Elf Power Setlist
Tour Dates
July-25 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge %
July-26 Seattle, WA Barboza % July-28 San Francisco, CA Cafe Du Nord % July-29 Santa Ana, CA Constellation Room % July-30 Los Angeles, CA Bootleg Bar % July-31 San Diego, CA The Casbah % Aug-1 Tuscon, AZ Club Congress % Aug-2 Albuquerque, NM Sister % Aug-4 Austin, TX Barracuda % Aug-5 Norman, OK The Opolis % Aug-6 St. Louis, MO Blueberry Hill % % with Elf Power Read More
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Originally Grant Hart was supposed to play first, but due to illness, Elephant Six Collective Elf Power (guitarist/vocalist Andrew Rieger, keyboardist Laura Carter, guitarist Dave Wrathgeber, bassist Matthew Garrison, and drummer Peter Alvanos) had to take the stage first, playing some tracks from their new record Twitching in Time (including the title track).
Singer Andrew Rieger wasn’t worried about going first, they knew they were going to play well and song after song, they had the fans in front dancing and rocking out to their music.
Again, their set consists of their new album and all previous records, however, near the end of their set, they decided to play a cover of ‘I Wanna Destroy You’, a Robyn Hitchcock (from his days in The Soft Boys) cover.
It didn’t take long before Hüsker Dü co-founder Grant Hart came on stage. Hart did a quick soundcheck, and with little patience, yelled at the talking guy in front of the stage: “I can’t hear myself when you’re talking!” The rude group was eventually asked to leave by the staff a little later on.
Hart wasn’t taking sh** from anyone, and with his music status, he should be highly respected. Everyone in Elf Power was scrabbling to get whatever Hart needed. A new guitar? No problem. Mic not working? It’s replaced. A chair to sit on? Fans were bringing up stools from the back...
‘You're the Reflection of the Moon on the Water’ was done on his soundcheck, but would continue as the first song. It’s followed by ‘Never Talking To You Again’ and some songs I didn’t recognized. Lyrics that reference Heaven when in Hell and asking the listener to “come and join me on solid land” from 'What's an Angel Doing So Far from Heaven'.
Grant Hart had visibly lost a lot of weight since his all-star celebration at Hook & Ladder on July 1st. Local musicians like Soul Asylum’s Dave Pirner, Greg Norton, Run Westy Run’s Kraig Johnson, Arcwelder and Babes in Toyland’s Lori Barbero, showed up to pay their respects to Grant Hart (as rumor would have it, this was supposed to be Hart’s last public appearance).
You get the impression that Thursday’s 7th Street Entry show, that Hart was trying very hard to fulfill his commitment to Elf Power, as a sort of favor to the band. He would later tell the story about how Elf Power’s Andrew was working at a hotel that he was staying in Athens (Andrew got him a great deal on the room). When he got back to the hotel, Andrew saw him coming in and said, “You know, you’re supposed to be on stage in an hour?”
Hart had forgotten, or had the dates wrong, about his gig, so Andrew drove Grant to the show, using all the tricks and knowledge of the city, and brought him to the venue in record time. Hart, summed it up, “It’s great to have friends whatever business you’re in.”
At the end of his set, Grant thanked us and told us that “Love is the answer to every problem we have.” He had the crowd chant “love” before exiting.
It is bittersweet, but this may be the last time we get to see Grant Hart on stage.
In typical Guided By Voices fashion, we have a setlist... but it’s completely wrong. I know for a fact that the third song on Tobin Sprout’s hour plus set was ‘Sadder Than You’, but it’s listed as the sixth song. The setlist is just a suggestion, but that’s okay, as Sprout and company (Tommy Schichtel and the Vermillion brothers) were flexible enough to play any song, in any order, at a drop of a dime.
Songs on Sprout’s set included plenty of GBV songs, so if you are a fan, this is a great tour. Currently, GBV is basically Robert Pollard’s project, as we previously mentioned, so it’s good to hear Sprout take back some of GBV’s songs like ‘Jabberstroker’ on this tour.
Songs on the new record The Universe And Me, as Sprout explained, was of a more personal nature. They’re songs based on feeling, finding your purpose in life, and growing old.
The Universe And Me is available now on Burger Records with a limited baby blue vinyl for the first 300 copies.
UPDATE 09/14/2017: It is with sad news that we announce that Grant Hart has passed away at the age of 56.
Elf Power at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (20 July 2017) |
Grant Hart at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (20 July 2017) |
Grant Hart |
Elf Power |
Elf Power Setlist |
Tobin Sprout Setlist |
Tobin Sprout |
Tobin Sprout at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (20 July 2017) |
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