The Setlists for all artists I have seen live

Alright! This will be a long post, considering my whole concert history. But here goes, beginning with P.O.D. in 2004, ending with Chris Barron this year, the (known) setlists of every single show I've attended over the years. Due to formatting limitations, encore breaks will not be listed.

P.O.D. - 6/17/04 - Marquee Theatre - Tempe. AZ

1. Boom
2. Set It Off
3. Sleeping Awake
4. Lie Down
5. Without Jah, Nothin' (partial)
6. Execute the Sounds
7. Freedom Fighters
8. Space
9. Wildfire
10. Will You
11. Southtown
12. Satellite
13. Revolution
14. Find My Way
15. Youth of the Nation
16. Alive
17. Asthma
18. The Messenjah

DIR EN GREY (FVT 2006) - 8/18/06 - Cricket Pavilion - Phoenix, AZ

1. G.D.S. (over PA)
2. CLEVER SLEAZOID
3. THE FATAL BELIEVER (unreleased early version)
4. Kodoku ni Shisu, Yueni Kodoku.
5. Ryoujoku no Ame
6. dead tree
7. The Final
8. THE IIID EMPIRE
9. -saku-

DIR EN GREY - 2/21/07 - Marquee Theatre - Tempe, AZ

1. G.D.S. (over PA)
2. THE FATAL BELIEVER
3. Agitated Screams of Maggots
4. Mr.NEWSMAN
5. DISABLED COMPLEXES
6. GRIEF
7. -saku-
8. Itoshisa ha Fuhai Nitsuki (alternate lyrics)
9. Kodoku ni Shisu, Yueni Kodoku.
10. Ryoujoku no Ame
11. The Final
12. Shokubeni
13. Merciless Cult
14. dead tree
15. OBSCURE
16. C
17. THE IIID EMPIRE
18. Beautiful Dirt
19. CLEVER SLEAZOID

Goo Goo Dolls - 10/16/08 - Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum - Phoenix, AZ

1. Long Way Down
2. Here Is Gone
3. Big Machine
4. Slide
5. Another Second Time Around
6. Tucked Away
7. Feel the Silence
8. Black Balloon
9. We'll Be Here (When You're Gone)
10. Name
11. Stay With You
12. Naked
13. Become
14. Real
15. Slave Girl (Lime Spiders cover)
16. Before It's Too Late
17. Broadway
18. Better Days
19. Let Love In
20. Iris

DIR EN GREY - 11/28/08 - Marquee Theatre - Tempe, AZ

1. SA BIR (over PA)
2. OBSCURE
3. DOZING GREEN
4. Agitated Screams of Maggots
5. DISABLED COMPLEXES
6. THE FATAL BELIEVER
7. Toguro
8. Ryoujoku no Ame
9. AGITATED SCREAMS OF MAGGOTS -UNPLUGGED-
10. CONCEIVED SORROW
11. GLASS SKIN
12. The Final
13. HYDRA -666-
14. Merciless Cult
15. Spilled Milk
16. GRIEF
17. REPETITION OF HATRED
18. Kodou
19. Gaika, Chinmoku ga Nemuru Koro
20. -saku-
21. CLEVER SLEAZOID
22. THE IIID EMPIRE

The Aquabats! - 12/13/08 - Marquee Theatre - Phoenix, AZ

1. Fashion Zombies!
2. Martian Girl!
3. Lovers of Loving Love!
4. Look at Me, I'm a Winner!
5. Super Rad!
6. Tiger Rider vs the Time Sprinkler!
7. Pizza Day!
8. The Story of Nothing!
9. CD Repo Man!
10. Pool Party!
11. Magic Chicken!
12. Captain Hampton and the Midget Pirates!
13. Awesome Forces!

