So I went to see Guided By Voices last night...

[Swish]

....in Philly, and it was pretty much what I'd expect. They played a pile of songs, including THREE encores, despite the fact that it was prolly 80 degrees or more inside the Trocadero and the band isn't getting any younger.

Rob is looking pretty spry for a guy who will be 55 this year, leading the band through his prolific catalog quite easily. By the end of the the set they had played about 30 songs, some very short as GBV fans knows, and their shirts were soaked...as was mine just standing in the crowd and watching.

At one point, Pollard mentioned that this is 'no longer a reunion tour...we're back! We record 3 effing records in one year'. I'm not sure a band can return to form after all those years, especially when they're all pushing 60 and guitarist Tobin Sprout insists on chain-smoking cigarettes through the entire night (some pretty young girl stood behind his amp and would light them for him), but I give them credit for the effort.

Here's the lengthy set-list that included a lot of unfamiliar (read: new) material;


Laundry and Lasers
The Head
Hang Up and Try Again
Doughnut for a Snowman
Billy Wire
Spiderfighter
He Rises! Our Union Bellboy
The Unsinkable Fats Domino
Shocker in Gloomtown
Chain to the Moon
Hang Over Child
Roll of the Dice, Kick in the Head
Blue Babbleships Bay
Starfire
Exit Flagger
Class Clown Spots a UFO
Chocolate Boy
God Loves Us
Game of Pricks
The Opposite Continues
How I Met My Mother
Waves
Keep It in Motion
Jon the Croc
Quality of Armor
Imperial Racehorsing
I am a Scientist
No Transmission
The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory
We Won't Apologize for the Human Race

Encore:
My Valuable Hunting Knife
Echos Myron
#2 in the Model Home Series
Expecting Brainchild

Encore 2:
Cut-Out Witch
14 Cheerleader Coldfront
Matter Eater Lad
Tractor Rape Chain

Encore 3:
A Good Flying Bird
Unleashed! The Large-Hearted Boy
Motor Away
Smothered In Hugs

[bobsticks]