Liz Phair 06/24/08
I went to see Liz Phair at The Vic last month, and I finally finished writing up the report about it. It's a couple of pages long, so I'm putting it behind a cut.
Also, Happy belated Birthday to hyperandblonde!
Walking into The Vic I was hit by a series of happy memories. It had been nearly eight years since I was last there, but what I was remembering was not regarding that concert. Instead I was thinking about the 03/15/99 silverchair concert after which my friend Sarah, one of her friends, and myself were allowed to go backstage and hang out with the band (mostly Ben) for a while, thanks to Sarah having done a bunch of work for a radio campaign back then. I remembered the spot where the chairpage.com web master, Pete Walton met up with us after the show to take us backstage, and I looked over at the door on the right side of the stage that leads down a flight of stairs to the backstage area. It felt kind of strange to be at this Liz Phair concert and be thinking all this. But I was also really looking forward to seeing Liz Phair, whom I’ve liked for quite a while, but never gotten to see in concert before. All this set a positive mood for the concert.
Sometime 7:45-ish, the lights went out and Liz Phair and her band took the stage. Before she started into “6’1”” she said, “home town!” This show was the second in a four date tour in which Liz performed the entirety of her first album, Exile in Guyville - in order - in celebration of the 15th anniversary of its release. It felt really special to be a part of the event. I’d never heard an entire album played exactly in order, live, before. It was really cool. Before the fourth song, “Dance of the Seven Veils”, Liz laughed and said, “you know, it’s really too bad that the guy I wrote this about, isn’t here.” Then some guy in the audience yells out, “Yes I am!” Liz just laughed some more and started playing the song. Before another song, I forget which one it was, Liz tried out a chord, and then looked at one of her bandmates and went, “you sure?” and then she tried a little more, but it still didn’t seem right to her, so she was like, “hang on you guys,” but then finally she got it right.
At some point she asked if anyone was from Wicker Park, some people cheered, and then she asked if anyone was from the North Shore, some other people cheered, so then she, being from both, said “does anyone feel schizophrenic like me? North Shore - Wicker Park, good girl - bad girl.” This continued as a sort of theme during the night, like when she said that she heard that the Cubs might go to the world series this year, and she wondered, “why hasn’t anyone asked me to come sing God Bless America, or something?” then she went on to say, something about how in Chicago you’ve got to pick a side, “white sox - cubs, Wicker Park - North Shore, good girl - bad girl - come together people!” And then, late in the show she said something else about Chicago being her home, and then someone yelled something about her living in LA now, so she said, “you can have two homes!” and restated what she previously said, and ended with, “you guys are supposed to be Obama people, come on!”
One of the guitars that Liz used during the set wasn’t actually her’s. She explained that a crew member brought it to her because it had the inside workings of a guitarist that she liked. I forgot the man’s name, but she said that really meant a lot to her.
Liz talked about how when she thinks back on Guyville, she remembers the night life of the Wicker Park area at the time, but moreso she thinks about the really cold and long winters we have here in Chicago. She said that she spent a lot of time then alone in her apartment, listening to the Rolling Stones and playing her songs, etc. She also told us that after the album came out, she didn’t really want to tour, but her manager or the record company, demanded that she do so. They sent letters and so forth saying she was contractually obligated to tour. So, she went down to the Vic and did a show with just her and her guitar, and she’s apparently really fond of that show. There was another part where she talked about how well the Cubs are doing this season and jokingly asked, “why hasn’t anyone called to ask me to sing ‘God Bless America’ or something?”
During “F**k and Run” I overheard a guy near me say to the girl he was with, “this would’ve been big on radio, if she didn’t say f**k so much.” I found that very amusing.
Right before “Strange Loop”, Liz told us that that song had never been played live before, though I’m assuming she meant before that tour as she played another Guyville show the previous night. So that was cool, I really like that song.
