Guided By Voices Live

then all you've gotta do is show up for the encores.

I skipped seeing them on the Earthquake Glue tour, so now I'm really excited to see them play old songs that they've added to the setlist since then, like "Little Lines" from Mag Earwhig.

Fact Checking Cuz OTM about the encores! They always save the big "hits" for the encores, though "Tractor Rape Chain," "Game Of Pricks," and "Cut-Out Witch" are normally played in the main set.

I think they are worth taking a chance on though...they can be quite transcendent if you get them on the right night.

Same Place The Fly Got Smashed
Drinker's Peace

Propellor
Lethargy

Bee Thousand
Buzzards And Dreadful Crows
Echos Myron
Tractor Rape Chain
I Am A Scientist
Hot Freaks
Queen Of Cans and Jars
Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory
Smothered In Hugs*
Peephole*
Hardcore UFOs*

The Grand Hour
Shocker In Gloomtown

Alien Lanes
Game Of Pricks
Watch Me Jumpstart
Motor Away
A Salty Salute
My Valuable Hunting Knife*
The Closer You Are*
As We Go Up We Go Down*

Under The Bushes Under The Stars
Cut-Out Witch
Don't Stop Now

Not In My Airforce
Get Under It
Psychic Pilot Clocks Out*
Flat Beauty*
Girl Called Captain*

Waved Out
Subspace Biographies
Waved Out*

Mag Earwhig
Little Lines
Choking Tara*

Kid Marine
Submarine Teams*

Lexos And The Leapers - Ask Them
Alone, Stinking, and Unafraid

Do The Collapse
Teenage FBI
Things I Will Keep

Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Dept.
Tight Globes*
Pop Zeus*

Isolation Drills
Glad Girls

Universal Truths & Cycles
Skin Parade
Back To The Lake
Christian Animation Torch Carriers
Love 1

Motel Of Fools
Harrison Adams
Red Ink Superman

Earthquake Glue
My Kind Of Soldier
Of Mites and Men
The Best Of Jill Hives
I'll Replace You With Machines
Apology In Advance
Secret Star
Dirty Water

Fiction Man
Run Son Run
Their Biggest Win
It's Only Natural

etc.
Bull Spears
Mascara Snakes
Murder Charge

They play most of the new album too, obvs.

I'm going to make a mix out of all of those songs. And I'm definitely going to pick up the new album. Has anyone heard it?

oh yeah, that's the one other small thing about gbv live. no one in the band, pollard especially, can sing on key to save his life. one of my issues with the so-called "new band" of gbv'ers is that they play parts that are carefully arranged to feature, and complement, the vocal, and pollard rarely holds up his end. the so-called "old band" garage-rocked their way through everything, and played pulverizingly loud, so the voice didn't matter nearly as much.

The beauty of GBV, particularly in a live setting, is that they are a real sing-along kind of band. The best GBV shows I've seen are when the entire front section of the audience is drunk and singing along and moving.

http://gbv.com/images/gbvclassic2.jpg

in vegas :( lame

Yeah, kinda bummed since there is no chance of me affording that trip. Vegas doesn't really seem to fit the Matador vibe though.

The whole theme is celebrating their 21st birthday, though. I know a lot of people who hit Vegas when they turned 21.

seems like it would be a good time. wonder what the "classic lineup" would mean ... tobin and mitch mitchell obv., but it seems like the rest would be up for grabs. didn't kevin fennell become born again or something? or go to jail? one or the other.

Haha, maybe I'm just bitter since I won't be going.

good god i'd love to see them with tobin

it's Bob / Tobin / Mitch Mitchell / Greg Demos / Kevin Fennell

Demos better wear the striped pants

I saw that version of GBV play 3 or 4 times (lol I'm old) and they fucking killed. or I was real drunk. both.

didn't Pollard dub it the "so-called classic lineup" on one of those live bootlegs? I feel like I remember it from some stage banter

old, drunk, same thing

yeah, gbv in 1995 was uhhh pretty next level when I was 16. my friend and i were just talking about how ridiculous/overwhelming that show was.

say what you want about vegas but there are very few places where you can gather large groups of people and house, feed and entertain them relatively inexpensively.

ha that's what is a little bit painful about this. attending, for me, is still unrealistic, but since it's in vegas it's a little more realistic than if it was in NYC or somewhere east coast-y.

I wish it was on the coasts too. There's about a 10% chance I can justify going to this to the wife.

Ha. My divorce is pending. This is exactly what they mean by "silver lining."

I don't think I've ever experience more joy at a show(s) than consecutive nights at Bowery Ballroom '96. I have major qualms with the billing on this. I'm a pretty big SY fan (and to a lesser degree Pavement) but in order for this to work GbV have to go on last and play for 3 drunken hours.

