Chicago, IL 11/18-19, 21; 12/8 Chicago Theater/Auditorium Theater; 12/7 Aragon

[BlissedandGone2]

i just posted a sort of summary of hte guitar pick man encounters in the guitar pick guy thread. i dont think anyone got video of him.

at one point we were all standing on one side of an alley when a truck pulled out. when the truck pulled away, guitar pick man was standing in what was a vacant spot before the truck had passed. it was like out of a horror movie.

[HelloKittyKat]

guitar pick guy has turned into a mythical creature now. im so sorry i missed that.

[Elvis The Fat Years]

Originally Posted by BlissedandGone2

billy stiffed us all and had us running around the building for an hour before sneaking out the side and not talking to anyone. hes never gonna get my cd.
at least the company was good after the show. thanks guys.

you make it sound like he's obligated to talk to people after a show.

[redbull]

anyone have pics of guitar pick guy?

[Rickpat12]

Show tonight was awesome, I had a kick ass time. The ending was hilarious and very generous of the band. Some of the gifts even included full band signed shirts. Sadly I was unable to catch one Very good energy from Billy, he seemed into it. Lotta emotion. Crowd was pretty good too. I'll post pics of the end sometime tomorrow.

GUITAR PICK GUY HOLY SHIT! So the guy is on the Orchestra floor after the show with what appears to be setlists. He spots me and approaches and goes..."You want a set list". And I'm thinking WHO THE FUCK GIVES THOSE AWAY? But I gladly accept. He asks me what night? And I go...I was at both shows. So he gives me two pieces of paper, that came from a HUGE stack. I'm like whoa...where did you get all of those? And he says "I photocopied t****. Hahahaha, huge fucking joke. I should have known. I guess he was trying to sell some to others, haha.

Blissed, Cara, JR, Pizza, all the others...it was a great couple weeks! Thanks for making my experience more enjoyable. Tonight was a mess running from alley to alley. Haha, but definitely worth it haha!

[Rickpat12]

Originally Posted by redbull

anyone have pics of guitar pick guy?

Blissedandgone said it best when he said "He looks like Predator" and that's no lie haha.

[carapatricia]

Originally Posted by redbull

anyone have pics of guitar pick guy?

I took one. it will be up in a minute.

[carapatricia]

Originally Posted by BlissedandGone2

when the truck pulled away, guitar pick man was standing in what was a vacant spot before the truck had passed. it was like out of a horror movie.

BAHAHAAHA

So here HE IS.
http://i34.tinypic.com/2h4w46h.jpg


a little blurry cause i was slightly terrified he was about to jump me.




Unfortunately, I am not allowed to post any of my good SP photos from the evening for the next WEEK because SP.COM has exclusive rights over them. BUT. I will post the shit ones. like guitar pic guy.

[wHATcOLOR]

woah, he does look like the predator. how old would you guess him to be?

[carapatricia]

So who got a present?
GinGGer threw one to me, probably because I was the only person yelling her name. I asked lisa for one too but she got all shy and flustered and covered her eyes and tossed it up, caught by the dude next to me.

So we unwrapped presents:
AND i got this:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3249/...fc51dbe009.jpg

sarah was a little more than disappointed that her's wasnt signed.
and that it was a lego man that looked like he worked for Streets and Sanitation. BUT jimmy threw it to her so not all is bad/sad

[carapatricia]

also:
Jeffs love for me still continues. he handed me a pick this time.


and this
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3080/...a021f5ca40.jpg
was awesome.

[aldango]

I GOT A HORSE AND AN ETCH A SKETCH

HELLO

[Sarcastic Smile]

Originally Posted by Rickpat12

."You want a set list". And I'm thinking WHO THE FUCK GIVES THOSE AWAY? !

Usually Everyone involved with the show has a set list.. From Gio to venue security so they know when to do what.. Gio gave me one @ Boston and then the venue security gave me one in CT..

Originally Posted by carapatricia

and this
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3048/...a66df545a3.jpg
was awesome.

Jeff gave you that?

[JRiordan]

Show was fantastic. Billy played a lot of songs up to the audience, calling for participation, clapping, etc, and it seemed like 95% of the venue was right there with him. Really great energy. Everyone seemed to love it. 2nd row Ginger side was rocking!!!

