SPONGE TOUR!
- Oct 08 -- Springfield Missouri - Really Unhappy Day
- Oct 09 -- Columbia Missouri - a better day
October 8, 1995 - Welcome To Springfield MO
Hey, I know. Why Don't I Act Like An Idiot? Maybe That's A Good
Idea.
This tour report is written two days after Oct 8th so I can get some distance
from it. The day started with me sort of laughing at the poor Big Block
guys because it seemed like they were all getting TESTY. I told them I'd
give anyone who needed it an "Attitude Adjustment," to try to
cheer them up, and then decided to leave them alone, after reminding them
we told them we USED to get really angry at each other exactly 2 weeks
into a tour. This being their first ever BIG tour, we gave them a week.
When it was time to get on stage, we were all still in good humor, and
I interrogated a poor DJ woman who was supposed to announce us going on
stage - "DOES YOUR STATION PLAY OUR SONGS?" I asked, and she
replied that they hadn't gotten our newest single.. (who knows if that's
true or not) but then she said that when she worked at a College Station,
she played us all the time, so I couldn't really refuse to let her announce
us. We don't like being announced, it's HOKEY.
Feeling very politically correct, I bounded on the stage and she came
up and announced, "And Now, Please Welcome.... Poster CHildren!!"
and I looked over and Jim was plugging stuff in still. He wasn't ready.
I stood there for a minute, checking to see if everyone else was "go"
and they seemed ready. Jim never takes this long to plug stuff in, and
now it became obvious to me that something of his wasn't working, so I
started talking to the audience, because I felt stupid.
Rose's Dialogue With The Audience
(1000 people in a gymnasium in Springfield MO, a town where we've
never played)
me: "HI!"
audience: "hi"
me: "um..."
audience: "PLAY!"
me: (hopefully at this point, try to explain that we were experiencing
technical difficulties) audience: stands and watches
Jim: plugs something into something else, shakes head
me: "So - How many of you know all the words to Star Wars?!"
audience: blank look. One person, grinning, raises his hand.
me: "AH! One person! Well, I do, too! How many of you know all the
words to Caddyshack?"
audience: looks at each other. Two people raise hands.
me: So, How many of you people out there are studying MATH?"
Rick: frantic, gives Jim one of his effects pedals
audience: finally realizing the girl on the stage is a total geek - "PLAY!"
One person raises his hand.
me: "Anyone here studying English? anyone?"
audience: really getting restless now. 3 people out of the 1000 raise
their hands.
me: getting annoyed and scared now: "What kind of school is this?
What are you all studying?"
one audience member: "sex!"
me: "sex? (jesus.. is this a Bon Jovi concert? How embarrassing.)
Ok, How many of you guys are
studying Sex?"
audience: ROAAAAAAR!!!!!!!
me: shaking my head in disbelief, horrified at the Rock of it all, "I
can't believe I just said that. I never say stuff like that. You guys
provoked me."
It just went on like that. Rick's amp started breaking during a song.
We had to stop playing He's My Star. It was nuts. The audience felt sympathetic
for us, and was clapping a lot, but it was terrible to be on stage and
be drowning in broken cables and pedals. After the show, I threw my bass
off the stage and hoped no one would come up to me and say "Nice
Show."
Later, up in the dressing room, right in front of the Big Block guys,
I smashed a bottle of water indirectly at Rick, bouncing it off the wall
and hitting him, and yelled at him about something that had happened on
stage, and I think I scared the hell out of the Big Block guys. They ran
out of the room. Rick explained to me very loudly and clearly that I shouldn't
be going off the handle about things that didn't even happen to me, and
that I was being silly, which I was. I sulked for the rest of the evening,
and heard people talking about some girl slamming things around, and wondered
if they were talking about me, or if I was just being paranoid. At least
no one said, "Hey, Good Show" to me. Howie even sold shirts
the rest of the night, giving me a much-needed break.
Happy Birthday, Rick.
October 9, 1995 - After the Storm
The Blue Note, Columbia MO
Well thank god everything that happened last night is passed. We're all
back to normal again, but today when I walk past the Big Block guys, they
sort of jump. I think everyone is scared of me. My bass works a lot better
now, after having thrown it. The Sponge Stage People tell me that we should
know better than to let everything breaking on the stage upset us, and
I agree with them. Tonight we play in a place we've played about 5 times
this year, the wonderful Blue Note in Columbia MO, but like that episode
of Speed Racer after Speed gets in a car crash and doesn't ever want to
race again, I am scared to approach the stage.
Big Block played their asses off today. I wonder if it's just nice to
see a band in a club again, instead of a college gymnasium, or if I've
ever really watched them. They are such a good live band. I'll bet anything
that they will be famous pretty soon. They have very catchy, straightforward
rock songs, and they sing beautifully, just like Sponge. We're not too
good at the "singing" thing just yet, and our songs are not
straightforward, I've been told. I know we are much "harder to get"
than these bands.
I was afraid to even look up at the audience when we started playing -
I kept my head down until I couldn't stand it anymore and glanced up near
the end of the 2nd song. I can see the people in the front row usually,
and a lot of times they are little girls waiting for Sponge, not wanting
to lose their place, and they are not happy to have to wait through our
set. And you can't tell if they are looking angry just because they're
"getting into" the music, or if they are just impatiently waiting.
This never usually bothers me, the angry girls in the front row. In fact,
the last night we played with the Dambuilders, beautiful Joan, the violinist,
was screaming because she had some Bored Girls yawning in front of her,
waiting for Ezra, and I tried to comfort her. I don't want anyone feeling
bad on stage.
Anyway, I looked up at the end of that 2nd song and saw 2 kids hovering
over the crowd, and the rest bouncing up and down. And I was happy.