U2 - 10/20/09 - University of Phoenix Stadium - Glendale, AZ

1. Breathe
2. Get on Your Boots
3. Magnificent
4. Mysterious Ways
5. Beautiful Day
6. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
7. Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of (acoustic)
8. No Line on the Horizon
9. Elevation
10. In a Little While
11. Unknown Caller
12. Until the End of the World
13. The Unforgettable Fire
14. City of Blinding Lights
15. Vertigo
16. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (remix version)
17. Sunday Bloody Sunday
18. MLK
19. Walk On
20. One
21. Where the Streets Have no Name
22. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
23. With or Without You
24. Moment of Surrender

Mike Doughty - 2/27/10 - Buffalo Chip Saloon & Steakhouse - Cave Creek, AZ

1. Tremendous Brunettes
2. Like a Luminous Girl
3. Busting Up a Starbucks
4. Put It Down
5. White Lexus
6. Sunken-Eyed Girl
7. (You Should Be) Doubly (Gratified)
8. Year of the Dog
9. Looks (Student Teachers cover)
10. Shunned + Falsified
11. (I Want to) Burn You (Down)
12. Madeline and Nine
13. Unsingable Name
14. Pleasure on Credit
15. 40 Grand in the Hole
16. Down on the River by the Sugar Plant
17. I Hear the Bells
18. I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress to Keep on Dancing
19. Nectarine (Part Two)
20. (I Keep on) Rising Up
21. Train to Chicago (Drink Me cover)
22. Looking at the World From the Bottom of a Well
23. 27 Jennifers

They Might Be Giants - 1/29/12 - Marquee Theatre - Tempe, AZ

1. Can't Keep Johnny Down
2. Celebration
3. Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (The Four Lads cover)
4. The Mesopotamians
5. Damn Good Times
6. Clap Your Hands
7. Ana Ng
8. Birdhouse in Your Soul
9. Battle for the Planet of the Apes (audience participation segment)
10. Withered Hope
11. Old Pine Box
12. Marty Beller Mask
13. We Live in a Dump
14. Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne cover - partial instrumental)
    
15. Paranoid (Black Sabbath cover - partial)
16. Spoiler Alert
17. Cloisonné
18. Alphabet of Nations
19. Fingertips
20. Stand on Your Own Head
21. Particle Man
22. Careful What You Pack
23. When Will You Die
24. How Can I Sing Like a Girl (John & John duo version)
25. Doctor Worm
26. The Guitar
27. Dead

Mike Doughty - 4/14/12 - The Camp at Cave Creek Coffee Company - Cave Creek, AZ

1. I Hear the Bells
2. Grey Ghost
3. Telegenic Exes, #2 (Astoria)
4. Day by Day By
5. Madeline and Nine
6. Na Na Nothing
7. Your Misfortune
8. Sunken-Eyed Girl
9. Unsingable Name
10. Busting Up a Starbucks
11. Rising Sign
12. Real Love / It's Only Life (Mary J. Blige / The Feelies mashup)
13. Shunned + Falsified
14. I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress to Keep on Dancing
15. Looking at the World From the Bottom of a Well
16. White Lexus
17. Russell
18. 27 Jennifers

Hey Ocean! - 2/8/13 - Hard Rock Cafe - Phoenix, AZ

1. I Am a Heart
2. New Love
3. Change
4. Fish
5. Islands
6. Jolene
7. A Song About California
8. Make a New Dance Up
9. Be My Baby (Ellie Greenwich cover)
10. If I Were a Ship
11. Last Mistake
12. Big Blue Wave
13. Too Soon
14. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) (Arcade Fire cover)

