24 October, 1998 - Madrid, Spain - Sala Caracol

 

review by Juan Francisco Hernandez Velez, autographs at bottom of review

Mike Johnson opened the show (10 min. late) alone with his acoustic guitar and played for about 35 minutes ( The only thing he said was 'Hello, I'm Mike Johnson and I'm gonna play some songs'). People liked him; I found it really beautiful. His cracked voice made my jaw drop more than once. I haven't got any of his records, but I'm thinking seriously about purchasing them.

Mark, Ben and co. opened (Almost 1hr. late!) with 'The River Rise' (great), and played almost every song on 'Scraps at Midnight' (Every single one except ' Waiting on a Train', 'Day and Night' and 'Praying Ground' ). And it sounded a little heavier and faster than the Cd. I loved 'Bell Black Ocean' and 'Last One in the World', but the best was 'Because of This', in a long long version that drove the crowd nuts.

They also played some tracks from 'The Winding Sheet' and 'Whiskey...'. I can't remember them all, but the most celebrated were 'Carnival' and 'Borracho'.

The show ended with 'Sworn and Broken', and the band leaved us begging for more. Mark's voice was amazing (I've never seen anybody sing like that, he breaks his fangs in every song). He didn't move much, but he doesn't need that, he's a great frontman anyway. Ben (Shepherd) looked kinda stoned during the show, but he did a good job (As when he was with Soundgarden). Mike Johnson and the other Guitar Player (Sorry! Don't know him) were splendid too. And so did the drummer. Mark's been intelligent choosing these people!