D

Opening Acts:

• Velocity Girl
• Magnapop

Soundcheck

Company Book
Hoover Dam
In The Eyes Of My Friends
———————————————————————

Set List

Gift
Company Book
Hoover Dam
Going Home
Where Diamonds Are Halos
Granny Cool
A Good Idea
Running Out Of Time
Frustration
Changes
Your Favorite Thing
In The Eyes Of My Friends
If I Can’t Change Your Mind
Mind Is an Island
Clownmaster
Explode and Make Up
Tilted

Armenia City In The Sky
Man On The Moon

Gee Angel

100% Pure CD (Full Album) Live At The Orpheum in Boston MA November 11, 1994

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sugarlist Commentary Below  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: IN%"SCREWBALL@" 12-NOV-1994 08:24:09.10
To:   IN%"sugar@csua.berkeley.edu"
CC:   
Subj: REVIEW:  Boston 11/11 (includes setlist)

The audience was, in general, very appreciative and really seemed to
enjoy the show.  Magnapop delivered a solid, energetic, buoyant set;
the only complaint might be that they didn't play long enough.

Velocity Girl were good; unfortunately, I seem to be missing the
point, so I'll shut up.

Sugar.  After having seen them three times already, each one better
than the last, it was hard to imagine what to expect.  But from the
first chords of "Gift" to the last echoes of "Gee Angel," they tore
the house down and left the audience exhausted and exhilarated. 
Everybody (band included) seemed very upbeat and very into the set;
once again, Bob was all over the stage and seemed to be enjoying
himself thoroughly, with the exception of "Explode And Make Up."  The
only complaint I have there is the people who keept cheering during
the quiet portions of the song; it seemed to detract from the overall
mood in a way that seemed both unnecessary and irritating.  For the
most part, though, there seemed to be very good interaction between
the audience and the band.

Even though the the setlist was out of order (according to Bob), and
even though the sequencing felt a little odd as a result, the show
was, as we've come to expect from Sugar, phenomenal.  There are damn
few bands out there who can come up with that kind of raw energy, let
alone transform it into a thing of beauty like Sugar can.

And now, without further ado, the setlist...

---------------------------------------------------------------------

soundcheck

Company Book
Hoover Dam
In The Eyes Of My Friends

---------------------------------------------------------------------

the set

Gift
Company Book
Hoover Dam
Going Home
Where Diamonds Are Halos
Granny Cool
A Good Idea
Running Out Of Time
Frustration
Changes
Your Favorite Thing
In The Eyes Of My Friends
If I Can't Change Your Mind
Mind Is an Island
Clownmaster
Explode and Make Up
Tilted

Armenia City In The Sky
Man On The Moon

Gee Angel

---------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 (screwball@
From: IN%"FISHER@" 12-NOV-1994 11:05:06.18
To:   IN%"SUGAR@CSUA.BERKELEY.EDU"
CC:   
Subj: Sugar in Boston - a couple of notes   (Msgnum: 1690409)

Still recovering from last night but: 
 
1) Too bad Sugar played the Orpheum.  It is more of a theatre type place which
doesn't allow for moshing or whatever you like to do to get into the music.  A
lot of people in the front just sat there.  Maybe they were overwhelmed by
everything (it was hard not to be). 
 
2) The sound was not as loud as previous shows which is fine by me.  I decided
not to wear earplugs and I can hear today.  I sat in the front row right in
front of Bob for 'A Good Idea' and 'Out of Time'. It was unbelievable.  He was
sweating up a storm.  
 
3) Bob's mood:  some people on the list have said he was in a bad mood during
the shows.  Well, the guy doesn't smile that much.  Even though I only saw him
crack a smile once (right before Man on the Moon), I wouldn't say he wasn't
having a good time.  He seemed to have this attitude of: 'ok, I'm playing my
guitar and singing my tunes and I like what I'm doing, so there. I don't need
to smile all the time.'
 
4) Tilted and Explode and Make Up.  What can I say?  They were the best 2
tunes
of the night.  Tilted blew everyone away.
 
