Dave | Christopher Hayes | Ryan Wheaton


Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle - 7/13/2000
by Dave

We arrived at the Cat's Cradle just in time to hear SDRE's soundcheck
going on inside. It was "The Ocean" that myself and about 20 other early
fans got to hear as we waited outside. Shortly after this Jeremy, Will, and
Dan each made their way out the front door seperately. I followed Jeremy
over to Pizza Hut and talked with him for a good 10 minutes. He was actually
doing his laundry at the place next door. He signed things for me and a few
others, talked about the tour so far and what not. He said they had a day
off and that he had no clue where the next stop was. A friend of mine
offered his house for them to play at, and he wanted to know if we had a
half-pipe for him to use there. interesting. After Dan greeted us also, I
left Jeremy alone, shook his hand and walked off. It was great.
Now the show.
No Knife is good. I give them that, but just like everyone else has
reported, their set seemed to last almost longer than SDRE's. 5 or 6 songs
would have been great, but they really were wearing out their welcome. some
impressive guitar work.
Around 11:00 PM, the boys finally took the stage. Being my 2nd time
seeing them, I knew immediately that this one was all the more better than
the last. They sound much larger with the 3rd guitarist, who was very good.
I could see him communicating with the sound guy that he wasn't loud enough.
he was right, nobody could hear him. His background vox were right on when i
could hear him, but it was rare. Jeremy sounded awesome, not one off-note
the entire night. He truely seemed to be enjoying himself this time. none
of the recluse, shy on-stage jeremy we're all used to. He was talking,
laughing, smiling all night. Dan was that also, as usual. Will (in his
draws) was so consistent and powerful on the set all night long. i don't
know how he does it. so many new fills in the old songs (new songs too!)
nick macri rocks, doing nothing more than what is expected of him. the
setlist however, left a majority of the fans dissapointed. one song off
diary, two songs off LP2 simply wasn't enough of the classics to satisfy. i
inquired about this to jeremy before the show, asking if "In Circles" would
be the only Diary song of the night. he said they are going to start mixing
things up more in future shows, but now they're playing the old ones that the
2 new guys know as well. (did anyone else notice that all the old songs were
played in standard tuning?) Of course there were people shouting out requests
for "Seven" all night long. Eventually, Dan went to the mic and said "Just
go ahead and save your breath man, we're not going to play 'Seven' tonight".
"J'nuh" was beautifully stunning. It had everybody either tears or covered
in goosebumps. Jeremy was playing so aggressively during "In Circles" that
he popped his D string. He's been having bad luck with that number on this
tour.
All in all, noone has the right to complain about this show. it was
awesome, it was Sunny Day, and everyone walked away with a smile on their
face and plenty of stories to tell.

(ATTN: to the 2 girls with the video cameras right in front of jeremy, email
me please!!! or anyone else who filmed it, i can trade!)

SET LIST: (someone may need to correct me on this)
Fool in a Photograph
Pillars
One
The Ocean
Killed by an Angel
Guitar and Video Games
Snibe
Every Shining Time You Arrive
Disappear
Tearing in my Heart
J'nuh

ENCORE
8
The Rising Tide
In Circles

Thank You - Dave
FumbleBaby@aol.com

Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle - 7/13/2000
by Christopher Hayes

Well, i finally got to see SDRE live last night in Carrboro. I missed them when they were on tour for the How It Feels album, and they didnt dissapoint at all.
I was pretty skeptical about No Knife from some of the reviews ive read, but they suprisingly kicked ass. If you are going to one of the shows, i highly suggest putting down a few bucks for their Fire In The City Of Automations CD. This show strated late actually, as the Cradle had them down to start at 9, but both bands thought the doors didnt open til nine, so everything was running 30 minutes behind. Even though they were great, they did play a little long, considering everyone was there to see SDRE. Their set got the audience pumped for the first 20 or 30 minutes, but then things died down because everyone was waiting for SDRE.