Hoping Greg Demos is there with striped pants on.

xpost dmr ha, didn't see above.

Really enjoyed part of the GBV show I caught on their last tour in 2004/05 or so. I was actually walking past the venue, had no idea they were playing that night until I heard a song in passing, was all "is that GBV?!" and then waited outside the venue for about 10 minutes until the doorman/security guy let me in. The main set was just ending, so I got to see the encore(s), which of course was at least another 10-11 songs. Great show.

This needs filming. Somebody;please

I saw them one time at Maxwells in Hoboken right before Alien Lanes came out. They played a 45 minute set, then took a break. Then they come back and Pollard says "We'll keep playing till whenever. Just yell shit out." So for the next 3 hours they took requests. They even wrote a song onstage. They finally ended when Pollard was too drunk to stand. Two guys were there holding him up as he was muttering "Thanks for rocking with us. Thanks for rocking with us." So classic.

Oh man. I wish they came back to Maxwells.

does it seem like this is just going to be a one-off? can't imagine that Sprout would suddenly be back into touring, etc., but who knows?
and yeah, kornrulez, what was so great about those early shows was the sense that the band was kind of overwhelmed with the response they were getting. it sounds kind of cheesy now, but at the time, they seemed like heroes.

Oh! that Maxwells show is where they wrote "Did I See That"? I have an mp3 of that song with them saying they were going to write it right now. Didn't know that happened here in Hoboken!

The mp3s aren't working for me, but look heres that show you were at:

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2009/01/10/guided-by-voices-maxwells-hoboken-nj-33095/

ooh that show looks cool. anybody have any good "classic Lineup" GBV bootlegs? i have the crying your knife away and jellyfish reflector "official" boots, but that's it.

http://wilfullyobscure.blogspot.com/2007/10/robert-pollard-hits-half-century-mark.html

Pretty murky stuff in there.

Saw them last Thursday -- they were great. Chris Slusarenko who played in later incarnations of GBV and plays with Bob in one of his many other bands joined them onstage to sing along to 'Lethargy.' During the first chorus, he wound up spraying a bottle of beer into the audience and throwing the empty bottle twenty feet up to the ceiling where it burst all over the stage.

Forgot to mention that the show only wound up being about 2 hours even with all of the encores. Kind of surprised to see the lights go up at 1130.

Cannot wait, less than 12 hours.

Is there anywhere to check out setlists for the recent shows? The usually on top of things GBVDB doesn't have anything entered for this tour yet.

gbvdigital.com has some of the reunion shows up for download, w/ setlists

Oh yeah, didn't think to check there, thanks!

Also:

http://www.setlist.fm/search?query=guided+by+voices

Hahaha! I was at that Crystal Ballroom show!

man, they played here this past weekend and i didn't make it out.

so bummed

:(() <--Cartman

that ear-splitting scream that came with every reference to ohio? that was me.

it was a fun, if not somewhat predictable setlist, but i was thrilled to hear "break even" and "matter eater lad"
i'm a fool for the way back catalogue though. i'm always glad to hear shit like "shocker in gloomtown" and "my impression now" too. would have liked "do the earth" or "we've got airplanes" or something but that's ok. can't please em all.

i had a lot fun anticipating this event, screamed and jumped around a lot, sang at the top of my lungs, and feel a little bereft that this may never happen again. i wore the airplane tshirt btw.

oh! also i high fived mitch mitchell when he walked past me before the show.

Yeah, it was an absolutely fantastic show. True, the setlist was predictable, but it was pretty much everything I wanted to hear! Bob was typical Bob and very funny, my favorite line was the "how many critical acclaimed albums do you have MOTHERFUCKER?". I knew I was in for a great night when we "Tractor Rape Chain", "Gloomtown", and "Weed King" within like the first five songs. I'm so so so glad I got to see this lineup live. I really hope this one shows up on gbvdigital.

Times New Viking weren't bad for openers. Like them so much better live, they have some tunes and that willfully tinny production does them few favors on record.

Next TNV record is a slick studio production fwiw.

Hmm, I'm not sure how I feel about "slick", but I really liked hearing them without sounding so damn tinny.

I only mean slick in comparison.
I haven't heard it yet, either.

I'm curious to hear it, I just hope they keep a little of the lo-fi vibe.

i found them cute, but a little dull and weak on the melodies
that's ok though, i didn't expect much

getting more and more jealous. closest i'll get to seeing gbv in 2010 is a tribute band ("uncle bob") made up of some guys i used to be in a band with.

fact: it is one of my dreams to participate in a gbv tribute band

How's this for wild - goin' to see 'em at Southgate House in Newport KY (missed last night's show, but drivin' down from Chicago to 'Nati tomorrow a.m.) - my 92 year old grandmother is friends with the club owner (her brother, my great uncle, has paintings there and made the suggestion early on that they should have music/stage/PA there when it was just a bar) and the owner put me on the list (boy I hope that's still cool) - Goin' to give some big whoops to 'em tomorrow night - haven't seen this lineup since UTBUTS days.

