I'll probably have a "full" review up at some point soon. But some observations from last night (and I apologize if someone already mentioned these things from previous shows):
As mentioned in a previous post, no surprises on the setlist other than dropping "Salt Lake City" and adding "Do It Again" in its place, the latter having not been done that often on this tour or particularly often at all since C50. On this show, the pick between "Little Honda" and "You're So Good To Me" went to "Little Honda."
Band was TIGHT. Last year, I heard them on the opening night of the NPP tour (where they were still surprisingly tight), and then a one-off show in September, so this is the first time since probably 2013 that I got them *during* a tour and at the tail-end of one. They were amazingly tight musically and vocally.
I thought I had seen them doing WIBN in the lower key earlier in the tour; I could just be misremembering. In any event, they did it the standard old BB concert key (I think just a half-step below the original record), and Matt sang the full song except for Brian on the bridge.
Brian did the "talky" singing on PS to some degree, though it wasn't as prominent as other shows on the tour I've heard, and it was confined only to some PS songs.
I was surprised to see that Matt Jardine switches over to *electric guitar* in Probyn's spot for "Let's Go Away for Awhile" and does all of the electric guitar noodly bits as the sole electric guitar player during the song. It's a pretty prominent guitar part to hear a guy do who prior to 2015 I had never seen play guitar at all through all his years playing with the BBs and Al. I really dig that Matt's branching out and playing more guitar.
I sense perhaps Blondie is getting a bit restless doing his same few songs, and on this show he seemed to vary his vocal intonations more and, as mentioned earlier, was trying out some new "moves" on stage including a *hilarious* and equally odd "thrusting/gyrating" bit during "Wild Honey."
Blondie came out and joined the band for "Little Honda", which seemed to surprise Al.
Blondie broke a string during "Wild Honey", but kept playing, and also played with the broken string through "Sail on Sailor." His guitar was one of the few times where the mix wasn't bringing it forward enough, so his guitar soloing was lost in the mix a bit and may have sounded to the audience as more noise than guitar solo.
Gary Griffin has seemed to morph more into Darian's on-stage role, playing a more prominent part and even seemingly *leading* the band during some songs. Debbie Shair seemed to play Griffin's previous role, doing more straight "rhythm piano" and then a few other assorted bits. She seemed to smile the entire time like she was getting a kick out of being there.
As pictured above, I was quite surprised to see this was one of the few shows that got its own individual (well, for the two night run of shows anyway) poster. Yes, they did just take the template from the Hollywood Bowl poster and change the background color and some wording/graphics. But still cool, and much more interesting than the standard poster. Unsigned posters were $20, signed were $100. I already have a few Brian autographs, so I went with saving $80. I also grabbed a program and hoodie.
Looks like they were also selling Brian's book at the show.
Sound was quite good at The Masonic, much better acoustics for a rock show than last year at Davies Symphony Hall. This was my first time at the Masonic.
Brian was in a good mood, and I have noticed what others have often mentioned: He seems to be in better voice and mood after a day (or more) off. Brian's singing during the non-PS stuff was good, better than I anticipated and better than a lot of the YouTube stuff I've seen/heard. He was also better than I anticipated on the PS stuff. I have to wonder if he's just a little bored of doing PS every night, leading to the weird Sinatra/Nick Cave "talky" singing. I've seen Brian a dozen or however many times since 1999, so I know how good and bad it can be for him on any given night. He had a good night last night in San Francisco, and I'm glad.
Al was in fine voice as always. Kicked ass on "I Know There's an Answer."
Matt Jardine is now being brought to the front of the stage for "Don't Worry Baby"; the crowd went nuts for him. It almost seemed like he brought a fan club with him or something with all the swooning and whatnot.
Simply put, Matt is easily the best falsetto guy either the BBs or Brian have ever used on tour. No doubt, no question. As I've often said since Matt joined, this isn't a knock on Foskett; I was openly lobbying for Matt to join Brian's tour all the way back in 1999 when such an event seemed *impossible*.
Overall, a great, great show. Other than not changing up the setlist more, I have no complaints. So, so glad I got to see another show. More thoughts as they come....
Awful smartphone pic that really just proves I was there more than anything else (I'm guessing the local papers and other posters will come up with far better pics):