John DeSpirito | Eileen Friel | Mike McNelis | Sleeper | Christopher Ward
Philadelphia,
PA - The Trocadero - 7/8/2000
By John DeSpirito
Our day began at Spaceboy
on South Street. After browsing through records for an hour and a half (I
showed up a little early), myself and other fans were gathered into a line.
Discussion with everyone in line was great, and I want to thank everyone for
their kind words about the web site, (and Mike for the ride to the Troc).
When I first met the band at the in-store I had the speaking coherence of
Porky Pig with hiccups on an acid trip. I didn't want to just come out and
say I have a web site, that seemed cheesy to me, so I waited until Dan asked
about my promo copy of TRT before I told them I run this site. Instantly Dan's
eyes lit up and he tapped Will to get his attention. I was thrilled and flattered
to find out that both Dan and Will were familiar with and very supportive
of "In the Blue". I gave a humble thank you and moved on to meet
Jeremy. Unfortunately, things were a bit rushed and I didn't get to ask as
many things as people would of liked. I told him "The fans are screaming
for LP2 lyrics, but I tell them I'm not even sure you could give them those".
He chuckled a bit and said something to the effect that that is true with
the exception of a few certain songs. I also related a story to him about
some guy in In the Blue's chat who actually tried to convince my girlfriend
that he was Jeremy Enigk, which Jeremy found very amusing, especially considering
how he tends to stay away from internet activity. Next, we moved on to line
up at the Troc...
| Waiting in line became a game of how to pass the time beings we were so incredibly early (but up front at least). I met up with Chris Kayes, a long time sdre-l member from 'back in the day'. The band could be seen walking around occasionally. Panhandlers were at their best telling jokes for money (one even became a local hero...but I'll get to that later). Finally, the doors opened (unusual for the Troc, the doors opened right on schedule at 7:00). |
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San Diego band No Knife opened with high energy, starting with 'Acadamy Flight Song'. This was the first time I have ever heard No Knife, I was very impressed with them. While the band received alot of positive feedback, the crowd was unfortunately getting a bit impatient to see Sunny Day. Towards the end, No Knife's lead singer announced they had 2 more songs, a heckler decided to shout that they should only play 1 more. The lead singer replied to him "Ahhh PISS OFF!" and gave the finger, which warranted some applause from the crowd. To the guys in No Knife: hecklers are typical to find in Philadelphia, please don't let it reflect on the crowd. We're really nice people. Their
setlist: |
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At 9:15, Sunny Day Real Estate took the stage, beginning with a haunting intro to 'Fool in the Photograph'. The crowd was instatnly energized. I have to say, I've never seen the band so in tune with each other. I really felt they were having a blast. Next, the band jumped into HIFTBSO territory with 'Pillars'. Third came 'One', which Jeremy seemed particularly passionate about. Typical of most SDRE shows, Will's shirt was already off by this song. 'Killed by an Angel' was also very powerful. Dan was shouting the lyrics and could almost be heard over the speakers. At one point in the show, an audience member shouted "You wanna hear some kids!?" to which Jeremy replied "here's some kids". Before the encore, the band left the stage just after "J'Nuh". I've never heard of this before but Jeremy could be seen saying "J'nuh" to himself during the hypnotizing J'nuh guitar part of the song. Before the encore, the crowd was getting so antsy I thought the walls were going to fall down around us. Finally the band came out and began to play '8', the suprise encore of this tour, then into an extended version of 'The Rising Tide', and finally finishing off the crowd with a frenzied 'In Circles'. Jeremy wished everyone goodbye with "Its been fun, be safe, enjoy, take care." Setlist: |
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After the show, we all shuffled out in a state of euphoria. My friend Curran locked her keys in her car, but paid a panhandler a bottle of Yuengling Lager to break into her car and "liberate the keys". Afterwards, there was much celebration (see the picture below). Soon afterward, I walked around to the back of the Troc with Eileen to see if the band was hanging out. There was a big crowd waiting and I decided that it was probably best to just leave. As I was leaving, I noticed Jeremy hanging out on the Troc's balcony catching a smoke with the keyboardist. A perfect picture opportunity. When Jeremy noticed the flash go off, he looked down, smiled and nodded and I just said "thanks for the pic", chuckled a little and left. I couldn't tell if he was nodding just to be friendly or nodding as if to say "take off you little jerk", either way, I got a great pic of the moment. No hard feelings I hope Jeremy.
