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From: Joshua S. Greenbaum

Hey folks.  Just a quick review on Saturday's show at St. Andy's Hall in
Detroit.  First of all, through all of Varnaline's set we were getting the
thump-bass of bad techno downstairs coming up through the floor all the
way up to our hips.  And they weren't even interesting beats.  Anyway,
Varnaline wasn't bad, it is just that I have heard their music before,
many, many times from many, many bands.  They had some stage presence and
got folks moving, but nothing I haven't seen at a hundred college venues I
guess.

Bob was really great.  He was allover the place and really was into the
songs.  High points for me included a great version of "Anymore Time
Between", which is what finally got the whole crowd going, a long,
impassioned "Brasilia" and "Eternally Fried", which just blew me away. 
Bob's playing has definitely gone to another level in the past few years; 
I disagree with the earlier post about his solos sounding the same, I was
struck by the ferocity of some of them and the speed of his fret hand. 
Shortcomings:  no Sweet Serene, no Fort Knox, no New #1 and a toothless
EgoOveride.  He just seemed done at the end and wanted to go, not
necessarily because of the crowd or anything.

On a kinda cool note, I looked to my left during Varnaline and Michael
Cerveris was standing next to me and really getting into their set.  It is
nice to see musicians interested enough in their peers to come out and
watch with the rest of us and not just backstage.

And on the earplug front...I have tinnitus also and was very happy that I
brought earplugs.  This was probably the loudest show I have been too,
barring a possible Nine Inch Nails show back in Boston in '92 in an old
gallery space.  I got $4.00 Hearos at Tower and was very happy with them; 
they seemed to cut out the tinny tones and some of the white noise without
really dampening the overall feel of the songs.  I guess it is personal
choice, but I agree with the person last week who pointed out the irony of
how much our generation spends on pre- amps, headphones, receivers, etc. 
that deliver perfect sound quality while we take no precautions about
ruining the most important component, our ears.

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From: Roger Ryan

Very little variation from the Columbus show. No "Fort Knox", but we got a 
decent version of "Stand Guard" instead. No "Roll Over & Die", but a truly 
cathartic "Brasilia Crossed With Trenton". Bob moved "Lonely Afternoon" up into 
the main set and really shortened the encore (it seemed that Matt was 
frustrated about a cymbal and Bob gave a look to the other band members that 
seemed to say "let's wrap this up"). After "Deep Karma Canyon" closed the main 
set, the band returned with a tight "Disappointed" (great scat singing from 
Bob at the end of this one) and "See A Little Light". That was it. The crowd 
definitely wanted more, but to no avail.

I had the misfortune of having that drunken low-life stand next to me for three 
or four songs - he was screaming at Bob to "just play the fuckin' song" when 
Bob was working on some droning feedback as a segue between numbers. Personally, 
I was glad he was removed (although I wouldn't have wanted him "roughed up"). I
thought the show came off better than the Sugar shows if only for the volume (it 
was about one notch lower) and the songs that worked best were the ones with the
greatest dynamic changes: "Anytime Between" was excellent and "Brasilia Crossed 
With Trenton" really seemed like a cathartic workout for Bob. Most amusing
moment was when Michael sang a particulary off-key backing part to "Egoveride" 
which cracked Bob up enough to miss a line or two in the second verse (overall,
I thought Michael strengthened Bob's early vocals by doubling them and most of his 
backing vocals, like on "I Hate Alternative Rock", worked fine). Regarding this
being his last "rock & roll" tour, Bob once said after Husker Du broke up that his 
trademark wall of fuzz guitar built a wall around the emotions of the songs, not
letting anyone in. Well, I never felt that to be true on record, but it certainly 
is true in concert. What makes Bob Mould great is his songs and his emotional 
delivery of them, and to that extent, the loud guitars and drums do get in the 
way. I think the acoustic shows are closer to who Bob really is and those are 
easily the best shows he's done. I'll miss the fuzz a little bit and the wild 
abandon of the guitar solos, but I will be more than happy to have Bob pull up a 
chair and play us a song on his acoustic guitar again.

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From: chad

As to why Bob didn't do a second encore.I waited around after the show to get 
an autograph.(saint andrews hall only has one entrance!)Bob finally comes out, 
and says he will sign everybodys stuff.He said that he only had five minutes 
because he had to catch a plane to London.Which is strange because he had a show in
Toronto the following evening.Anyway, I was beyond thrilled to meet the guy, and 
shake one of his amazing hands.His response to all the compliments on the show
was "yeah it was fun, very musical, I couldn't do much screaming."It was a FUN show, 
I got to stand on a balcony about John Wilks Boothe distance from the stage.My 
recomondation for big fans going to see the show is to bring a change of pants, 
things could get messy down there.GO Bob!

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From: Mark

The show had a similar set list to others on the tour. Bob's vocals were a bit weak 
at the beginning of the show, but got stronger as the show wore on. As for the band, 
I don't know what purpose the 2nd guitarist had. All he did for me was to drown out 
Bob's solos. His back up singing was very mediocore as well.  The large crowd seemed 
appreciative of the performance, except for one low-life who was booted out for some 
reason, and roughed up by the bouncers as well. The opening act Varnaline was quite 
boring, and all in all I'd say I would have preferred an acoustic Bob show with a more 
varied set list. 

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From: aaron

ummm... I was really disappointed by the show last night. Big complaints: 1) What 
_was_ the point of the second guitarist? He was too high in the mix until about 1/2 
thru the set, he played the same exact thing as bob, and his guitar sound was horrible. 
If he was doing something interesting maybe it would have made sense, but why? why? why? 
2) The guitars were so loud that the crappy St. Andrews PA was distorting, making 
everything sound like a loud fart. 3) Where were the dynamics??? Every song sounded the 
same (unlike on records), mostly due to the fact that every song was played the same: 
maximum volume. Whoopee! This was especially noticeable on a song like Brasilla, which 
is basically the same chord progression but relies on rising/falling dynamics. 

Well, seeing as how Bob is saying that he's tired of playing loud, he seems to have 
proven his own case. It was nice to hear the Workbook songs, which made it worth my 
while I suppose, but having been a fan for a while this really was a low point for me. 
This is just my opine, and I'm venting I suppose, so I hope no one gets upset...