I'm encouraged to hear that Scott sounded good by a few accounts here, and even that he's singing a bit lower (possibly sounding a little more like the days of Core and Purple on some of the tracks).
I am also glad to hear they changed things up with an unexpected opener like Big Empty - instead of launching into Vasoline or Crackerman to open the show like usual. Changing up the show opener consistently throughout the tour would be awesome - and hopefully they come out and rip peoples' heads off with Heaven & Hot Rods one of these times.
A 16-song show is pretty substantial - that's about average for when they toured before - but I hope certain performances where they don't have to share the stage in a festival setting with a bunch of other bands might feature more of a 20-23 song setlist - especially since they didn't really delve all THAT much into rare material.
Don't want to complain - I know it was just their first night back and they probably mostly wanted to stick with familiar tracks - but I have tix to 3 shows on this tour, mainly because I want to try to hear as much of the rare stuff as possible. Sun. May 25th in Wallingford will be the first show I attend, and I think that in those smaller venue-type settings they seem to get a little more creative.
Nice that All in the Suit is becoming incorporated into their set now - always thought that song rocked. Coma is one of my all-time fave STP tracks - and when they opened with it at Rolling Rock in 2001 - that might have been the best single-song live performance I've ever witnessed (not necessarily because of the technical brilliance, but mainly because of the sheer surprise factor, sheer power, and sheer audience excitement). And of course Lady Picture Show is a great song that they barely touched after the Tiny Music tour (same with Loungefly after the Purple tour).
Please guys, I beg of you - more No. 4 and Shangri La songs please. Only a total of 3 last night between those two albums - both of which are excellent and underappreciated. Again, I know it was just the first night, but I hope that trend changes up.
Overall, I'm very excited and encouraged. The only thing I'll say is that I hope as the tour unfolds, that maybe the ratio of classics vs. rarities begins to balance out a bit more.