To see plenty more pics from the show in HUGE resolutions, go to my live pics category under the Media section. Thanks 100 million to the band for an amazing show, and thank you to all my fellow fans for creating such a great scene to be in, and thank you for the positive feedback about the site, it never goes unnoticed.
John DeSpirito
Philadelphia,
PA - The Trocadero - 7/8/2000
By Eileen Friel
A Day's Events:
The day started very
early. Anticipating a line in front of Spaceboy Music that
stretched for miles, the group of people I had gone with and myself arrived
at
the store at 1pm. The in-store appearance was not scheduled to begin until
3pm -
hey, what can I say, we were being cautious! Needless to say, we were only
four
of about seven people in the tiny record store. Since we had some time on
our
hands, we browsed for a bit. If you haven't been to Spaceboy Music on South
Street, I highly recommend checking them out. They have a great selection
of
CD's as well as vinyls - end of plug. Finally, a small group of us were herded
onto the back deck of the store and then we began our silent procession back
through the stacks of CD's to get our chance to speak with the guests of honor.
The band was nice enough to sign anything thrown at them and they smiled through
every flash bulb. I was so nervous when I was able to speak with them that
I
barely squeaked out several "thank you"s and got to have a picture
taken. So
much for my much prided upon bravado!
John and I broke away from our group of four after the signing and hurried
over
to the Trocadero to secure a spot in line (thanks for the ride, Mike). We
were
surprised to find only two other people in front of the venue; the gods were
smiling on us! Gradually, all of our fellow in-store attendees began to file
in
behind us. The wait in line went very quickly due to some animated conversation
and a few photo opportunities. At 7pm, the doors to the Troc opened and SDRE
fans were unleashed, hurrying to be first to the stage.
San Diego based NoKnife took the stage around 8pm. With a sound similar to
that
of The Get Up Kids and Jimmy Eat World, their set was very entertaining. After
sitting still for several hours, it felt great to dance and bob away to their
music. I appreciated their energy, especially Brian Desjean on bass, and the
fact that they kept their cool, even when dealing with some truly annoying,
though not uncommon, Philadelphia hecklers. I had a chance to share a few
words
with vocalist Mitch Wilson. He was very receptive to meeting fans and
appreciated our compliments. I feel that NoKnife is definitely a welcome
addition to the Sunny Day tour.
There was only a brief break before Sunny Day took the stage, met by a round
of
thunderous applause and ear piercing screams - most of the screams coming
from
myself and the girls on either side of me. They opened with "Fool In
the
Photograph" with Jeremy fully consumed by the music. William had forsaken
his
shirt by the time they began to play "One", the third song in the
set and Jeremy
had already strapped on his third of four guitars. As the show progressed,
Dan
and Jeremy found a groove which brought the intensity of the show to another
level. Dan sang most of the songs along with Jeremy and could be heard without
aid of a microphone. Dan let the music possess him as he jumped around the
stage. The backing vocals of the keyboardist complemented Jeremy's voice and,
contrary to previous reviews, I did not think that his vocals or added guitar
drowned Jeremy out in any way. The initial show ended with "J'Nuh".
Dan
thrashed around the stage while Jeremy could be seen muttering the word "J'Nuh"
whenever he stepped away from the microphone. When the last chords of the
song
rang out, the band left the stage. The crowd, wanting more, began stomping
on
the floor and pounding on anything that made a "thump".
When Sunny Day finally reappeared, Dan looked visibly humbled by the applause.
The Encore consisted of "8", an extended version of "The Rising
Tide" and the
perennial favorite, "In Circles" which brought the crowd to it's
final frenzied
pitch. As the band left the stage, Jeremy sent the crowd well wishes, "It's
been fun. Be safe. Enjoy. Take care."
All in all, the show definitely met my predetermined expectations.
Thank you's go to -