The World's Greatest Party Band

WOW!

Oh man, what a great show!

Ken took some pictures before we left, and you can see them over at his blog. Shane and I hopped into in his fancy German sports sedan, Joan Jetta, and hit the road. Despite some crazy construction (I-65 was completely closed--how do you just completely close a major highway?), we made great time, and had fun chatting along the way, getting caught up on everything. When we got to Merrillville, we stopped at Pizzeria Uno for dinner. I'd never had their pizza before--yum! Love the sauce. The fishnets got a few looks, and Shane and I cracked up!

We headed over to the venue, and were thrilled to see what a small place it was. We had some time before the show started, so I had a cool beverage. We headed in about 10 minutes before the show. We had great seats, and were right by the soundboard. Shane said, "Cool! We'll have the best sound!" I must have looked puzzled, because he said, "Yeah, really. The sound guys will adjust the sound for where they're sitting." You know, I never thought about that, but it makes complete sense!

They started right at 8, with no opening act. They opened with "Pump" off of the new CD ("Funplex"), followed by one of my favorites, "Mesopotamia." I can't remember the order of the set list, but I'll try to find it online. They also did "Hot Corner," "Ultraviolet," "Juliet of the Spirits," "Funplex," "Love in the Year 3000," and "Keep This Party Going," all from "Funplex." As for their older stuff, they did "Roam" and "Love Shack," "Party out of Bounds," "Give Me Back My Man," "Strobelight," and "Private Idaho." The encore was "Planet Claire," "Keep This Party Going," and their last song wasn't a rock, it was a "Rock Lobster!" Shane and I had fun singing along especially to lines like "I'm at the mall on a diet pill!" and "BUT SHE ISN'T!"

AGGHHH! They were so awesome. They sounded every bit as great as they always did, and they ARE the World's Greatest Party Band! Keith looked great and was really rocking out on guitar, Fred was his usual goofy self, Kate's voice is still angelic--and she looked so cool in silver lamé!--and Cindy was bopping around, doing the Pony, just singing her little heart out. Shane and I were talking on the way home, and I said that one of the coolest things is that they all seemed to really be having a great time up there. Cindy was smiling, they were all goofing around...it was just neat to see them still having so much fun after all these years! Shane agreed, and said that they were the same way when he saw them in Asheville, North Carolina last year.

The highlights for me were probably "Planet Claire" (I thought of you, Mark!), and "Rock Lobster" was just incredible. Everybody's dancin'...everybody's fruggin'...(that's from the song). But the one that really blew me away was Cindy singing "Give Me Back My Man." Her voice was soft and sultry in the right parts, but then she let it rip and just belted out the chorus. Good stuff!

Give Me Back My Man

She cuts her hair
and calls his name.
Wishin' everything could be the same,
like when she had him.

I'll give you fish,
I'll give you candy,
I'll give you everything I have in my hand.

Walking out of Korvettes,
Package in her hand.
Motions to all the seabirds,
throws divinity on the sand.

I'll give you fish,
I'll give you candy,
I'll give you everything I have in my hand.

Give me, give back my man.
Give me, give back my man.

Her head's in a whirlpool,
spinnin' round and round.
If she don't get her man back
she's gonna drown.

I'll give you fish,
I'll give you candy,
I'll give you everything I have in my hand.

Give her, give back her man,
Give her, give back her man. (repeat)