5) Malcolm plays like a man possessed.  It was cool.  Although I'm not a
Dave Barbe fan, I did like 'Frustration'.  I think he did a great job.
 
6) Tour shirts - really kewl.  They are white with the FU:EL Sugar Logo on the
front and back.  On the back are the tour dates for Oct. and Nov. only.  They
did not have the boxer shorts.
 
All in all, it was a great show (like I expected anything less).  Bob and the
guys came out to play and it was an onslaught of sound for about 70 minutes. 
There is hardly any break in between songs, so you don't lose the intensity at
all.

--LisaFrom: IN%"taw@world.std.com"  "Tom A Walat" 12-NOV-1994 11:19:39.85
To:   IN%"sugar@csua.berkeley.edu"
CC:   
Subj: Boston 11/11

      I didn't get to the Orpheum until Velocity Girl hit the stage, 
and they seemed to lull the crowd to sleep. Not being familiar with VG's 
music, they seemed rather repetitive stylistically. It was amusing to see 
them get irritated with people for not standing up when their own 
listless performance was the reason why I was playing around with my 
earplugs instead of paying any attention to them. 
 
      When Sugar entered to the roaring power chords of "Gift", I 
naturally got off my ass and started getting into the show. Unfortunately 
eveyone seemed to be stricken by this lethargy and most people near the 
front didn't stand until they started begging Bob for an encore. I was 
embarrassed for them.

      Sugar highlights: During "Armenia City in the Sky", Malcolm going 
insane on his drumkit, snapping two sticks and replacing them without 
missing a beat; never having heard "Running Out of Time" before and 
thoroughly enjoying it -- is this tune available anywhere other than on a 
bootleg?; Bob displaying flawless ferocity on "Tilted"'s solo, the man is 
incredible; and seeing Barbe get to do four songs and seeing the confused 
look on people's faces near me -- "uh, what song is this?". 
 
      Bob didn't play "The Slim" and I was chastised thoroughly by 
fellow concert-goers who I had told that Sugar usually ends the second 
encore with this song. But overall, an incredible show and I didn't need 
earplug (except when VG was on stage, but it wasn't because of volume.)From: IN%"plh@swl.msd.ray.com"  "Paul Hilcoff" 14-NOV-1994 11:24:11.62
To:   IN%"sugar@soda.csua.berkeley.edu"
CC:   
Subj: Boston show notes

Others have already fairly summarized the Boston gig.  I just have
a few notes to add:

--"Explode And Make Up" was the high point for me.  It started
  out with almost whispered vocals and subdued accompaniment--and
  stayed that way through verse-chorus-verse-chorus, round and
  round, for what seemed like forever.  As a result, the tension
  in anticipation of the expected explosion grew all but unbearable.
  The explosion, when it did come, was cataclysmic.  It's a wonder
  Bob didn't have a stroke.  God, what a moment.

--Bob was full of energy.  He leaped around and covered a lot of
  territory on stage.  Be the end of the show the perspiration
  was spraying off him in all directions, like one of those cartoon
  characters drawn to express exaggerated fear.

--This was Malcolm's homecoming, and the audience was loaded with his
  friends.  He did the home crowd proud.

--Great "Tilted."  I was hoping that its extended coda would be the
  springboard for a free-form jam as it has on a few past occasions,
  but it didn't happen.

--The sound volume has indeed been decreased this time around,
  although it was not obvious during the performance.  My metric
  for evaluating loudness is the ear-ringing time-constant.  After
  Friday's show my ears were fine within 30 minutes.  On previous
  tours my ears would typically still be ringing the morning after
  the show.

--Bob's not crazy about the Orpheum.  The entire audience being
  seated mitigates the frenzy, so there's less overt energy to feed
  back to the band.  One foolish gentleman did attempt to rush the
  stage, but was warmly greeted by security personnel, who persuaded
  him rather forcefully that his plan was misguided.