After that song, Liz and her band waved and left the stage, and I figured that the show was over, since she was supposed to only play the album and the album was now finished. But then the crowd kept cheering, despite the lights all coming back on, and the recorded music starting up again. And then, after a while more passed, the lights went back off again, and out came Liz. I think that this might be the first actually authentic, that is, not preplanned but generated by the enthusiastic crowd, encore, that I’ve ever experience. She told us that the night before, the audience wanted an encore too, and she hadn’t planned anything because she thought that playing the entire Guyville album, 18 songs, would be enough. She said she didn’t come up with an encore on the way to our show either, so she warned us that last night the encore turned out to be, “a little messy and a little okay”, and that tonight’s would probably be as well. Then, she sat down at the keyboard that was used for some of the previous songs (but not by her), and she played “Chopsticks.” I thought that was a fitting encore given that it’s the first song off of her second album, “Whip-smart”. There was a bit where she had to figure out how to get started with it, but I thought it turned out well.
She walked over to the microphone again and got one of her guitars. Liz talked to us a bit, I think about how much it means to her to have us all supporting her, how she’s really touched by the support of her hometown and so on. It was sweet, though I don’t remember exactly what she said.
For her second encore song, she played us what she said was her favorite off her currently unreleased album. It was dedicated to the head of her former record lable. I don’t know what the deal is with her and that guy, but it seems like he really screwed her over, as this was a very angry song. I think I saw her rub her eyes a little after she was done with it. It seemed like a very emotional song for her.
Once she had finished that song, some fans started yelling out requests: “X-Ray Man!”, “Somebody’s Miracle!”, “Polyester Bride!” and Liz responded to that one saying, “That’s what I’m going to try to play for you guys.” After she worked out a few of the chords in the song, she started in, and things were going well until she got to the second verse and started in with the opening line from the first verse, while the fans were mostly singing the right words. She paused and then told us to just keep singing, so we did, and she looked kind of embarrassed, but was laughing, until we got a little further, and then she joined up again. I was really glad that she played that song because whitechocolatespaceegg is my favorite of her albums, so it was nice to hear something off of that.
Finally Liz thanked us again and told us she would be back for the Fourth of July, though I’m not sure for what. She waved, and we cheered, and then she left the stage.
They didn’t have any t-shirts for sale, but they did have commemorative tour posters for just 10 dollars. I got one of those, and then found my dad was already waiting in the car out front, and I went home.
Also, Happy belated Birthday to hyperandblonde!
Walking into The Vic I was hit by a series of happy memories. It had been nearly eight years since I was last there, but what I was remembering was not regarding that concert. Instead I was thinking about the 03/15/99 silverchair concert after which my friend Sarah, one of her friends, and myself were allowed to go backstage and hang out with the band (mostly Ben) for a while, thanks to Sarah having done a bunch of work for a radio campaign back then. I remembered the spot where the chairpage.com web master, Pete Walton met up with us after the show to take us backstage, and I looked over at the door on the right side of the stage that leads down a flight of stairs to the backstage area. It felt kind of strange to be at this Liz Phair concert and be thinking all this. But I was also really looking forward to seeing Liz Phair, whom I’ve liked for quite a while, but never gotten to see in concert before. All this set a positive mood for the concert.
Sometime 7:45-ish, the lights went out and Liz Phair and her band took the stage. Before she started into “6’1”” she said, “home town!” This show was the second in a four date tour in which Liz performed the entirety of her first album, Exile in Guyville - in order - in celebration of the 15th anniversary of its release. It felt really special to be a part of the event. I’d never heard an entire album played exactly in order, live, before. It was really cool. Before the fourth song, “Dance of the Seven Veils”, Liz laughed and said, “you know, it’s really too bad that the guy I wrote this about, isn’t here.” Then some guy in the audience yells out, “Yes I am!” Liz just laughed some more and started playing the song. Before another song, I forget which one it was, Liz tried out a chord, and then looked at one of her bandmates and went, “you sure?” and then she tried a little more, but it still didn’t seem right to her, so she was like, “hang on you guys,” but then finally she got it right.
