5-28-09 Raleigh, NC



Audio: by NCHell

The Gourds
The Berkeley Cafe
217 West Martin St
Raleigh, NC
5-28-09

01. Clear Night
02. Cold Bed
03. All the Way to Jericho
04. New Roommate
05. Fossil Contender
06. Red Letter Day
07. The Gyroscopic
08. Country Love
09. Do 4 U *
10. Tex-Mex Mile
11. New Dues
12. Luddite Juice
13. Valentine
14. TTT Gas
15. Jesus Christ with Signs Following
16. Steeple Full of Swallows
17. Illegal Oyster
18. Pill Bug Blues
19. All in the Pack
E:
20. Rock Salt and Nails (Utah Phillips) **
21. Up On High ***
22. El Paso
23. My Name is Jorge

*Portland version
**Kevin learned this song from Steve Young (K. Russell, personal communication, July 28, 2009)
***Jimmy, Keith, and Max only

Special thanks to NCHell and dschram1 for the field reports. If anyone has audio/video/photos from this show, please email TheGourdsNews.

3 comments:

  1. I made it over last night from Chapel Hill. Probably show #12 or so for me. It was one of the better ones. Here's why:
    • Great venue. I'd never been the Berkeley before. It's small and has a weird character.
    • The crowd. Not packed, but a decent size for the room. I love the fact that The Gourds can play quality clubs and you don't end up jammed together.
    • The time. They kicked off around 8:30. No opening act, no dicking around. Done by 10:15. This topic was thrown around a while back – I really appreciate that earlier slot.
    • Invitation to start. There is a small deck off the room where I was hanging out before the show. Kev stuck his head out and waived us in to get started. Just struck me as funny.
    • The perspective. A co-worker tagged along. She had never been to a show and had no idea what The Gourds were about. It was amusing to watch her discover the band I've enjoyed for so long. Some of the results:
    o She compared Jimmy to Booger from Revenge of the Nerds within the first 5 minutes. *His belch in mid-tune later in the evening only confirmed.
    o During Country Love, she commented – "this must be one of their popular songs." I didn't know how to respond to that. As far as I know, the only "popular" song by The Gourds GNJ. I realized that I enjoy that fact.
    o She quickly had Max tagged as "the sensitive one."
    o She commented on the constant rotation of instruments. Again, I realized this is one of the many things I really enjoy – constant variety.
    o After the set ended (pre-Encore), the band just left the stage and kind of slid into the crowd. In shock, she said "look! that one is going into the bathroom." To which I replied, "Even musicians have to take a piss." The accessibility of the band only adds to the appeal.

    Looking forward to lucky #13….

    cjsteffens

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  2. Last night I'm coaching 1st base at a north durham little league game, watching the phillies get waxed by the dreaded cubs. It's 730 and I am a good 35 minutes from the Berkeley Cafe. I call the club between innings and they tell me they expect the Gourds to start around 8:30. Good news. 8 o clock rolls around, the cubs are are up 15-1, phillies have last bat. should I stay or should I go? I bolt. Drive faster than legally allowed, arrive at 8:30 to find a parking space about 25 yards from the front door, its got about 12 inches more than the length of the car but I nail that spot inna NYC stylee, and dash to club.

    The Berkeley Cafe is a smaller venue than the Gourds have played around here recently but it is a nice room that was pleasantly full when I arrived. I missed the first few songs but walked into New Roommate. This was a fairly energetic crowd that thankfully had not fully approached the stage yet which allowed me to stroll to front and center. All the right songs and none of the wrong ones were requested. My best guess for what they played, in no particular order: country love (made me happy they didn't open with it), fossil contender, red letter day, ttt gas, luddite juice, new dues, pill bug blues, valentine, JC with signs, steeple full of swallows, tex mex paki mile. There were others, I think they did All in the pack and wrapped things up with a rousing My name is Jorge. I was on the road heading home by 10:15. they left the crowd wanting much more.

    The Phillies went down 1,2, 3 in the bottom of the fourth for those wondering.

    Cheers,

    Todd

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  3. Grapevine says that after the show, the one and only set list (written on the back of a Tecate beer carton) was sold from fan-to-fan for $120. No kidding.

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