Friday, January 8th - The night had finally come to see Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven at The Pageant in St. Louis. Too bad it was freezing cold outside. Four inches of snow had fallen on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Temperatures in St. Louis had been very cold of late, but this night was the coldest night in the last decade - actually below zero with wind chills 20 or more degrees below zero. I bundled up in four layers on top and two layers on below and a thick pair of socks for the night. My friend Tom, who had bought the tickets, picked up my friend Brian and I in his new Toyota Tundra - appropriate for a night like this and we were off.
We had an extra ticket as one of my friends that was going to go with us had dislocated his shoulder the day before while getting into his car after returning home from a business trip. We made it to The Pageant with no problems and parked well behind the venue. Leaving coats in the car we hustled through the snow to the front door. After checking our ID's and getting hands stamped we made our way to the bar and ordered a round of Newcastle. However, the Newcastle was not good on this night and from then on it was Schlafly Pale Ale for us.
The crowd was mostly guys - a ratio of probably 4 to 1 and mostly over 30. I'm sure there were some twenty somethings there, but most of the crowd were in their 30's, 40's or 50's. This makes sense because the average age of both bands is probably 48 years old. The Pageant's spacious balcony was closed so the crowd was all on the floor and seated around the tables downstairs. For most of the show we stood on the floor about two-thirds of the way back from the stage.
My favorite part was that the band had asked for a no smoking policy on the show. This is something I have gotten quickly accustomed to in Illinois with the state ban on smoking in public places. However, this show was in Missouri so I figured that I'd have to come home and burn my clothes. But alas, no worry there, but the guy standing in front of me for the first few songs was smoking - just not a cigarette - but pot. That shouldn't have come as much as a surprise as it did. Just surprised that he was so open about it.
Discussions that I had with people before the show invariably led to which band was going to open the show. I should have figured that Cracker would be the headliner as they continue to tour and had just released a new album. Therefore, Camper Van Beethoven opened the show. Their stage set up was sparse, but adequate.
Guitarist Greg Lisher was to the situated to our left with his sunburst Fender Telecaster and small combo amp set up. Then, David Lowery was in the middle with his off brand guitars and a nice Matchless amplifier to provide the sound of his solid strumming. Frank Funaro was behind the drums just off to the right of the middle and Victor Krummacher was on bass with an Ampeg rig just to the right of the drums. Finally, Jonathan Segal was to the far right with his violin set up. Lowrey seemed to refer frequently to an Apple laptop he had set up on a music stand just to the right of the mic. Likely, he was referring to the first line of the song or chords and then took off from there. I can give Lowery some slack here as Camper Van Beethoven broke up in 1990 and has only toured briefly during this decade after reforming in 2004.
Lowery thanked everyone for coming and mentioned that the last time the band was in St. Louis it was extremely cold outside too. Their set lasted about an hour and consisted of both instrumentals and regular songs and very little stage banter. The set was solid and
After Camper Van Beethoven finished there was a short break and slight stage teardown. Segal moved his gear off the stage, Lisher put his stowed his gear, and the guitar techs fiddled with things between sets. During this time we found that another one of our friends, Bart, whom I have known since 1993 was also at the show. He and I went to see Cracker and Counting Crows when they played at Mississippi Nights in February 1994. He came down to the floor so we stood with him and his friend Jason who he brought along to the show.
Within a few minutes Cracker came out to play their set. Johnny Hickman took stage left where Greg Lisher had been. Lisher's set up was left on the stage, however, Hickman was using his own Gibson Les Paul and a Fender/Marshall combo. David Lowery again took the middle of the stage. Frank Funaro was situated behind the drums once more and finally Sal Maglia took over on the Fender Precision Bass backed by the same Ampeg rig.
Touring behind their new album Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey, Cracker did a relatively even show with their back catalog that now spans ten albums. There was a little more banter from Lowery during the Cracker set. He told the crowd about their trip to Iraq to play for the troops (see a tidbit here) and also talked about the things that people shout out from the audience during shows. The part about a 70 plus year old woman yelling "play the whore song" in reference to "Euro Trash Girl" was particularly hilarious. Hickman's guitar playing and background vocals were especially strong as Cracker ripped through a 16 song set with a two song encore.
For more on Cracker see this interview that Matt Wardlaw of Addicted To Vinyl did with David Lowery and was published in last week's Riverfront Times.
Setlists
Camper Van Beethoven
Waka
Turquoise Jewelry
Skinhead Stomp
Tania
Eye Of Fatima
All Her Favorite Fruit
Sweethearts
Joe Stalin's Cadillac
Unabomber
Take The Skinheads Bowling
White Riot (The Clash cover)
Wasted (Black Flag cover)
Shut Us Down
R 'n R Uzbekistan
She Divines Water
Might Makes Right
L'Aguardiente
New Roman Times
Pictures of Matchstick Men (Status Quo cover)
Cracker
Friends
Yalla Yalla
(Banter: about trip to Iraq)
One Fine Day
Gimme One More Chance
How Can I Live Without You
Get Off This/fach the slice
Wedding Day
Lonesome Johnny Blues
(Banter: Things Audience Members Shout Out)
Euro Trash Girl
Happy Birthday To Me
Waiting For You Girl
Hey Bret (You Know What Time It Is)
Man In Me
Sweet Potato
This Is Cracker Soul
Low
Encore:
Turn On Tune In, Drop Out With Me
Shake Some Action (Rare track from the "Clueless" soundtrack)
