Ashley | Bud Shea | Kyle Vanderneut

Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club - 7/15/2000
By Ashley

Although being a listener of Sunny Day Real Estate for some odd years now,
this was my first time ever seeing them live...it was completely amazing.
I was not so much a fan of no knife, being a person who tends to go to shows
on a nightly basis get bored when bands don't move around a bunch and
converse on a whole with the crowd, there music was not terrible but a bit
unexciting...I guess you just get spoiled after hanging out with acts like
contra and on the might of the princes, tape recording with koan, and dancing
and banging stuff around to great beats outside above with all the guys from
spudnik, stillwell, insidious and all the regulars, not to mention thodore in
a pizza costume...well back to the review now...
The second no knife left stage and all the guitar tuning and such began,
there was a complete buzz throughout the whole room...you could feel your
pulse raising, uh huh I am going to see sdre live, neat...they came out and
the crowds already (the downfall of the night as the reviewers before me have
spoken) screaming 48...whoever said "play what you want" dank you...it seemed
to please all of the band...It put me in a constant state of awe through out
the whole show how much chemistry the band has together...they smiled and
shared conversations without even speaking, chemistry is one of the most
important thing for a band to have, in my opinion, to put on a really great
live show, and they completely own my idea of a good show. Jeremy was
gorgeous and seemed almost in love with his guitar. Dan was amusing and
great, saying thank you at least a hundred times after every song was cute.
over all this show was great. The best show I have been to in quite a long
time.
ashley

Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club - 7/15/2000
By Bud Shea

What venue difficulties that existed in Atlanta were not a problem in
Athens the next night. The 40 Watt Club is, as opposed to The Masquerade
in Atlanta, one of the best places to see a show. It's in a room about
the size of a large restaurant, with a low ceiling, a big mirrored ball,
and lots of small christmas lights on the ceiling, and funky
artsy-fartsy paintings and cool bars that look like little tiki-huts,
and there's a bunch of furniture to crash on, and it's just comfortable.
Even Dan made a comment about how cool the lights looked, this place was
superb and definitely affected the quality of the show, just as the
Masquerade affected the show in Atlanta. No matter where you were in the
place, you had a great view of the stage & band. It was hot inside, but
not intolerably so where I was.

Much to my surprise, the set was exactly the same as the previous night.
The band apperared waaay relaxed. They didn't rush anything, and a few
of the songs were played in what seemed a slower tempo, I wonder if that
was really happening or if it was my mind from having seen this band
twice in two nights. Now before all you readers from Florida or France
or someplace accuse me of gloating, I'd like to make a minor complaint
that I anguished about bringing up at all, but it's valid.

First, I am not a fan of people who yell out song requests. Folks, is it
the fact that you're trying to impress your girlfriend with your
knowledge of "Diary", or is it a fraternity prank, or are you suffering
from a disease where you can't keep from yelling at your favorite band,
or are you so deluded to the point that you honestly feel as though
they're going to say, "well we WERE going to play "Pillars," but you're
right, buddy, "Red Elephant" would be absolutely awesome right here!" I
mean, I swear it was just getting ridiculous. The band was a little put
off by it, frankly. Dan at one time said, "folks, we just don't know
those songs anymore, but we're are trying to re-learn them for you."
That's band-ese for "shut up." In a way, I feel as though they should be
given enough credit for coming up with a set that includes the songs
they think the people want to hear, barring playing the entire back
catalog, and I think it's time alot of people just sort of got over it.
Of course, that's never going to happen, and they'll just have to suffer
the consequences of having too many good older songs.

On the other hand, though, I will say that it was a bit odd that they
made not one change to the set from Atlanta to Athens. Now I understand
they have all these weird-tuned guitars that the guitar tech needs to
switch out in a pattern, and it's best for the guitar tech to play the
same set over and over, and it certainly lends itself to a tighter
sound, but they could have perhaps shaken it up a little. I would never
have screamed out a song, but my heart was saying, "don't they WANT to
play something different? Are they capable of branching out just a
little?" I don't know, I hate to make a complaint especially since I
just said we should respect 'em, but they could have dropped in "Faces
In Disguise" which is on and off this tour, or at least shook up the
song order. Of all the comments I heard after this show, which was alot
better than the previous night, I'd say there was widespread discussion
of the set list selection, and none of it good. It's like waiting in
line for an ice cream cone and having the guy put a little scoop of ice
cream inside the cone, and then giving it to you. I mean you want the
ice cream, and it's great, and you know you shouldn't bitch about it,
after all you're lucky to have any at all, I mean there are people
everywhere who don't even get that lousy little scoop of it, but what
the heck, could we just have a LITLLE more ice cream, please? So I was
sort of torn between despising the people screaming "48" all night, but
also thinking as the show went on, "they can't possibly be enjoying
playing the identical set over and over". Who knows, maybe when they
get to New Orleans they'll open with "Television".

