If you are going to play your last show for your loyal fans, why the hell play it four hours away from your loyal fans? There was no reason to play it in Boise, especially with the East State Fair happening a couple of weeks after.
Bridges wanted to make it a “fun” road trip. He really wanted to see the Craters of the Moon on the way so we took the longer way up north. It was such a hot day and I got crazy sunburnt. It was okay I guess but we spent basically the entire day there. After I just wanted to go home but we still had a four hour drive to Boise and Bridges stopped basically six times to look at random sights on our way there. We stayed at a hotel 6. Bridges could tell I was upset but said Greg had a “special surprise” in this show, which HAD to be Tainted Importance, right? I’ve seen them a few times at this point, that had to be the only surprise they could give us. I kept reminding myself of this. If we see Tainted, all of this is worth it.
The next day Bridges took me to a record store which was pretty cool and we roamed around Boise before going to Expo Idaho. When we got there I thought Greg was ****ing joking with us. They didn’t even have a stage for the show. It was basically a ****ing alley in the middle of a massive eating area. People were talking so loud you could barely hear Greg and the music. Worse, only about 8 of us showed up (PROBABLY BECAUSE HE HAD THE FAREWELL CONCERT 8 HOURS ROUND TRIP FROM POCATELLO).
You say the set was great but I would have given it a solid C before the encore. Way too Galore heavy for a “farewell set”. 11/13 tracks of the first set including the Medley were Galore. Should known it was just another ****ing Galore show then. Even Worldly had Pilsby’s weird storm effects that he did on his re-release and they crammed Celtic Tango into the Medley (a huge disappointment).
I swear Berry did a line during the intermission because he came out playing everything in double time. I hated Introducing the Experience on its release (whoopee, another galore track). That ass guitar riff is my least favorite thing Greg has ever done but seeing it after the intermission in double time made me find a way to hate it even more. It just felt like the whole band wanted to leave at this point. For all the **** Rold gets for the Galore's live Intercity release, imagine watching Intercity played at double time. Because I watched it, and gosh, Greg could barely keep it up with the harmonica. Berry didn’t play Swedish at double time, but at the same tempo he was playing everything else, which weirdly made me like it more. I just decided to call it “The Berry tempo” at this point. The dingleberries love to say his drumming was perfect, which, whatever, he didn’t miss a fill or anything, but his tempo was just off most of the second set.
The whole band was silent for most of the second set, which was awkward af since WE WERE STANDING RIGHT THERE. Pilsby basically had a middle schoolers keyboard just so he could fit up there with the band (sounded like a middle school production too).
Greg finally spoke after Arabic Ensemble (they remembered to play it, I guess), and said he wished “things had turned out better.” It was just sad at this point, no one (including us) wanted to be there. Greg then invited Tom Collins on stage and played Counting Sheep. It was a nice surprise they'd pull something from their Airhead cover band years. Weirdly, the Berry tempo and Pilsby's middle school keyboard fit perfectly and this was the highlight of the night. It shouldn’t of been, because Greg promised one more surprise and THAT HAD TO BE TAINTED, RIGHT? If they just play Tainted EVERYTHING would have been worth it.
Nope, Greg asks us to “pretend they left” before the Encore then goes on about how this song represents him “finding himself and how different he was” blah blah blah and then plays ****ing Westward to Nowhere. A bunch of people have given me **** for this but I don’t care. I yelled and just stormed away to find something else to do. I was so disappointed. After everything we did for the band could they have just said thanks by playing the song we asked for for years? After the drive, their shitty, high school tuned performance, and all the concerts we showed up at, was it really that much to ask? Whatever, I have no regrets.
I hope we get a release because everyone can see what ass it really was. Truly one of the most disappointing days of my life.