Old 97's - 5/7/14 - Crescent Ballroom - Phoenix, AZ

1. If My Heart Was a Car
2. Dance With Me
3. Longer Than You've Been Alive
4. Salome
5. The Ex of All You See
6. The Other Shoe
7. Bird in a Cage
8. Indefinitely
9. Give It Time
10. Can't Get a Line
11. Nashville
12. Every Night Is Friday Night (Without You)
13. Wish the Worst
14. This Is the Ballad
15. Up the Devil's Pay
16. Niteclub
17. Brown Haired Daughter
18. Guadalajara
19. Champaign, Illinois
20. Iron Road
21. Big Brown Eyes
22. Let's Get Drunk and Get It On
23. Doreen
24. Four Leaf Clover (w/ Nikki Lane)
25. Most Messed Up
26. Barrier Reef
27. Timebomb

Mike Doughty - 10/20/14 - MIM Music Theater - Phoenix, AZ (two sets)

1. Your Misfortune
2. 27 Jennifers
3. Janine (Soul Coughing song)
4. These Are Your Friends
5. Circles (Soul Coughing song)
6. Light Will Keep Your Heart Beating in the Future
7. Busting Up a Starbucks
8. Rising Sign
9. Put It Down / Pleasure on Credit
10. Year of the Dog
11. Madeline and Nine
12. Looking at the World From the Bottom of a Well
13. Super Bon Bon (Soul Coughing song)
14. When the Night Is Long
15. White Lexus
16. Thank You, Lord, for Sending Me the F Train
17. Lazybones (Soul Coughing song)
18. Navigating by the Stars at Night
19. Down on the River by the Sugar Plant
20. Unsingable Name
21. I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress to Keep on Dancing
22. Looks (Student Teachers cover)
23. Train to Chicago (Drink Me cover)
24. I Hear the Bells

Against Me! - 9/26/15 - Nile Theater - Mesa, AZ

1. True Trans Soul Rebel
2. Pints of Guinness Make You Strong
3. Unconditional Love
4. Walking Is Still Honest
5. Cliché Guevara
6. You Look Like I Need a Drink
7. White People for Peace
8. FUCKMYLIFE666
9. Transgender Dysphoria Blues
10. White Crosses
11. Spanish Moss (Goldentone Studio version)
12. Two Coffins
13. Bamboo Bones
14. T.S.R. (This Shit Rules)
15. Pretty Girls (The Mover)
16. Because of the Shame (first verse only)
17. Thrash Unreal
18. The Ocean
19. Black Me Out
20. I Was a Teenage Anarchist
21. Wagon Wheel (Old Crow Medicine Show cover)
22. New Wave (may not have been played - I don't remember hearing it, others insist it was)
23. Drinking With the Jocks
24. Sink, Florida, Sink

Martina McBride - 7/28/16 - Celebrity Theatre - Phoenix, AZ

1. Reckless
2. Blessed
3. Valentine
4. Just Around the Corner
5. I Love You
6. Safe in the Arms of Love (Gail Davies cover)
7. My Baby Loves Me (Gretchen Peters cover)
8. Diamond
9. Rose Garden (Joe South cover)
10. In My Daughter's Eyes
11. From the Ashes
12. Love's the Only House
13. This One's for the Girls
14. Wild Angels
15. A Broken Wing
16. Independence Day (Gretchen Peters cover)
17. When God-Fearin' Women Get the Blues
18. Two More Bottles of Wine (Delbert McClinton cover)
19. We'll Pick Up Where We Left Off (O.A.R. cover)

Mike Doughty - 1/31/17 - Crescent Ballroom - Phoenix, AZ (w/ Wheatus as backing band)

1. Lazybones (Soul Coughing song)
2. Sleepless (Soul Coughing song)
3. Sugar Free Jazz (Soul Coughing song)
4. Rational Man
5. Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago (Soul Coughing song)
6. Raging On
7. Bus to Beelzebub (Soul Coughing song)
8. Wednesday (no se apoye)
9. Circles (Soul Coughing song)
10. Shunned + Falsified
11. I Can't Believe I Found You in That Town
12. How Many Cans? / Monster Man (Soul Coughing mashup)
13. Light Will Keep Your Heart Beating in the Future
14. So Far I Have Not Found the Science (Soul Coughing song)
15. St. Louise Is Listening (Soul Coughing song)
16. True Dreams of Wichita (Soul Coughing song)

