great big squee!!**

Twelve hours later, and I still feel like bouncing around the room. A bit more subdued-like, though, because not much sleep.

Lesson - it's really hard to be subtle from the front row. So, not many pictures, and not many turned out. Boo. Oh, well.

So ... brief badness up front. I've been critical of people who have called the Minnesota crowd rude before, and I still think, as a whole, the Twin Cities GBS crowd is an amazing bunch, but wow did we have some assholes right by us. More stories about them later, as they influenced the show on-stage quite a bit, but after the show was over, one of the girls decided to launch herself onto the stage in a desperate attempt to rip Sean's setlist from the floor. Danny and the other crew members shut her down, rather pissed, and she and her friends argued with him for a while. We were just standing there, on the other side, but when Danny came to work by us, I very politely asked if I could get Murray's set list. With a glance down at the girls, he smiled at me and said "absolutely, you can have this setlist." Thus, manners, kids. They're everything.

From my graciously-given setlist, with last-minute additions in parentheses:

( Fitzgerald Theatre, 2/3/06 )

Overall impressions? Wow. I say it every time, but wow. You almost forget, in the spaces between concerts, how powerful and fun their shows really are. I tell people that they're the best live band I've ever seen, but until they launch into their first song, I don't truly remember how it feels to stand there, how my heart jumps, how big the smile on my face is when I hear their voices.

Random things remembered from the show, in a vague semblance of order ...

- I'm left with the impression that Sean's wife is a local, as he dedicated "Graceful & Charming" to his "new family in Chanhassen".
- Dialogue, post-"Graceful", paraphrased from bad memory:

Sean: "I feel sexy now."
Alan: "You have no idea how sexy you are."
Sean: "I feel ... warm and fuzzy."
Alan: "I feel awkward having just said that." (pause) " It's kinda like a Brokeback Mountain kind of thing, isn't it?"
Sean: "We're Canadian, that's still okay."
Alan: "Don't go bragging, it may not be for very long."

- After this commentary on Canadian politics, Alan launched into a long and wandering introduction to "Tickle Cove Pond". Long. And wandering. Sean played along for a little while, but somewhere in the middle, he and Bob started to look at each other. Murry and Kris, too. Finally, Sean said something - I don't remember what - and Alan looked sheepish for a moment, but then stepped back to the mike and began "... in the long history of Newfoundland ..." Sean collapsed on the floor. Kris threw a towel at his head. Alan burst out into laughter, and then, eventually, when Sean managed to stand back up, the song began. :)

- Attack of the drunk people, part one: during the intro to "The Mermaid", Sean mentioned that it's his nephew's favorite song. Some idiot back a few rows shouted something to the effect of "which part of the mermaid is his favorite?" Sean, with a wonderfully withering look: "He's three."

- I wish I had video of Sean's Mermaid dance. It was a cross between an old-man shuffle and some sort of jig.

- I think that my favorite live song from the new album is "Old Polina" - had the most energy, sounded fantastic.

- Attack of the drunk people, part two: So, at the start of the second set, the aisles and spaces around us started to fill up - I guess the 80-year-old ushers gave up trying to control the crowd. This was mostly okay, because, hey, nothing wrong with people dancing at a GBS show! But, after Paddy Murphy (I think ... might have been before, but I'm pretty sure it was after), two incredibly drunk guys standing behind us started loudly singing "General Taylor". They were loud enough that they interrupted whatever banter was going on on stage, and the band stopped and stared at them. They kept singing. This went on for a verse or so, until the audience started getting really restless. Finally, possibly just to shut them up, Sean launched into "General Taylor" mid-stream. We got three or four verses, and it took him a verse or so to find the correct key, but man, they get all the props in the world for being able to do that, because that doesn't seem to be the kind of song you can easily do without rehearsing. At the end, Alan gave the guys a wink and a bow, and Sean shook one of their hands, which was far more gracious than they probably deserved.

- Attack of the drunk people, part three: Kate kept getting grabbed by the same group of guys - literally, grabbed around the waist, inappropriate sorts of things. She eventually made Joe move into her spot to get away from them.

- On the other hand: I'm not sure if he was one of the drunk group, or just passing through, but there was a guy next to us for a while who was a dead ringer for David Tennant. Mmmmm. Between standing next to him and directly in front of Alan and Murray? That was a lot of good-looking right there.

- At one point, they attempted to remember all the venues they've played in the Twin Cities, with a little bit of success. (Alan: "First, there was the Cedar, and then a bunch of bars, and then the zoo, and then the State Fair!") They named all venues very gracious, except the zoo, where apparently the animals were big snobs. Heh.

- Kris wasn't using his normal methods of messing with people during "Scolding Wife", but whatever he was saying to the rest of them was cracking them up. I couldn't even figure it out when he was over with Murray, and that was right in front of us!

- I'd read a review of another show this week, so I had an idea this was coming, but still, way cool to see them all shun their instruments at the start of the second encore, come out to the front of the stage, and sing "Old Brown's Daughter" without microphones. Amazing. Simply amazing.

- Kris has started to contribute to the vocals more than I remember him doing in the past. He actually seems much more a part of the band in this show, rather than just hanging out in the shadows in the back.

... I'm sure there's more, but my brain is rather jumbled. Such an AMAZING show, in case I didn't say that before. Now I really wish I could see another one! Sigh. But, this was a really fantastic experience, front row, directly stage Alan & Murray, with good friends and a wonderful show. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Tonight, Flogging Molly! Possibly alone, unless I can find someone else for the extra ticket. But, still, Flogging Molly! My music cup runneth over.

**thanks to annathepiper for the subject line :)