There was a 50+ year old guy next to me... at some point early in the show (maybe after Cherub Rock) he tapped my shoulder, so I turned, and he had this total "Holy shit" look of awe on his face, and gave me a high five. He seemed to know most of the songs... he was even singing Suffer. Right on dude! Also, the 3rd row behind me was 50-60 year old dudes, who all seemed to be blown away. Another dude who was in the center section (direct in front of Billy), about 4th row on the aisle b/n Billy and Ginger was going crazy all night... perhaps the only person whose energy rivaled mine

VERY warm comments from Billy all night, culminating in a long speech about the band, Chicago, etc. He said that one of the reasons it took them so long to return to Chicago was that they really wanted to be ready for it, and now they are. He also thanked everyone who supported the band in the whole process of getting back together. He said the end of this tour marks the end of the Zeitgeist era.

He said it took a lot of work to put this tour together, and thanked all the backing musicians. He then gave major thank yous to Jeff and Ginger. "We need someone who can play the metal right", referring to Jeff. And "Ginger laying it down every night". Huge ovation for them. He also thanked Jimmy, "his best friend, his partner in crime... who has the muscles" (Jimmy then flexed his bicep, lol).

After I am One Part 2 (which to me felt quite different than 2nd night of Chicago Theatre... tonight I could actually make out some rhythms)... a bunch of people started walking out on stage slowly in this "funeral procession". Someone was wearing Billy's sun god outfit... some said it was Dennis Flemion of The Frogs, but I'm not sure. Billy was wearing a black cloak or robe. There was also a nun, and maybe another guy in a black cloak -- I am not sure. And all of the band was there too, I think.

They carried this huge coffin to center stage. Everyone in the audience was very very quiet during this... it was really quite creepy. After a minute or so of suspense, they took the cover off and "Christmastime" started playing on the house speakers. Everyone then started throwing the presents everywhere... lots of boxes of candy canes, signed T-shirts, other "toys" (like Cara and Sarah, hahaha). Also they were all throwing lots of guitar picks. I got one from Ginger. After all the hoopla subsided (it was pretty chaotic)... Billy was alone on stage, and said thanks, and "Have a great Christmas and great new year"... then he said, "Well, have a good Christmas and an even better new year". At least, that's what I recall. Crowd was giving tons of love.

I could not have asked for a better show... really an amazing end to the year.

[Cool As Ice Cream]

Originally Posted by JRiordan

Jimmy then flexed his bicep

lol you say "bicep"

[JRiordan]

Before Landslide, Billy was addressing Jeff. He said they were going to play a Stevie Nicks song... and said that he had some family members in attendance at the Aragon last night, and that was the only song they requested. He's like, "they didn't even wanna hear my songs". So then Jeff goes, "what's the difference?" LMAO!!! Not sure what to make of that one, but people were laughing and others booing / ooooohing. I guess Jeff was joking, in his weird way, haha.

Gossamer was so sick tonight... Billy's solo at the center stage lip was just shredding. Whole audience ate up the big ending riffs. Billy was jumping as high as he could as he hit the final notes. Nice!

Everyone was clapping along to March Hare... that song is so cool. Towards the end, Billy said something like "you guys are gonna have to show Jimmy some love on this!", so the audience cheered a lot, then Jimmy played some of the awesome final ending solo part.

Billy also asked people to clap at the end of Age of Innocense, which they did. This was one song that got a better reaction at Chicago Theatre though, IMO. I dunno, not a big deal. Probably just based on the people around me who were loving it at Chicago Theatre.

Billy messed up a few lyrics in 1979... he said something about "the sound in my heart" or something liek that... he was laughing and smirking at Ginger when he messed up.

Billy was screaming like crazy for Sound of Silence.

The beginning of As Rome Burns fucking rocks. The whole ARB, SOS, Little Red Riding Hood got a pretty good ovation afterwards.

-------------------

All Netphoria people in attendance, great seeing y'all, thanks for all the fun this tour! Post-party at Miller's Pub was great! Hey aldango, I didn't get to talk much to the Australian guys, or those other girls... hopefully you convinced them to check Netphoria. So y'all need to post something!