Set List (Looks to be the same as NYC)

Fool in a Photograph
Pillars
One
The Ocean
Killed by an Angel
Guitar and Video Games
Snibe
Every Shining Time You Arrive
Disappear
Tearing in my Heart
J'nuh
---
ENCORE
8
The Rising Tide
In Circles

All in all, a 5 star show. There were the usual "Seven" chants, one guy even said "I know you arent going to play "seven" but im gonna keep on shouting it anyway - really loud!", which made Jeremy laugh. Suprisingly there were a few "Rodeo Jones" chants too. My only beef about the show, is that the song i was probably looking the most foward to, "8", was the only song that didnt sound good. The original recording was back when they played their guitars tuned a step down, and i think they are playing everything in standard now, so it sounded like it was harder for Jeremy to sing, and it just didnt sound right. Maybe im just a tightass, as that is probably my favorite SDRE song. They really didnt play too many "oldies", but the show really helped me respect a bunch of stuff i hadnt really gotten into on the new CD. The best concert ive ever been to, without a doubt, and if my ears are as messed up as i think they are, it was still worth it. Ill definately see them the next time they come to the Cradle. By the way, for you merchandise buffs, i dont know if they just didnt have space or what, but the only cd they are selling is the rising tide, nd the only other album they were selling was how it feels, and they only had it on vinyl. but they have posters, stickers and three tee shirts, a blue rising tide/tour one, the thief tee, and a black one with their faces on it. If you went to this show, i only hope you had as good as time as i did, and if you are going to one soon, you'll have a great time!

- chris

Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle - 7/13/2000
by Ryan Wheaton

my english teachers always told me to never start off a paper or essay with a definition from a dictionary (but they also told me to never write in all lowercase). well, this isn't a paper. it's a concert review.
wonder (n):
1. a. One that arouses awe, astonishment, surprise, or admiration; a marvel
b. The emotion aroused by something awe-inspiring, astounding, or marvelous:
2. An event inexplicable by the laws of nature; a miracle.
3. A feeling of puzzlement or doubt.
awe (n):
1. A mixed emotion of reverence, respect, dread, and wonder inspired by authority, genius,
great beauty, sublimity, or might.

these two definitions work together to describe sunny day real estate's performance at the cat's cradle in chapel hill (not raleigh). it was very intense. many times during the show i found myself holding my breath because i could not believe my senses. there were times when i thought my heart would collapse from jeremy's gut wrenching, beautiful voice. but that emotion was quickly replaced by the look on dan's face. he looked so content, so happy, so i knew everything was ok. there were other times when i thought my ears would explode from the sound. it's been two days since the concert and i still haven't been able to listen to any music. this experience was a full range of emotions, one that i cannot express to someone who has not experienced it.

standard set list was played.

Fool in a Photograph
Pillars - i've seen this song played live about 5 times and it still gives me shivers to this day.
One
The Ocean
Killed by an Angel
Guitar and Video Games
Snibe
Every Shining Time You Arrive - keys were a nice touch on this one.
Disappear
Tearing in my Heart - not my favorite song, but possibly the most beautiful thing i've ever heard.
J'nuh - i could listen to this song every day, all day. i could have sworn jeremy was singing the j'nuh part to himself....
---
8 - the intro to this song was amazing. just dan and jeremy. then when everyone else came in (at the "drive me crazy" part) i thought they just might blow the roof off.
The Rising Tide - as everyone else has noticed, the extra long ending to this song was really neat. do they play the same ending every show??
In Circles - good, as always, but jeremy didn't sing the extra verse at the end... hmmm..

those songs i didn't comment on were equally good, just nothing special to note. i didn't see jeremy's VOX combo amp... does he not play that anymore?? i was kind of in the middle though so it could have been under the matchless. but jeremy, if you don't play that anymore, would you consider selling it? :-) i liked how dan switched back and forth from the matchless to the marshall...

the opener, no knife, was ok. actually they were pretty good. i think that i was expecting too much out of them. sometimes though, i could have sworn that i was listening to cursive...

no real interesting news to report. i didn't talk to the band after the show or anything. usually i'd stick around to talk, but when i got outside the venue there was a mob of people waiting to maul the band when they came out and i didn't really want to be a part of that... so i went and got some ice cream. i did talk to dan's wife though... we just chit chatted about the new york show, and about where she could get some good food locally because she was starving. i had her give dan my regards and thanks for me (if any of the band members read this, thank you.)

oh.. and for those of you who were doubting william... he still rocked the house, he still did his fills and he still hit his shit hard.

love ryan