The Bayou

February 2, 1996

From: Vincent A Simonette -- vsimonet@osf1.gmu.edu

Friday night was a cold one with much snow eminent in the forecast. It began as of 5:00pm in Washington and was not to let up until morning. Many of the fans (~60-70) whom had bought tickets previously showed up, but those intended on waiting in line were no where to be seen, with 6-9 inches of snow in sight.

For an unknown reason, the opener, Joni's Butterfly, appeared close to 1-1/2 hours later then the 9:00pm time expected. A long wait it was. Their young, energetic version of Made in Japan was quite impressive, but it was obvious what the small, intimate Bayou crowd was present for.

Finally, 11:15pm rolled around, and Entwistle hit the stage in top form and looking healthy as ever. He picked up his red Warwick Buzzard with the lighted fret markers up and down the neck, and stunned the audience with his lightning attack. The sound was strong and full, though decent acoustics in the Bayou have always yet been desired, no matter how good the band.

His musicians showed fine endurance and knowledge of John's music, though John had presented himself quite interestingly. Perhaps due to the weather, the attendance, a bad mood, or possibly what musicians say, "a bad night", must have been in effect for him. Entwistle spent more time screwing with his bass tone and telling the monitor engineer things were to loud or not loud enough, then concentrating on the music. For me at least, nice to see a bass icon/innovator show a human side, and make mistakes. I question whether his monitor engineer will still be with him throughout the future gigs.

As the night progressed JAE grew more and more upset at his own sound and his monitors, even causing the frustration to "bite" into his classic, My Wife. It was quite amusing to see his expressions and here him complain to the audience (f@#! this, and F*@!ing that) along with cracking his usual jokes with the band. Finally, the icing on the cake occured when John grew so pissed off, that he purposely jabbed his bass headstock into one of his speaker cabinets in great disturbance. Whoooaa!! A possible act of Pete himself!

All in all, a fine evening was had by the small attendance, regardless of the wait and technical difficulties. Sound was quite loud and clear, and John despite his frustrations, appeared the most energetic on stage I have ever seen. Long Live ThunderFingers!!

Washington, D.C. Set List: