The Presidents of the United States of America at O2 Academy Birmingham May 2006

The Presidents of the United States of America, Fri, 19 May 2006 18:30:00, O2 Academy Birmingham, Birmingham, The Event on Last.fm.

From a Gig Review post:
So I went to see PUSA three nights in a row; Birmingham, London and Dublin. As Al has said, they are one of the best live bands on the planet at the moment. I’ve(as some readers will remember) seen them twice already in Scotland last August, two nights in a row. Well in keeping with the precedent set that time, the setlist was different every night, more on that later.

The first night was Birmingham, I just got to the venue at 8pm and they were on at 8.15, great timing or what? Obviously I’d missed the support acts, not really an issue to be honest. The played for an hour and a half and was a blinder. All the favourites old and new, with even a call for “George Of The Jungle” theme tune which they had done for the very funny Brendan Fraser film, but it was not to be. The one issue I have is their disregard for “Freaked Out And Small” there “we just recorded this we’re not reforming” album released late 2000 which the play no songs off and consider “Love Everybody” as their comeback album. As with every show, Kick Out The Jams included a sideline off into “Shout” (by the Isley Brothers) with the call and response parts over-acted and the crowd enjoying every minute. When they eventually wandered off stage after “We’re Not Gonna Make” there wasn’t a face without a smile in the place and my head was practically split in half. Finishing at 9.45 meant I could get the 10pm bus back to London(even though my ticket was for the 11pm), which ended up with myself being the only passenger, so chauffered back to Victoria and home by 1am.

The next day I woke up in London, a good thing as that’s where they were playing next :-D. The Astoria to be exact. I again I was in no rush so got to the Astoria, found and good spot on the balcony and they started, at 8pm, I love these early starts. This was easily the longest show of the three and had a few surprises. First was the switch from Feather Pluckin’ to Bug City, nice. Then something a bit wierd happened, I say a bit cause wait till ya see what happened later, the brough a guy called Robyn Hitchcock out and played one of his songs “I Want To Destroy You”. He seems to have been a big influence on Chirs Ballew and his stuff appears to be a cross between Eels and PUSA, rocking but with twisted lyrics. It was a good tune though. “Some Postman” was also dropped in to the set, which I loved. Now the really strange happened. During the intermission before their encore a stage hand dragged a curtain in front of Andrew’s mic stand, so it hung down in front. It wasn’t hiding anything as it didn’t stretch from off stage to the mic just hung down. They came back out and started up “Body” then this blonde lady wearing very little(a bra and very tight leggings) came out on stage and started climbing up the curtain which was actually two long wide strips of material. She then performed acrobatics(like in the BBC inserts), hanging up side down, doing the splits, “free falling” down the curtain etc. All while the guys played on with “Body”. The song finished and she disentangled herself and wandered off stage, her name was Alex apparently. The show ended again with “We’re Not Gonna Make It” and I headed out to meet my mate J in Ben Crouches Tavern and drink too much.

The Sunday I woke up in London again, a bad thing as they they were playing Dublin that day and I was going to see them :-(. After a long boring trip I met Christine at the airport and went out to Liffey Valley and then caught a bus into town to meet Sarah :-). We got to Vicar Street at about 8ish, hunga round with drunken Al and his long suffering girlfriend Anais. We saw fat Dave too *Boo Hiss*. I LOVE Vicar Street best venue in Ireland but sweet mother of god why is it so awkward for last buses? And they always run the shows too late, had to leave just as Candy was kicking off. Again though the show was a blinder, easily the best but worst attended no one upstairs and maybe 75%/80% on the floor but the energy was intense. Chris really didn’t need to sing every single word was been sung by the crowd. A nice addition of Munky River for a fan Brid Ryan as it was her birthday and she really like the song. No guest appearances or acrobats but a very entertaining show.

I would do it all over again but wish the dates had been a little different so I could have gone to see them in Belfast but it was not to be.They played around the UK this time last year and then again in August, so maybe they’ll be back before 2006 is out and I will be going to as many shows as possible next time round again and I know Al will be there this time.

Setlists follow:

Later Days,
Halo.