At some point she asked if anyone was from Wicker Park, some people cheered, and then she asked if anyone was from the North Shore, some other people cheered, so then she, being from both, said “does anyone feel schizophrenic like me? North Shore - Wicker Park, good girl - bad girl.” This continued as a sort of theme during the night, like when she said that she heard that the Cubs might go to the world series this year, and she wondered, “why hasn’t anyone asked me to come sing God Bless America, or something?” then she went on to say, something about how in Chicago you’ve got to pick a side, “white sox - cubs, Wicker Park - North Shore, good girl - bad girl - come together people!” And then, late in the show she said something else about Chicago being her home, and then someone yelled something about her living in LA now, so she said, “you can have two homes!” and restated what she previously said, and ended with, “you guys are supposed to be Obama people, come on!”
One of the guitars that Liz used during the set wasn’t actually her’s. She explained that a crew member brought it to her because it had the inside workings of a guitarist that she liked. I forgot the man’s name, but she said that really meant a lot to her.
Liz talked about how when she thinks back on Guyville, she remembers the night life of the Wicker Park area at the time, but moreso she thinks about the really cold and long winters we have here in Chicago. She said that she spent a lot of time then alone in her apartment, listening to the Rolling Stones and playing her songs, etc. She also told us that after the album came out, she didn’t really want to tour, but her manager or the record company, demanded that she do so. They sent letters and so forth saying she was contractually obligated to tour. So, she went down to the Vic and did a show with just her and her guitar, and she’s apparently really fond of that show. There was another part where she talked about how well the Cubs are doing this season and jokingly asked, “why hasn’t anyone called to ask me to sing ‘God Bless America’ or something?”
During “F**k and Run” I overheard a guy near me say to the girl he was with, “this would’ve been big on radio, if she didn’t say f**k so much.” I found that very amusing.
Right before “Strange Loop”, Liz told us that that song had never been played live before, though I’m assuming she meant before that tour as she played another Guyville show the previous night. So that was cool, I really like that song.
After that song, Liz and her band waved and left the stage, and I figured that the show was over, since she was supposed to only play the album and the album was now finished. But then the crowd kept cheering, despite the lights all coming back on, and the recorded music starting up again. And then, after a while more passed, the lights went back off again, and out came Liz. I think that this might be the first actually authentic, that is, not preplanned but generated by the enthusiastic crowd, encore, that I’ve ever experience. She told us that the night before, the audience wanted an encore too, and she hadn’t planned anything because she thought that playing the entire Guyville album, 18 songs, would be enough. She said she didn’t come up with an encore on the way to our show either, so she warned us that last night the encore turned out to be, “a little messy and a little okay”, and that tonight’s would probably be as well. Then, she sat down at the keyboard that was used for some of the previous songs (but not by her), and she played “Chopsticks.” I thought that was a fitting encore given that it’s the first song off of her second album, “Whip-smart”. There was a bit where she had to figure out how to get started with it, but I thought it turned out well.
She walked over to the microphone again and got one of her guitars. Liz talked to us a bit, I think about how much it means to her to have us all supporting her, how she’s really touched by the support of her hometown and so on. It was sweet, though I don’t remember exactly what she said.
For her second encore song, she played us what she said was her favorite off her currently unreleased album. It was dedicated to the head of her former record lable. I don’t know what the deal is with her and that guy, but it seems like he really screwed her over, as this was a very angry song. I think I saw her rub her eyes a little after she was done with it. It seemed like a very emotional song for her.
Once she had finished that song, some fans started yelling out requests: “X-Ray Man!”, “Somebody’s Miracle!”, “Polyester Bride!” and Liz responded to that one saying, “That’s what I’m going to try to play for you guys.” After she worked out a few of the chords in the song, she started in, and things were going well until she got to the second verse and started in with the opening line from the first verse, while the fans were mostly singing the right words. She paused and then told us to just keep singing, so we did, and she looked kind of embarrassed, but was laughing, until we got a little further, and then she joined up again. I was really glad that she played that song because whitechocolatespaceegg is my favorite of her albums, so it was nice to hear something off of that.
Finally Liz thanked us again and told us she would be back for the Fourth of July, though I’m not sure for what. She waved, and we cheered, and then she left the stage.
They didn’t have any t-shirts for sale, but they did have commemorative tour posters for just 10 dollars. I got one of those, and then found my dad was already waiting in the car out front, and I went home.