The songs were phenomenal. "Snibe" and "Killed By An Angel", which were
somewhat flat the previous night, were absolutely pummeling in
intensity. I would say the crowd was as into a show I've ever seen. They
were generally transfixed by the band, and during "Tearing in My Heart"
I looked around and alot of people were standing there with their eyes
shut, singing the lyrics... few bands I have seen have had this sort of
effect on a crowd. When they started "8" the crowd just sat there
supercharged, waiting for the big crashing-in part, just focused on
William, waiting for the cue. There were moments I would say that would
classify this show as among the best I've seen, and as far as Sunny Day
shows, it did rank pretty high up there. I think had I not gone to
Atlanta the previous night and had all these set-list issues floating
around in my head I'd say it was the best show I'd seen.

I was watching the crowd from the side/rear of the stage during "In
Circles" and thought for a moment that this would be the last time I'd
be able to see them for a long time. I have been thinking alot about how
fragile this band is, how their day-to-day livelihood always seems so
tenuous, with the personalities and the intensity of the music, and how
it seems sometimes that this band always has the capability to
self-destruct as much as they have the potential to soar so high.
Overall, I guess I left this show feeling a little lucky to have seen
them play at all, and hope they make it back soon.

Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club - 7/15/2000
By Kyle Vanderneut

Well, the 40 Watt totally rules. It was definitely a
better place to see a show than the Masquerade in
Atlanta. The bar was smaller, the crowd was smaller,
and the air conditioning was working at least a little
bit. I got to see all of No Knife this time, which
wasn't so much of a blessing. Anyone who hasn't seen
them, or anyone who has and can explain this to me,
figure out why they have two guitar players. They
play the exact same thing all the time - they don't
even play compliments of each other. Their sound was
just extremely empty because of this.
Sunny Day, of course, ruled. They played the same
set list they've been playing, but it still ruled. I
think I was able to get into it more because I was
able to get closer. Snibe was definitely a highlight,
as was the new ending on The Rising Tide - so
triumphant.
The crowd was a different story. Athens is a college
town, so I should have expected a more "I liked their
old stuff" kind of scene. I don't think anyone
requested a song in Atlanta, but it was running
rampant in Athens. At one point someone yelled "Play
whatever you want" and Dan agreed to that. But that
didn't stop people. In fact, Jeremy actually had to
tell the crowd that "We just don't know how to play
those songs anymore," to which Dan added "we'll learn,
though." But, of course, it still didn't stop the
girl in front of my from yelling for 48 between every
song. *Sigh*
I'll admit it — I'm in a band. My girlfriend took
our CD to the show in Atlanta (we went with my
drummer) and we walked right by Jeremy before the
show, but didn't walk up to him. We wanted to give
them the CD because they've obviously influenced us,
but I didn't want to seem like a total dork. Last
night, after the show, my girlfriend walked up to the
stage and got their guitar techs attention (the
benefits of having a cute girlfriend) and asked him to
give the band the CD. He said he would and actually
seemed pretty sincere about it. He was also eating a
burrito, and for anyone who's seen the band on this
tour, you know why that's funny.
Well, we went to a diner after the show, then left.
My girlfriend and I had to drive past the 40 Watt on
the way out and I looked behind it and, sure enough,
Sunny Day was hanging out by the tour bus with a few
fans. My girlfriend basically said "if you don't got
talk to them you're going to hate yourself tomorrow."
So I did. Actually, I just talked to Dan because
Jeremy was getting hit on and William seemed like he
was engaged in a pretty involved conversation with
some guy. But I wanted to make sure Dan got the CD,
or would get the CD, and I just wanted to tell him how
much the new album ruled and how good both shows were.
He was SO incredibly nice. He actually said he was
looking forward to hearing the CD and that he always
gets excited to hear new music on the road. He even
asked me the name of the band (The Local Arm) so he
could make sure he listened to it later! I was so
stunned and so excited. It totally ruled and it was a
quarter after two in the morning and he was still
really nice.
Overall, another excellent Sunny Day show. If
there's a single person out there who has been reading
these reviews and hasn't gotten tickets for a show
yet, just do it. It's so worth the price.


=====
-Kyle
"We lack the motion to move
to the new beat."