Finding Billy after tonight's show was almost as hard as finding Osama bin Laden. Security kept telling us different things... various vehicles were moved back and forth to different locations. Eventually he came out in a strange spot, and signed a girl's setlist, but then got right in the car and drove away. There were only 3 or 4 people by the door when he came out. All the rest were on the other side, so we only saw the car driving down the street, ha. Oh well.

[JRiordan]

5 star VIP was great... we got to watch 50+ minutes of soundcheck, which was as follows:

Parts of Soma -- we were not in the actual seating/stage area yet for this though

Then inside while seated starting in the 4th row:

1979*
Ava Adore*
Cupid de Locke*
March Hare... followed by a pause, then "should we play Suffer too?". Answer was yes...

Suffer part of March Hare, then end to March Hare.

Then Billy was talking about the first song that the Frogs soundchecked yesterday... then they played:

Nowhere Man

Parts of Heavy Metal Machine jamming

---------------

Notes:

* with Matt Walker

Billy only played guitar on Nowhere Man and HMM.

Billy also asked if they wanted to rehearse "That's The Way"... he told Matt Walker that he should come out for that too, and play tambourine. He was like, "well you can just fake it". hahaha. So they didn't rehearse it.

It was really awesome sitting in this beautiful venue for the soundcheck, with the house lights on... only 30 or 40 of us, just a few rows from the stage. Very intimate. We clapped briefly after every song.

Towards the end of SC, Billy was making jokes about having to attend to the VIPs. He was like, "ok we gotta wrap this up so we can go massage the VIPs" LOL.

Everyone got pictures taken with BC & JC, and they signed stuff. I got Siamese Dream vinyl signed. Billy said, "How many Siamese Dreams are you gonna have signed?". I was like, "um, I only have Zeitgeist signed from Europe!", and he said "oh, this is our most-signed album".

When I sat down Jimmy said "Hey I saw you rocking out last night" (I was on the rail at Aragon, indeed rocking my ass off). I said, "yep, every night!". After the whole coffin/presents thing at the end of the show tonight, when the band was waving and taking bows, Jimmy came over, reached out and shook my hand in the 2nd row. I only caught some of his fingers, not a whole handshake, cause I was reaching. But very cool of him. JIMMY, the true fans support you all the way man!!! And thank you!!!!

Back to VIP photo chair... I mentioned to Billy how great the energy was at the Aragon, and that the general admission venue allows the audience to go that wild. He said "well it was a softball show... look at the first 5 songs we played". He sort of agreed that general admission was beneficial for the energy, but he did not give it much credit, saying "there are other factors".

--------

The general QA session for the whole VIP audience started, and I said that I know they are somewhat down on this tour, and had bad crowds on the east coast and other shows, but asked them if they were starting to feel positive vibes from the recent shows like Los Angeles and the recent Chicago shows. Billy said part of it is that they have learned how to perform the 2 night shows better.

This makes sense... bands always get tighter as tours go on... and with all the "theatrical production" stuff, and backing musicians going on this tour... it's a lot of work to get it right.

-------------

There was discussion about the album format, the ITunes generation, etc. But it ended quite positively.. Billy said "we are an elite band".. and "we need to prove ourselves to the rest of the world again". Someone was like "bring it on!" and I think Billy said "we are". Cara can confirm / clear up some of the comments.

One guy asked about "Whir"... Billy said he has no recollection of writing it...

---------------

Cara was trying to get her camera set up properly, so she was taking practice pictures of me. Gio was off behind us, so I was like, "ok get Gio in this picture too". So she took the pic.. then Gio was like, "oh how subtle, I see you". LOL!!! Then the tour manager (I think) was like "yeah, you told her to take a picture of the fat ugly guy". I'm like, "ha, no, I did not use those words!". He goes, "yeah, cause he could probably break you in half". LOL!! Then Gio was like, "So where's your posse tonight?". If Gio says I have a posse, then I guess I have a posse, hahahahah!! I pointed to Cara, and said that lots more people are coming to the show (Netphoria & other friends). I told him he should go party with us afterwards, but he said he has to get straight home, haha.

