14 November, 1998 - SanFransico, CA - Noe Valley Mission

 

review by Alex

When we first arrived, we were surprised to find that the venue was a church. We went upstairs to check out the place, then back down to get some drinks. We were seated in chairs; no standing  up for this concert. The place was moderately filled when Peter  Krebs first came out. He had on some thick glasses and a beanie, and these interesting leather pants (which someone commented on during the show). His songs were nice, and his singing was pretty good. Just him and an electric guitar, no distortion, of course.

Pete was in good spirits the entire set, talking to the crowd at times. One thing he commented on was the fact that he was playing in a church, and that he felt guilty for doing it. One thing I noticed was that his guitar playing was very cool, and the man was obviously very talented. After a break of 5 minutes after his set was over, Mike Johnson came out, accompanied only by his acoustic guitar. He seemed very somber and serious, not really saying much. His influence and co-writing with Mark Lanegan were quite evident in his songs. In fact, his voice was even somewhat similar to Lanegan's; very deep. Unfortunately, after four or five songs, one of his guitar strings broke. He said, "Fuck..." and walked offstage, seemingly pissed off, and he didn't come back to finish his set.

Ten to fifteen minutes later, Mark Lanegan's set started. The band came out, and Mike Johnson was welcomed back. Mark walked out abruptly and the band went directly into the first song, Ugly Sunday. It was beautiful hearing Mark's voice singing his songs. I realized just exactly what I was witnessing, and how lucky I was.

Early in the set, he made the comment, "I feel like I'm at my 3rd grade piano recital." Mostly, his talk was limited to "Thank you." While singing, he would have one hand on the body of the microphone stand, and the other around the mic itself. Someone would periodically come out and trade Mike Johnson for an acoustic guitar; this way, the songs were very close to the recorded versions. The River Rise was beautiful. Most of the songs were true to the recorded versions, but The Winding Sheet was especially intense, and one of the most powerful songs of the evening. Afterwards, Mark said, "Fucking cigarettes are killing me."

I noticed the bass player, Ben Shepherd from Soundgarden, was acting pretty strangely throughout the set. I think he didn't even have a strap, as he kept holding the bass in the weirdest positions. Sometimes it didn't even look like he was playing. Other times, he would stand with his back to the crowd, facing the drummer instead. He moved from one side of the stage to the other.

Borracho was beautiful, and being one of my favorite songs of all time, I was getting chills all over and felt tears coming to my eyes as the song drew to a close, as the chords were pounded out and the tempo increased. Mark sang the ending so intensely; "One whiskey for every ghost...." In the song, and also throughout the show, whenever Mike Johnson would go off on his little guitar solos, Mark would look over and smile to himself. The band left the stage and was cheered back on for an encore, starting with Hospital Roll Call. The song was a little quicker and more upbeat than the album, but it was great. They ended the first encore with a cool version of Because of This that went on forever. The band was cheered back on for a second encore, and to my surprise, I heard the bass line to the traditional folk song Where Did You Sleep Last Night? It was great to hear this song, and I'm sure it must have been something for Mark, with memories of Kurt (he always said that he could never top Kurt Cobain's version of the song, even though he did it before him). Of course, it was totally rocked up, with lots of feedback. Then they played a song from the Screaming Trees album "Dust," which was another surprise. I wasn't expecting to hear any Screaming Trees material. Towards the end, especially during the encores, a couple of women were dancing in the middle aisle, and needless to say, it looked incredibly out of place in a church full of people sitting down, but it sort of defined the mood. Looking around, everyone was totally mesmerized by the music.

The band closed with a song that I didn't know, in fact, the only song I didn't recognize from the night, as I kept a running setlist. It may have been another cover though, since the other two songs in the second encore were covers. I only managed to take about 5 photos, because each time a photo was taken, the entire room would light up and blind everyone. I was scared to death each time I took one! But I tried to capture some moments. For instance, Mark sang very intensely with his eyes closed, and during instrumental parts, he would take his face away from the mic and have this look on his face that was absolutely amazing. It almost looked like he was in pain, or experiencing something only known to him. After the last song, Mark told the crowd there wouldbe no more encores. There were actually some older, middle-aged people in the audience, even some elderly, and afterwards, I saw some of them with their hands to their ears, trying to unplug them since they were probably muffled after the encores, which were considerably more rocked up than the set. It made me smile. All in all, an amazing night that I will never forget.

Setlist:
Ugly Sunday
Pendulum
The River Rise
Last One In the World
Bell Black Ocean
Stay
Undertow
House a Home
Hotel
Mockingbird
The Winding Sheet
Borracho
Encore #1:
Hospital Roll Call
Carnival
Because of This

Encore #2:
Where Did You Sleep Last Night? (Lead Belly)
Sworn and Broken (Screaming Trees)
(unknown song)[*this song was 'Slide Machine']