Paul Hilcoff
plh@swl.msd.ray.comFrom: IN%"HENNESSE@HULAW1.HARVARD.EDU"  9-DEC-1994 09:36:39.84
To:   IN%"Ethan_Straffin@next.com"  "Ethan Straffin"
CC:   IN%"sugar@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU"
Subj: RE: Recorded vs. live vocal melodies

Hi,

This is the first time I'm writing to this list.  Should be interesting.  
I'm a big Bob fan, as I'm sure you all are.  I first saw him live on the 
Black Sheets tour, though I was into him and Husker before that.  He was 
great.  This brings me to my point, I have now seen Bob 8 times, twice 
solo, five times with Sugar, and once at the above mentioned gigs.  As a 
whole I've found the Sugar gigs less satisfying than the others.  

When I first saw Sugar it was their second gig in England, at ULU in London.  
Only the Changes single had been released, and we were all greeted with 
entirely new material.  The problem was, we could only hear the guitar.  
Bob's stage volume was so loud that even Malcolm's amazingly loud snare 
drum could only be barely heard.  Every time I've seen Sugar, sound 
balancing problems have seriously marred their shows.  

Beginning with the XFM 'fest in London, I have also found their performances 
starting to slip.  Yes everyone, it's the dynamics problem again.  They are a
very dynamic band, the albums have peaks and troughs, why does their live 
shows have to be one, even, screaming level all the time.  After a few 
shows it seems more of an exercise in stamina rather than a pop concert.

The most recent time I've seen them was in Boston at their excuse for a 
large size club, the Orpheum, which has enough problems of its own to 
destroy a show.  The place was too big, though at Sugar's level now I can 
hardly think of seeing them in a place like ULU again, and I had balcony 
seats.  Not much of a problem except that you're not allowed to dance in 
the balacony.  They sound engineer seemed to forget that there was a 
balcony, because, he was obviously mixing for the floor.  The only thing 
that we got to hear clearly was Bob's guitar, the stage volume I was 
on about earlier saved the day.  I could live with all that, but Sugar's 
performance was not wonderful.  True, they played for an hour and a half 
and, true, they squeezed an awful lot of songs into that time.  But they 
also squeezed the songs dry of emotion.  They did do Tilted, which was 
the best song of the night, barre one of David's that I can't remember 
now, but they did it so fast that I almost missed it.  Everything was 
that fast, that loud, and that obnoxious.  What works well for Tilted 
doesn't work for everything.  By half way through, I could hardly keep 
myself bouncing in my chair, I was becoming as forced as their 
performance.  What saved my night was Man in The Moon, which I love in 
all formats.  That song trancends mere format.

So, you might ask, what has drawn me back to Sugar live over and over 
again.  I don't know, I had to use Velocity Girl as my excuse to go to 
this one, as I had promised myself that four times was enough.  Maybe I 
just can't give one of my old idols enough chances.  It's probably just 
Man in The Moon...

Tara, Sean

PS what live melodies, I thought he was just screaming?From: IN%"ATRANSOU@smith.smith.edu"  9-DEC-1994 12:58:54.92
To:   IN%"sugar@csua.berkeley.edu"
CC:   
Subj: RE: Sean 12-9-94

Hi.  This is my first time writing as well.  I thought I'd hang out and just
read everything for a while before I actually posted anything, but I feel the
need to respond to Sean...

The Boston show at Orpheum was very fast, but I'm sorry your seat was in the
balcony, because I thought it sounded pretty good from the floor.  I 
overall liked the show; they just played the hell out of everything.  The
crowd kinda sucked, in my opinion.  I thought "Explode" was the best; Bob
just let it ALL out!  And last, I thought Magnapop did a lot better than 
Velocity Girl.

Anyway, those are my thoughts.  Take 'em or leave 'em.  Have a nice day.