One more for CAIC -- LOL!

[*TL*]

Billy said "we are an elite band".. and "we need to prove ourselves to the rest of the world again".

an elite band ?? oh please !!
He really should play music only and shut up sometime.
sometime it's great to stay simple and humble

[Cool As Ice Cream]

Originally Posted by JRiordan

Show was fantastic. Billy played a lot of songs up to the audience, calling for participation, clapping, etc, and it seemed like 95% of the venue was right there with him. Really great energy. Everyone seemed to love it. 2nd row Ginger side was rocking!!!

There was a 50+ year old guy next to me... at some point early in the show (maybe after Cherub Rock) he tapped my shoulder, so I turned, and he had this total "Holy shit" look of awe on his face, and gave me a high five. He seemed to know most of the songs... he was even singing Suffer. Right on dude! Also, the 3rd row behind me was 50-60 year old dudes, who all seemed to be blown away. Another dude who was in the center section (direct in front of Billy), about 4th row on the aisle b/n Billy and Ginger was going crazy all night... perhaps the only person whose energy rivaled mine

VERY warm comments from Billy all night, culminating in a long speech about the band, Chicago, etc. He said that one of the reasons it took them so long to return to Chicago was that they really wanted to be ready for it, and now they are. He also thanked everyone who supported the band in the whole process of getting back together. He said the end of this tour marks the end of the Zeitgeist era.

He said it took a lot of work to put this tour together, and thanked all the backing musicians. He then gave major thank yous to Jeff and Ginger. "We need someone who can play the metal right", referring to Jeff. And "Ginger laying it down every night". Huge ovation for them. He also thanked Jimmy, "his best friend, his partner in crime... who has the muscles" (Jimmy then flexed his bicep, lol).

After I am One Part 2 (which to me felt quite different than 2nd night of Chicago Theatre... tonight I could actually make out some rhythms)... a bunch of people started walking out on stage slowly in this "funeral procession". Someone was wearing Billy's sun god outfit... some said it was Dennis Flemion of The Frogs, but I'm not sure. Billy was wearing a black cloak or robe. There was also a nun, and maybe another guy in a black cloak -- I am not sure. And all of the band was there too, I think.

They carried this huge coffin to center stage. Everyone in the audience was very very quiet during this... it was really quite creepy. After a minute or so of suspense, they took the cover off and "Christmastime" started playing on the house speakers. Everyone then started throwing the presents everywhere... lots of boxes of candy canes, signed T-shirts, other "toys" (like Cara and Sarah, hahaha). Also they were all throwing lots of guitar picks. I got one from Ginger. After all the hoopla subsided (it was pretty chaotic)... Billy was alone on stage, and said thanks, and "Have a great Christmas and great new year"... then he said, "Well, have a good Christmas and an even better new year". At least, that's what I recall. Crowd was giving tons of love.

I could not have asked for a better show... really an amazing end to the year.

Originally Posted by JRiordan

Before Landslide, Billy was addressing Jeff. He said they were going to play a Stevie Nicks song... and said that he had some family members in attendance at the Aragon last night, and that was the only song they requested. He's like, "they didn't even wanna hear my songs". So then Jeff goes, "what's the difference?" LMAO!!! Not sure what to make of that one, but people were laughing and others booing / ooooohing. I guess Jeff was joking, in his weird way, haha.

Gossamer was so sick tonight... Billy's solo at the center stage lip was just shredding. Whole audience ate up the big ending riffs. Billy was jumping as high as he could as he hit the final notes. Nice!

Everyone was clapping along to March Hare... that song is so cool. Towards the end, Billy said something like "you guys are gonna have to show Jimmy some love on this!", so the audience cheered a lot, then Jimmy played some of the awesome final ending solo part.

Billy also asked people to clap at the end of Age of Innocense, which they did. This was one song that got a better reaction at Chicago Theatre though, IMO. I dunno, not a big deal. Probably just based on the people around me who were loving it at Chicago Theatre.

Billy messed up a few lyrics in 1979... he said something about "the sound in my heart" or something liek that... he was laughing and smirking at Ginger when he messed up.

