Haven't seen a review of last night's San Francisco show yet, so I
thought I'd give it a go.

The Waifs played at the Fillmore, an old upstairs San Francisco
concert hall that's been hosting shows for forty years. On the way
in and throughout the lobby, you pass walls of old concert posters
and pictures of past performers like the Grateful Dead, Ken Kesey,
Pete Townshend, The Jefferson Airplane and more recent performers
like Radiohead, Ozomatli, The Cure, Los Lobos, and Keller Williams
(many of whom were first given airplay on KFOG, a very early radio
supporter of our three (five?) traveling minstrels.

The hall is an open ballroom with an upstairs balcony on one side.
There are a few chairs and tables, but the vast majority of the
concertgoers stand and crowd the stage. It's cozy and intimate and a
perfect setting for the performers to feel and interact with the
audience. You can see what the Fillmore looks like as they have a
virtual tour on their site: www.thefillmore.com. There were about
400-500 people in the audience last night.

While I didn't take down the set list, it seemed as if the show could
be broken down into three segments – the first part was a lot of
their newer, mostly recorded, material. They opened with Willow Tree
and went through some of the better know songs from Up All Night –
Flesh and Blood, Highway One, Fisherman's Daughter, Lighthouse, and
then Bridal Train. They interacted with the audience a lot , and in
return received enthusiastic responses with every song. A good
portion of the audience knew the words and sang along.

The second part of the show moved into all new material including a
(loss of) love song from Donna, Noah, Back to the Country and about
four or five other new ones. And despite never having heard them
before, these songs were as loudly applauded as was their more
familiar material. It seemed like the band felt comfortable with the
San Francisco audience as we gave them a hugely warm sendoff in May
with the KFOG Kaboom, a spectacular last prenatal show the next
night, and an equally warm reception this time. Where better to try
a lot of new stuff than in front of their most loving and
knowledgeable US fans (sorry East Coasters – I think we've been at it
a little longer than you have - No comments from the Ozzies please).

The last part of the show was primarily six or seven older songs
including Papa, Lies, Love Serenade, When I Die and of course Crazy
Train. For encores, they went older still with, among others,
Spotlight and Shiny Apple. Most of the last part of the show had
Erin McEown on stage with them. The combination of her electric
guitar with Josh was spectacular.

Unlike the reviews of the East Coast shows, I thought they had a lot
of energy and really enjoyed being on stage. This show was different
from the last two SF shows in May when it seemed like they were tired
after the long road trip and it was only the huge audience response
that kept Donna from being moody and Vicki from giving birth right
then and there. This time they were usually all on stage together
and only left when the song was one of the solo pieces. Vicki, post
baby, is radiant and lively and funny. Josh was his usual quiet
pillar in the center and Donna was sexy, upbeat, and playful, singing
along with Vicki's songs and teasing the audience on Shiny Apple.
They were having fun and we were having fun and it's too bad they
won't be here again until summer.

Vicki did say that it was this Waif chat group and especially God who
inspired her to get songwriting again. Only after he incorrectly
presumed that childbirth would bring out all of Vicki's creativity,
did she realize that she hadn't touched a guitar or written a song in
three or four months. So, kudos to the Waifs who continue to be the
best thing going and kudos to us for caring about and supporting them.

We here in America are jealous of all you Ozzies who will soon get
them all to yourselves for the next six months.

It'll be tough to wait that long, but I did pick up "A Brief History"
last night at the show, and that'll have to give me my Waif fixes
until their return.

Bennet