Later, Alison
atransou@smith.smith.eduFrom: IN%"HENNESSE@HULAW1.HARVARD.EDU"  9-DEC-1994 14:03:43.48
To:   IN%"ATRANSOU@smith.smith.edu"
CC:   IN%"sugar@csua.berkeley.edu"
Subj: RE: Sean 12-9-94

On Fri, 9 Dec 1994 ATRANSOU@smith.smith.edu wrote:

> Hi.  This is my first time writing as well.  I thought I'd hang out and just
> read everything for a while before I actually posted anything, but I feel
the
> need to respond to Sean...
> 
> The Boston show at Orpheum was very fast, but I'm sorry your seat was in the
> balcony, because I thought it sounded pretty good from the floor.  I 
> overall liked the show; they just played the hell out of everything.  The
> crowd kinda sucked, in my opinion.  I thought "Explode" was the best; Bob
> just let it ALL out!  And last, I thought Magnapop did a lot better than 
> Velocity Girl.
> 
> Anyway, those are my thoughts.  Take 'em or leave 'em.  Have a nice day.
> 
> Later, Alison
> atransou@smith.smith.edu
> 

Hi,

Thanks for replying.  I'm sorry I was in the balcony, too.  The crowd was 
quite dull, but that seems to be normal for Boston crowds, they just 
don't want to move.  Pretty dull really, and some all-american collegiate 
types behind me were just too into talking about how cool and alternative 
thay were to pay attention to the show.

I missed Magnapop, but I love Velocity Girl, and I liked them, even if 
their sound was like a pudding.

Tara, SeanFrom: IN%"rgarcia@world.std.com"  "Robert Garcia" 15-DEC-1994 11:09:04.27
To:   IN%"HENNESSE@HULAW1.HARVARD.EDU"
CC:   IN%"ExRay@world.std.com"  "Charles E Cook",
IN%"ATRANSOU@smith.smith.edu", IN%"sugar@csua.berkeley.edu"
Subj: RE: Sean 12-9-94

On Thu, 15 Dec 1994 HENNESSE@HULAW1.HARVARD.EDU wrote:
> > I find that the Orpheum is just not a particularly good place to see 
> > particular bands.
> > 
> > -chuck c.
> > 
> Hi,
> 
> No flames, but I don't care for Green Day.  The Orpheim is an awful place 
> to see bands.  I couldn't say Boston crowds are always dull, as I'm not 
> from here, but, at most of the shows I've seen here, the crowd has done 
> little to change that view.  You should have seen the Sugar crowd at ULU...

I was at that show and was kind of underwhelmed by the crowd too.  I 
don't go to many concerts so I didn't know what to make of it.  I felt 
particularly bad for the opening acts.  Must be tough to look out a bunch 
of impersonal New Englanders and have to perform...

Still, I thought Sugar was excellent!  I'm just getting over it now... ;-)

Robert Garcia
______________________________________________________________________________
Roberto Garcia                       "There is nothing noble in being
Network Specialist                  superior to some other man.  The true
Genzyme Corporation                 nobility is in being superior to your
500 Soldiers Field Road             previous self"
Allston, MA  02134 USA                    Samuel Johnson
______________________________________________________________________________From: IN%"HENNESSE@HULAW1.HARVARD.EDU" 15-DEC-1994 11:58:30.02
To:   IN%"rgarcia@world.std.com"  "Robert Garcia"
CC:   IN%"ExRay@world.std.com"  "Charles E Cook",
IN%"ATRANSOU@smith.smith.edu", IN%"sugar@csua.berkeley.edu"
Subj: RE: Sean 12-9-94

On Thu, 15 Dec 1994, Robert Garcia wrote:

> 
> On Thu, 15 Dec 1994 HENNESSE@HULAW1.HARVARD.EDU wrote:
> > > I find that the Orpheum is just not a particularly good place to see 
> > > particular bands.
> > > 
> > > -chuck c.
> > > 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > No flames, but I don't care for Green Day.  The Orpheim is an awful place 
> > to see bands.  I couldn't say Boston crowds are always dull, as I'm not 
> > from here, but, at most of the shows I've seen here, the crowd has done 
> > little to change that view.  You should have seen the Sugar crowd at
ULU...
> 
> I was at that show and was kind of underwhelmed by the crowd too.  I 
> don't go to many concerts so I didn't know what to make of it.  I felt 
> particularly bad for the opening acts.  Must be tough to look out a bunch 
> of impersonal New Englanders and have to perform...
> 
> Still, I thought Sugar was excellent!  I'm just getting over it now... ;-)
> 
> Robert Garcia
> 
Hi,

I also real felt sorry for the other bands, particularly Velocity Girl, 
as I missed most of Maganapop.  They seemed to be trying so hard.  I 
really like V. Girl, but the strain was definitly a tick too much for 
them.  I'm just glad it wasn't me...