P.O.D. - 11/21/18 - Marquee Theatre - Tempe, AZ

1. Soundboy Killa
2. Rockin' With the Best
3. Babylon the Murderer
4. Satellite
5. The Messenjah
6. Boom
7. Murdered Love
8. This Goes Out to You
9. Always Southern California
10. Youth of the Nation
11. Circles
12. Rock the Party (Off the Hook)
13. Panic Attack
14. Will You
15. Southtown
16. Alive
17. Listening for the Silence

11/5/22 - Dropkick Murphys - Orpheum Theatre - Phoenix, AZ (acoustic show)

1. Ten Times More
2. Two 6's Upside Down
3. Middle Finger
4. Talking Jukebox
5. Citizen CIA
6. Take 'em Down
7. Cadillac, Cadillac
8. We Shall Overcome (traditional song)
9. Worker's Song (Ed Pickford cover)
10. Waters Are A'risin
11. Where Trouble Is At
12. Never Get Drunk no More (w/ Jaime Wyatt)
13. All You Fonies
14. The Last One
15. Rose Tattoo
16. The Fields of Athenry (Pete St. John cover)
17. Barroom Hero
18. Boys on the Docks
19. Skinhead on the MBTA
20. I'm Shipping Up to Boston
21. Dig a Hole (accompanied by video of Woody Guthrie performing the song)
22. Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced

Chris Barron - 5/23/24 - MIM Music Theater - Phoenix, AZ (incomplete setlist!)

1. Angels and One-Armed Jugglers
2. To Put the Love of You
3. Little Miss Can't Be Wrong (Spin Doctors song)
4. The Blue
5. Sweetest Portion (Spin Doctors song)
6. Sometimes It's Tiring to Be Me
7. Laraby's Gang (Spin Doctors song)
8. Still a Beautiful World
9. Princess of Whatever
10. Two Princes (Spin Doctors song)
11. Portrait of a Young Dog as Bob Dylan
12. Jimmy Olsen's Blues (Spin Doctors song)

And there you have it, every known setlist to each show I've ever been to. If you actually made it this far, I salute you.

Shiloh's Concert Chronology, 2004-2024

Hello, it's been a long while since I last posted in this thing. I've never been able to until now, really. There is a massive backlog of album and concert reviews I want to publish here, but first, I want to list all concerts I have ever attended, beginning in 2004. I will also provide setlists for headlining artists (except for if the artist I went to see didn't headline, e.g. as part of a festival) in a separate post.

6/19/04: P.O.D. (with Blindside, Hazen Street and Lacuna Coil) - Marquee Theatre, Tempe, AZ

8/18/06: Family Values Tour (I specifically came to see DIR EN GREY, and also watched sets from 10 Years and Deadsy) - Cricket Pavilion, Phoenix, AZ

2/21/07: DIR EN GREY (with Fair to Midland and Bleed the Dream) - Marquee Theatre, Tempe, AZ

10/16/08: Goo Goo Dolls - Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Phoenix, AZ

11/28/08: DIR EN GREY (with The Human Abstract) - Marquee Theatre, Tempe, AZ

12/13/08: The Aquabats! (with Suburban Legends, Dusty Rhodes and the River Band and a mini Yo Gabba Gabba! set) - Marquee Theatre, Tempe, AZ

10/20/09: U2 (with The Black Eyed Peas) - University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, AZ

2/27/10: Mike Doughty (with Christina Courtin) - Buffalo Chip Saloon & Steakhouse, Cave Creek, AZ

1/29/12: They Might Be Giants (with Jonathan Coulton) - Marquee Theatre, Tempe, AZ