Billy was screaming like crazy for Sound of Silence.

The beginning of As Rome Burns fucking rocks. The whole ARB, SOS, Little Red Riding Hood got a pretty good ovation afterwards.

-------------------

All Netphoria people in attendance, great seeing y'all, thanks for all the fun this tour! Post-party at Miller's Pub was great! Hey aldango, I didn't get to talk much to the Australian guys, or those other girls... hopefully you convinced them to check Netphoria. So y'all need to post something!

Finding Billy after tonight's show was almost as hard as finding Osama bin Laden. Security kept telling us different things... various vehicles were moved back and forth to different locations. Eventually he came out in a strange spot, and signed a girl's setlist, but then got right in the car and drove away. There were only 3 or 4 people by the door when he came out. All the rest were on the other side, so we only saw the car driving down the street, ha. Oh well.

Originally Posted by JRiordan

5 star VIP was great... we got to watch 50+ minutes of soundcheck, which was as follows:

Parts of Soma -- we were not in the actual seating/stage area yet for this though

Then inside while seated starting in the 4th row:

1979*
Ava Adore*
Cupid de Locke*
March Hare... followed by a pause, then "should we play Suffer too?". Answer was yes...

Suffer part of March Hare, then end to March Hare.

Then Billy was talking about the first song that the Frogs soundchecked yesterday... then they played:

Nowhere Man

Parts of Heavy Metal Machine jamming

---------------

Notes:

* with Matt Walker

Billy only played guitar on Nowhere Man and HMM.

Billy also asked if they wanted to rehearse "That's The Way"... he told Matt Walker that he should come out for that too, and play tambourine. He was like, "well you can just fake it". hahaha. So they didn't rehearse it.

It was really awesome sitting in this beautiful venue for the soundcheck, with the house lights on... only 30 or 40 of us, just a few rows from the stage. Very intimate. We clapped briefly after every song.

Towards the end of SC, Billy was making jokes about having to attend to the VIPs. He was like, "ok we gotta wrap this up so we can go massage the VIPs" LOL.

Everyone got pictures taken with BC & JC, and they signed stuff. I got Siamese Dream vinyl signed. Billy said, "How many Siamese Dreams are you gonna have signed?". I was like, "um, I only have Zeitgeist signed from Europe!", and he said "oh, this is our most-signed album".

When I sat down Jimmy said "Hey I saw you rocking out last night" (I was on the rail at Aragon, indeed rocking my ass off). I said, "yep, every night!". After the whole coffin/presents thing at the end of the show tonight, when the band was waving and taking bows, Jimmy came over, reached out and shook my hand in the 2nd row. I only caught some of his fingers, not a whole handshake, cause I was reaching. But very cool of him. JIMMY, the true fans support you all the way man!!! And thank you!!!!

Back to VIP photo chair... I mentioned to Billy how great the energy was at the Aragon, and that the general admission venue allows the audience to go that wild. He said "well it was a softball show... look at the first 5 songs we played". He sort of agreed that general admission was beneficial for the energy, but he did not give it much credit, saying "there are other factors".

--------

The general QA session for the whole VIP audience started, and I said that I know they are somewhat down on this tour, and had bad crowds on the east coast and other shows, but asked them if they were starting to feel positive vibes from the recent shows like Los Angeles and the recent Chicago shows. Billy said part of it is that they have learned how to perform the 2 night shows better.

This makes sense... bands always get tighter as tours go on... and with all the "theatrical production" stuff, and backing musicians going on this tour... it's a lot of work to get it right.

-------------

There was discussion about the album format, the ITunes generation, etc. But it ended quite positively.. Billy said "we are an elite band".. and "we need to prove ourselves to the rest of the world again". Someone was like "bring it on!" and I think Billy said "we are". Cara can confirm / clear up some of the comments.

One guy asked about "Whir"... Billy said he has no recollection of writing it...

