Just got back from seeing WT's Thursday Austin show, and it was *COOL*!
There was no instrument trading or anything like what they had in Dallas
(damn!), but there was *nothing* wrong with the show I saw. This is a
*fine* band.

Most patrons passed on Maki and showed up for the Main Event--clearly
expecting to hear SA. (One guy kept pulling out his lighter for the slow
SA songs. I kept waiting for someone to yell out, "Freebird!") The crowd
was big enough tho not huge, but it was attentive--and, I suspect,
frustrated at not getting as much SA as they'd hoped for.

WT started at 10:30 and played till around 12:00--a set and two
encores--and they looked to be having a good time from where I was. No
broken guitars, monitors, or sequirity people, tho. Caitlyn and Mike could
have been louder, but the band sounds great.

(Now, I'm fuzzy on the details of the set list, so bear that in mind.)

They opened with 4-5 new songs. At the end of one, Ryan turned his back to
the audience and sang before gingerly twirling the microphone
cord--his take on Jim Morrison, I suspect. Then, Ryan said, "Here's one
from SA," so the crowd started getting excited--but WT yanked their chain
and headed into "Bar Lights" (one of my new favorites. Really beautiful).


Somewhere in there, Ryan did this beer-fountain trick where he chugged a
mouthful, Moby Dicked it into the air, and ran under it. (This was well
received.)

The set had a nice mix of new ("Today," "Piss on Your Grave," "Wanna Know
Why," "Bar Lights," and others I can't remember) and old material but
closed with "Yesterday's News" which bled into "You Can't Deny Me" which
bled into the "Not Home Anymore" closer where the band exited one at a
time.

Ryan, Caitlyn, and Mike came back for a 2-song acoustic encore ("16 Days,"
"Houses on the Hill"). Very nice.

The whole band was back for the 2nd encore with some FS stuff. (If WT were
thumbing its nose at the Austin paper, this would be it. The paper's
pre-show blurb, which, sarcastically, made a lot of the band's personnel
changes, predicted lots of FS given its forthcoming re-release. Guess
again.) This encore included "This is Nowhere," "Too Drunk to Dream,"
"Midway Park" (this *fabulous* rage version which they said this band had
never played before), and closing of this killer hybrid-improvisation
version of "Losering."

I *really* wanted to head up to Dallas for the Friday show but had an
appointment I couldn't break. (I should have blown it off anyway.)

ET AL:

--Ryan twice complimented Caitlyn's "great fuckin' hair." (She told us it
was at that "growing-out stage.") Also, she recommended barbeque at the
Salt Lick.

--There's a third t-shirt to add to the blue and red collection. This
one's white with a brown, broken/crumbling guitar on it. ("Whiskeytown" is
above the graphic; "_Strangers Almanac_ Tour" is below.) It's pretty
cool-- given Ryan's recent comments on deconstruction, it is especially apt
(tho I can't decide if he and Derrida are using the term in the same
way--which is, I guess, consistent with the nature of deconstruction).

If anyone taped this or the Dallas show, *please* let me know privately.
I've got stuff to trade.

Renee

NP: Broncos vs. Raiders