4/14/12: Mike Doughty - The Camp at Cave Creek Coffee Company, Cave Creek, AZ

2/8/13: Hey Ocean! (with Her & Gold) - Hard Rock Cafe, Phoenix, AZ

5/7/14: Old 97's (with Nikki Lane) - Crescent Ballroom, Phoenix, AZ

10/20/14: Mike Doughty - MIM Music Theater, Phoenix, AZ

9/26/15: Against Me! (with Cayetana and Annie Girl and the Flight) - Nile Theater, Mesa, AZ

7/28/16: Martina McBride - Celebrity Theatre, Phoenix, AZ

1/31/17: Mike Doughty (with Wheatus) - Crescent Ballroom, Phoenix, AZ

11/21/18: P.O.D. (with Nonpoint and Islander) - Marquee Theatre, Tempe, AZ

11/5/22: Dropkick Murphys (with Jaime Wyatt and Jesse Ahern) - Orpheum Theatre - Phoenix, AZ

5/23/24: Chris Barron - MIM Music Theater, Phoenix, AZ

Mike Doughty and Wheatus in Phoenix, Jan 31, 2017

I've been a fan of Mike Doughty since 2005, and had seen him live 3 times between 2010-14, when he first really started to play shows in my area. To me, there wasn't a better way to kick off one's 2017, and better yet, he brought 2000's one-hit wonders Wheatus on tour with him this time.

As for Wheatus, I must confess, I had only ever heard "Teenage Dirtbag" a number of times when it first came out, but man, I loved that song and still do. It's the quintessential alt-rock tune dedicated to all the losers out there, of which I've always been one. Really, anyone who's felt like they've never fit in can relate to that song. On this night, Wheatus (or, at least 3 members of Wheatus) played a solid 8-song opening set, with "Teenage Dirtbag" being their last song. Before they started "Teenage Dirtbag" they thanked the audience for remembering it, and also thanked Mike Doughty for bringing them on tour with him, mentioning that they would be serving as most of Doughty's backing band for the evening, and that this meant a whole lot to them. When "Teenage Dirtbag" did start, I enthusiastically sang along to every word. This was a great rendition of the song, and Wheatus frontman Brendan B. Brown can really sing. I'm honestly envious of his falsetto skills.

After about a 25-minute wait, Doughty's long-time sideman and cellist Andrew "Scrap" Livingston, complete with a walking cane needed due to a medical thing he went through a year ago, began setting up his cello. Another 10-minutes or so later and Wheatus members Brendan B. Brown, Matthew Millegan and Gabrielle Sterbenz came back onstage and set up once more, followed by Doughty's drummer "Indiana" Pete Wilhoit, and finally the man himself, Mike Doughty.

Mike opened his set with a solo rendition of the Soul Coughing song "Lazybones", played on this mini synthesizer that he reinvented the song with in 2013. I had heard him play this live before in 2014 so it was nothing new. Mostly everything else played on this night was new to me, however. Doughty completely ditched his usually heavy-on-Haughty Melodic (Mike's 2005 album) setlist, and instead played what was essentially Soul Coughing with a few Doughty solo tunes added in. What went on through the set was interesting to me and something I'd never seen before; Doughty conducts the band via certain hand signals, essentially making the performance a live remix show. Overall his set did feel slightly short to me, but I can't complain. I had never seen Doughty with a band before, only solo or as a duo with Scrap. Despite the short-ish set, it was still an amazing night and I will never forget it.

Wheatus setlist:

The London Sun
Real Girl
Lemonade
Texas
Sunshine
Pretty Girl
Valentine
Teenage Dirtbag

Mike Doughty setlist:

Lazybones
Sleepless / Sugar Free Jazz
Rational Man
Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago
Raging On
Bus to Beelzebub
Wednesday (No Se Apoye)
Circles
Shunned + Falsified / I Can't Believe I Found You in That Town
How Many Cans?
Light Will Keep Your Heart Beating in the Future
So Far I Have Not Found the Science
Oh My God Yeah F*** It / St. Louise Is Listening
======
True Dreams of Wichita

