I saw The Divine Comedy for the first time last night when they played
Seattle. Until last night, I had only Regeneration and scattering of tracks
I had downloaded from one of the DC websites. I really enjoy Regeneration so
I thought the show would be a good opportunity to not only see the band but
also buy some new CDs. The show was held at The Crocodile Cafe, a very
popular local club which is owned by Peter Buck's (of REM) wife I believe.
There was a fairly good turn out for the show. The main audience area was
fairly full.

In short, the show was great! I had read a brief article about the show in
the local paper and I was under the impression it might be a solo acoustic
show. Normally, I like that sort of thing, but I was secretly hoping for a
band tour. Well, as it turns out, it WAS a band tour. I'm not familiar
enough with the personel to know who is a long-time cohort and who isn't,
but it was a 4-piece lineup. Neil alternated between piano and acoustic
guitar. The bassist alternated between standup and electric bass. The
drummer also played a large-scale and smaller scale xylophone. The guitarist
alternated between a Fender Jaguar (or maybe it was a Jazzmaster) and
acoustic guitar and also played a little piano and some keyboard washes.

The band played quite a few new songs and I was hoping they might have a
tour CD available like Lambchop and a few other bands often do. There was
no mention on when a new CD might be coming out. They played several tracks
I recognized including 3 or 4 from Regeneration. "Perfect Lovesong" segued
seamlessly into an impromptu cover of "Daydream Believer". Also a great
version of "Bad Ambassador" was played. From other albums, I know "The Frog
Princess" and "Woman of the World" were played and I think they did
"National Express" also, and several others that are sure to become familiar
to me after I play the other albums.

The final encore was Neil alone. He played a new song just a week old that
might be called "Rose for the Lady" but could very well be called something
else when (or if) it comes out. He messed it up a few times and felt bad
about it so he treated everyone to one last song..."Lucy" which was great!

All in all, a really great show. Don't miss this show if you are on the US
west coast. On the way out, I bought several of the albums that I was
missing so I have lots of new music to listen to. If anyone out there
collects b-sides and rarities, I would love to get some DC rarities from
you. I collect a lot of groups including Danny Wilson/Gary Clark, Bill
Pritchard, The Dream Academy, It's Immaterial, The Rave-Ups, The Bathers,
Kate Bush, David Sylvian, My Friend the Chocolate Cake / Not Drowning
Waving, and more, so get in touch with me if you can help me with some of
the really rare stuff. Thanks and thanks to Neil and the band for a great
show and great music!

Regards,
Brent in Seattle