encore: The piano part in the beginning riff of 2nd Self is very apparent and forward-facing. It’s a short version to end the show.
Setlist from allthings.umphreys.com
Set 1:
Hill Street Blues theme[1]-> Front Porch[2]-> Resolution-> Front Porch[3]-> Professor Wormbog, Divisions, Nothing Too Fancy > Pay the Snucka
Set 2:
“Jimmy Stewart”[4]-> The Fuzz, The Triple Wide-> Nothing Too Fancy, Push the Pig > Front Porch > The Stranger[5]-> Blue Echo-> In Violation of Yes[6]
Encore:
2nd Self
Footnotes:
[1] debut, Mike Post
[2] with Push the Pig tease
[3] with Uninvited (Alanis Morissette) tease
[4] with Brendan singing lyrics that would become In the Kitchen
[5] unfinished
[6] with Victory March (Shea Brothers) tease
Links to Audio and Apps
The Live Music Archive app (iOS) and the Taper’s Section app (Android) is a great way to find and listen to these shows. You can stream, download for offline listening, save favorites, and mark shows as already listened to. The app pulls all data directly from the public repository of live music recordings posted at archive.org.