---------------

Cara was trying to get her camera set up properly, so she was taking practice pictures of me. Gio was off behind us, so I was like, "ok get Gio in this picture too". So she took the pic.. then Gio was like, "oh how subtle, I see you". LOL!!! Then the tour manager (I think) was like "yeah, you told her to take a picture of the fat ugly guy". I'm like, "ha, no, I did not use those words!". He goes, "yeah, cause he could probably break you in half". LOL!! Then Gio was like, "So where's your posse tonight?". If Gio says I have a posse, then I guess I have a posse, hahahahah!! I pointed to Cara, and said that lots more people are coming to the show (Netphoria & other friends). I told him he should go party with us afterwards, but he said he has to get straight home, haha.

One more for CAIC -- LOL!

where did you get all these monty quotes?

[Pizza Club]

One thing that I really like, and is probably my favorite moment of the American shows this year, he how much gratitude he showed towards Jeff and Ginger at the end of the show. Right before I Am One pt. 2, he thanked everyone in the band but took an extra minute to really thank Jeff and Ginger.

Classy.

Oh, and he did say "See you in 09" at the very end of the show. So who knows what that means.

[New Art Rioter]

Um that they will be playing shows in 2009?

Anyway, meh. I'm jealous.

[Caine Walker]

i managed to avoid almost all of the setlist info up until every show, and i have to say that last night was fantastic.

after seeing five shows this year, last night's show was sort of an emotional end for me (i'm a nerd, shut up), and i'm glad i got to see the coffin bit and actually be surprised by some of the songs they played.

very, very cool. my hope in this band has been restored.

[Pizza Club]

Also, I just want to thank all the cool awesome people I met this year. slunken, blissedandgone, rickpat, jriordan, cara (and anyone else I've met that I didn't get your name)...It's nice to see shows with people that still care about the music and aren't caught all caught up in what the band isn't.

To the tru fan!

[carapatricia]

Originally Posted by Sarcastic Smile

Jeff gave you that?

no no no jeff didn't give me that. Billy and Jimmy signed it at the meet and greet.

[*TL*]

Originally Posted by Pizza Club

One thing that I really like, and is probably my favorite moment of the American shows this year, he how much gratitude he showed towards Jeff and Ginger at the end of the show. Right before I Am One pt. 2, he thanked everyone in the band but took an extra minute to really thank Jeff and Ginger.

Classy.

Oh, and he did say "See you in 09" at the very end of the show. So who knows what that means.

Sorry to be badass about Billy on that thread but I think the gratitude toward Jeff and Ginger is the least to do, it's not classy, it's normal.

It would be awesome to see them in 2009 (with a new album already ?)

[dustrock]

Originally Posted by Pizza Club

One thing that I really like, and is probably my favorite moment of the American shows this year, he how much gratitude he showed towards Jeff and Ginger at the end of the show. Right before I Am One pt. 2, he thanked everyone in the band but took an extra minute to really thank Jeff and Ginger.

Classy.

Oh, and he did say "See you in 09" at the very end of the show. So who knows what that means.

very cool that he thanked Jeff and Ginger....what about Lisa?

[Rickpat12]

Originally Posted by Sarcastic Smile

Usually Everyone involved with the show has a set list.. From Gio to venue security so they know when to do what.. Gio gave me one @ Boston and then the venue security gave me one in CT..

True...but not some random fan at a show.

[MisterSquishyHalo]

Originally Posted by Caine Walker

i managed to avoid almost all of the setlist info up until every show,.

That was a smart move by you Caine

[Pizza Club]

Originally Posted by *TL*

Sorry to be badass about Billy on that thread but I think the gratitude toward Jeff and Ginger is the least to do, it's not classy, it's normal.

Normal? Not really. They are professionals. It's their job to play music. All the other bull they have to go through ("fake James", people wanting the old members, idiot fans)...they have to deal with it. No one has to give them a pat on the back, but he did. Everyone likes to hear that they've done a good job at their work, but how often does it happen?

Originally Posted by dustrock

very cool that he thanked Jeff and Ginger....what about Lisa?

The entire band was thanked. Lisa was thanked right before Jeff and Ginger.

[Cool As Ice Cream]

Originally Posted by Pizza Club

One thing that I really like, and is probably my favorite moment of the American shows this year, he how much gratitude he showed towards Jeff and Ginger at the end of the show.

omg did you cry???