The San Francisco night was very entertaining and regrettably the only date I managed to make on this tour. The band gave their usual solid performance and a special mention for Bernard's vocals as he sung really well for most of the set; Your Silent Face in particular (and the accompanying video) was a highlight. I enjoyed Singularity (first time I've heard it in the flesh) and Plastic also; looking forward to the studio versions as they've certainly got a fresh sound far removed from the more guitar driven stuff of the past decade and a half. I'm not sure if the ambiguous lyrics of Plastic are aimed at anyone "famous" in particular but I guess some fans will already be chewing them over.
As mentioned the now famous second encore nearly took the roof off the place as literally no-one was expecting the Scott McKenzie cover version which the band belted out very convincingly. A lovely touch and shows they're having a good time touring I.e. making little efforts for local crowds. Would have loved to chat more with the US Vikings but unfortunately we had to be out of our accommodation quite early the next morning and so duly called it a night. Shout outs to the usual suspects who were a pleasure to drink with over the previous nights in SF; Thursday evening in particular.
Only lowlight of the evening was some of the crowd on the right side being overly aggressive - ironically while openly smoking weed - caused a few of us to move back. This guy in a Hawaiian shirt seemed intent on having a ruck with someone early on in the night but gave up after his girlfriend seemed to calm him down. Venue was fine, if a little soulless. I was disappointed not being able to make the final night in LA simply because the venue (Greek Theatre) looked amazing and a special place to see one of your favourite bands play. Have yet to hear reports of that night from people on the ground.
I've got to say since I went to my first NO gig in 2001 I have never (personally) seen the band play so much of PC&L, two new unreleased songs plus a one-off cover version ever. It's a different vibe these days and three years since this line-up began touring they still very much have a look of people enjoying themselves so er... roll on the new record really.
Now back to my jet lag...
