First of all, I was mugged on the way to the show, which is a rather unpleasant way to begin an evening. When I got to the show, ready for my interview, I found out that GBV had not yet arrived, and in fact they didn't arrive until right before they went onstage. No soundcheck, no interview. Needless to say, I was upset. I hung around the place (which is enormous) and watched the Geraldine Fibbers, who weren't that good. GBV came on, and played a blistering set, BUT, the biggest problem that they could have was present: Bob's microphone was not nearly loud enough. So the band sounded great, but Bob's voice couldn't get out from underneath Mitch's guitar blasts. They were taking requests, and beside the vocal problems (the importance of which i can't overestimate) the set went really well. As Bob said later, they played everything really fast to fit a lot of songs in. Set list is as follows:
Quality of Armor Shocker in Gloomtown Postal Blowfish new song My Son Cool new song Game of Pricks Weed King Hot Freaks Yours to Keep/Echos Myron King and Caroline/Motor Away new song I Am A Scientist new song The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory Pimple Zoo new song
The new songs (I don't remember individual titles) sounded really strong, more like Propeller-style anthems than recent GBV songs. Bob said the new album is going to be called, "The World Series of Psychic Phenomena," but, as always, it's subject to change. I watched Urge for a while, and they sounded horrible, so me and my two friends went and stood near the exit, where Robert suddenly appeared. I decided to go over and talk to him, and as I got close to him, he actually smiled and took a few steps towards me, extending his arm! For some reason this really seemed like a big deal, that he looked happy to see ME!
Anyway, Robert Pollard was the nicest, friendliest person I have ever encountered. We talked a bit about the Philadelphia shows, and a bit about the current tour, and he said that they're never doing opening slots again. Just headline gigs from now on. He also said that they're dropping off the tour after a couple of shows, that the Urge boys are nice, but their management and roadies haven't treated GBV very well. He even talked a bit about how drunk they used to be at their shows, which was funny considering how many I'd seen him put away that night. A quote: "We were falling off stage. It was like, 'This song does not rock, this song doesn't come close to rocking'". He also commented on how loud Mitch plays.
Bob's plans for after the show were to go to see "that guy from Uncle Tupelo," which we then decided was Son Volt. All in all, I have never met anyone so nice, especially a Rock Star. Well, that's basically my story: The Night I Met Robert Pollard. Despite the mugging, a pretty decent night. I really wish the vocals were louder, though. I taped the show, but it didn't come out very well at all. The sound is real murky, and the vocals are very low. If anyone of you GBV historian-completists want a copy, though, I'd love a trade. Not a good boot at all, but my friend took 24 pictures of the boys, so hopefully some good ones will develop.
Dave PS - Sorry this is so long...