Tara, SeanFrom: IN%"rgarcia@world.std.com"  "Robert Garcia" 15-DEC-1994 15:48:51.16
To:   IN%"HENNESSE@HULAW1.HARVARD.EDU"
CC:   IN%"ExRay@world.std.com"  "Charles E Cook",
IN%"ATRANSOU@smith.smith.edu", IN%"sugar@csua.berkeley.edu"
Subj: RE: Sean 12-9-94

On Thu, 15 Dec 1994 HENNESSE@HULAW1.HARVARD.EDU wrote:
> Hi,
> I also real felt sorry for the other bands, particularly Velocity Girl, 
> as I missed most of Maganapop.  They seemed to be trying so hard.  I 
> really like V. Girl, but the strain was definitly a tick too much for 
> them.  I'm just glad it wasn't me...

Hi,

Magnapop wasn't too bad.  I thought they started off kinda slow but 
picked up towards the end.  VGirl was good.  I didn't know much of either 
band's music so it was kind of hard for me to get that "I hope they 
play..." anticipation.

They definitely deserved a little more appreciation.

______________________________________________________________________________
Roberto Garcia                       "There is nothing noble in being
Network Specialist                  superior to some other man.  The true
Genzyme Corporation                 nobility is in being superior to your
500 Soldiers Field Road             previous self"
Allston, MA  02134 USA                    Samuel Johnson
______________________________________________________________________________
Robert From: IN%"rgarcia@world.std.com"  "Robert Garcia" 15-DEC-1994 15:57:29.07
To:   IN%"sugar@csua.berkeley.edu"
CC:   
Subj: RE: Sean 12-9-94 (Msgnum: 1759828)

On Thu, 15 Dec 1994 FISHER@idx.com wrote:
> >Robert Garcia <rgarcia@world.std.com> wrote:
>  
> >I was at that show and was kind of underwhelmed by the crowd too.  I 
[deletia..]
> >of impersonal New Englanders and have to perform...
> 
> Excuse me???? 'Impersonal New Englanders'?????
>  
> Did any of you losers see Sugar a couple years ago at Avalon?  The place
> rocked!!!  It was the loudest, craziest show I had ever been to.

Uh, no.  I'm glad it was livelier than the November 11 show.  Also, they
crowd did get to its feet for Bob and co., but pretty much sat through the
opening acts.  I knew one song from each group but think they deserved a
little more appreciation than they got from the bulk of the crowd. 

> Stop slamming Boston as a bad place to see a show.  If you haven't lived
here
> that long and been to some of the smaller clubs, then you have no right.

I've lived here seven years.  You're right, I don't go to enough shows to
comment on NE crowds or clubs.  I'm sorry you took that as a slam.  The 
11/12 crowd at the Orpheum was not exactly the liveliest group of people 
I've ever spent two hours with.  That is all I meant.

However, the fact that some New Englanders can be as warm as icebergs is
obvious the minute you get off the plane.  Don't get me wrong, I *LOVE*
living here and have met many wonderful people here (some of them natives,
even :->) but this city can be really rude.  I've lived in several cities
in Europe and the US so I think I'm qualified to have an opinion in this
regard. 

Speaking of Europe, has anyone ever seen a Sugar show in Europe?  Where, 
when, and what did you think?

Robert Garcia
______________________________________________________________________________
Roberto Garcia                       "There is nothing noble in being
Network Specialist                  superior to some other man.  The true
Genzyme Corporation                 nobility is in being superior to your
500 Soldiers Field Road             previous self"
Allston, MA  02134 USA                    Samuel Johnson
______________________________________________________________________________

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20000830173233/http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/~stevie/sugar/reviews/Boston.94.11.11