According to the man himself, we have to start calling him "Grandpa Bob" now, since he has a "grandkid and shit" and "a grandkid that shits".

being in a gbv tribute band would be fun -- kinda doubt it'd be fun for the audience, but totally fun for the band. those songs can be weirdly hard to figure out though.

haha, so maybe someone should start an ilm gbv covers compilation thread

if there could be gbv live band karaoke and also someone would let me drum a little bit, i would be happy

what i lack in actual singing/drumming ability i make up for in stage presence and heart

yeah karaoke might be the way to go. in fact, former members of gbv should just start a touring karaoke gbv thing. what else are those guys doing?

Rockband - Guided By Voices would be great!

oh man yeah it would

If you guys haven't signed up for gbvdigital yet, you might want to this weekend. They are giving away two free soundcheck songs from their Dallas show to subscribers ("Watch Me Jumpstart" and "Jar of Cardinals").

jar of cardinals is the name of our family gbv + solo best of comp! i'll sign up for that, sure.

they were fun in DC, first time i've seen Pollard or GBV. guess i really never thought of them as a "guy" band though. so much drunken bro-ing out at this thing.

guess i really never thought of them as a "guy" band though. so much drunken bro-ing out at this thing.

This is like a crucial aspect of GBV's mythology/origin story. Not sure how you missed it...Always a drunken bro fest.

Yeah, I mean the genesis of the band was basically nothing more than bros bro-ing down with lots of beers in the garage.

yeah, i'm familiar with the whole drunk guys getting wild and jamming mythology, i just wasn't expecting such a heavily lopsided male crowd.

try and imagine a gbv unplugged thing where they have some girl and/or various sort of non-bro be on stage with them to like add cello to the mix or some shit, i mean just the sheer amount of lolling at such a notion

You are aware the original title of GBV's acknowledged masterpiece is Bro Thousand?

try and imagine a gbv unplugged thing where they have some girl and/or various sort of non-bro be on stage with them to like add cello to the mix or some shit, i mean just the sheer amount of lolling at such a notion

― del griffith, Saturday, October 23, 2010 5:43 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

this sounds neither unlikely nor comical. within a decade.

at wolf trap

They have loads of songs this'd go ok with really

eh, most ev'ryone sorta does. not a likely gbv set though huh?

Tonight. Detroit.

anybody else go to the new york show? curious what you thought. I had a lotta fun but it didn't exactly blow my head off. so sloppy. My Valuable Hunting Knife and Smothered in Hugs got totally mangled. (and yeah I know they always play like that. totally possible I wasn't drunk enough. reading reviews afterward it seems like I'm in the minority and most thought it was omfg amazing.)

setlist on this tour was definitely awesome though. so much Propeller. Quality of Armor, Weedking, Lethargy, 14 Cheerleader Coldfront, Exit Flagger, Unleashed the Largehearted Boy, Some Drilling Implied ....

I enjoyed it a lot. Didn't blow me away, but I was really more in the "drink and realize how many songs I know all the words to" mood then a "SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT, DADS!" one anyway.

and after listening to the Jellyfish Reflector boot recently, I didn't think they sounded particularly sloppy at all

Greg Demos should be in every band ever.

and after listening to the Jellyfish Reflector boot recently, I didn't think they sounded particularly sloppy at all

haha. well yeah exactly. the "Crying Your Knife Away" boot is even "worse" (or better depending on your perspective)

Demos was incredible. Mitch Mitchell on the other hand, at times I felt like he was clowning around to the point of the band not rocking hard enough. Postal Blowfish only has three notes, dude! Play your guitar! lol.

actually Postal Blowfish was pretty cool, I think it was the solo at the end of Echos Myron where I was like, WHAT is he PLAYING. and then when Pollard did like two extra verses on Smothered in Hugs before going to the chorus.

but don't get me wrong, it was fun! just felt like a little something was missing. maybe it was the venue, that was my first time at Terminal 5. the sound was soft and even though everyone was singing along it didn't seem like there was that much energy. (I made it up fairly close to the stage by the end, too.) people could barely muster a hearty chant of "GBV!" for the encore.

Ok let's try this again :) McCarren Park Brooklyn tomorrow

I'll be there!

http://www.gbv.com/tour.php
new one's very solid, including some esp. rockin' slurred-vocal psych-ish Tobin tunes. the one from earlier in the year, motivational jumpsuit, is even better overall imo. they don't do tours like this often my gbv fanatic friend say.