Against Me! - a history and a review

Against Me! is a band formed in 1997 initially as a solo act by musician Laura Jane Grace (who performed under her birth name until coming out as transgender in 2012). They’ve had several incarnations since forming, with the most constant members being Grace and her high school friend James Bowman, who joined in 2002 in time to record the band’s first CD, Against Me! Is Reinventing Axl Rose, an aggressive, drunken DIY folk-punk record that was hailed as an instant classic in the anarcho-punk circles. It included “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong” (about Grace’s grandparents and is still a concert staple), “Walking Is Still Honest”, and former encore closer “We Laugh at Danger (and Break All the Rules)”.

The band then signed with Fat Wreck Chords in 2003 to release their 2nd album Against Me! as the Eternal Cowboy, with a lineup now consisting of Grace, Bowman, bassist Andrew Seward (marking his first appearance) and drummer Warren Oakes, who had joined a year prior just in time to record Reinventing Axl Rose. This 2nd album saw a mixture of their signature (for the time) folk-punk style (as seen in singles “Sink, Florida, Sink” and “Cavalier Eternal”), as well as more traditional punk rock songs like “Cliché Guevara”, “T.S.R.” and even touching on hardcore with Grace’s rapid-fire vocal delivery in “You Look Like I Need a Drink”.

2005 saw the release of their 3rd album, Searching for a Former Clarity. They added even more experimentation for this release (the song “Miami” is a rant about said city that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Dropkick Murphys record) and the title track, a sparse acoustic ballad about a person dying of AIDS that just happened to have fantasies of wearing women’s clothing - one of the first major hints about Grace’s gender dysphoria - though it would be far from the last.

Against Me! did what is always considered to be controversial in punk rock - sign to a major label - in late 2006, to release New Wave in 2007. For this album they enlisted the services of producer Butch Vig, shed most traces of their folk-punk beginnings and traded it in for a polished, glossy heavy rock album. Highlights include the title track, along with Against Me!’s highest-charting single to date “Thrash Unreal”, the dance-y pop-punk stylings of “Stop!”, “Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart”, a slower rock song featuring guest vocals by Tegan Quin of Canadian sister duo Tegan and Sara, and finally, the introspective “The Ocean”, where Grace more or less outed herself without actually outing herself in the song’s 2nd verse (“If I could’ve chosen/I would’ve been born a woman/My mother once told me she would’ve named me Laura/I’d grow up to be strong and beautiful like her/One day I’d find an honest man to make my husband”). She had written this song subconsciously and everyone assumed it wasn’t literal.

2010 saw the release of White Crosses. it was the first AM! record to not include Warren Oakes on drums; he departed in 2008 and was replaced by George Rebelo of the band Hot Water Music. White Crosses was also produced by Butch Vig and was even glossier. There were less lyrical references to Grace’s dysphoria than in the past, but did see the light in songs like “Spanish Moss” and “Bamboo Bones” in the form of metaphors. The album’s other highlights include the staunch pro-choice title song as well as “I Was a Teenage Anarchist” in which Grace rebukes her past as she had now realized her beginnings were when she was just an angry 19-year-old kid who thought she knew everything and thought she was a rebel, and also “High Pressure Low”, another political song that throws shade at Robert McNamara.

In 2011, Grace began writing lyrics to what was described as a “concept record about a transsexual prostitute” entitled Transgender Dysphoria Blues. Around this time though, Grace’s dysphoria had begun hitting her harder than it ever had before. The band ended up cancelling tour dates while they attempted to figure out where to go from there. Additionally, George Rebelo left the band to go back to Hot Water Music. He was replaced with Jay Weinberg.

Getting inspiration from a devoted fan she had met, Grace decided to reveal the truth in early 2012; first to her family, then to her band, and finally, to the general public in an article in Rolling Stone. In the article, Grace basically told her entire life story to that point, from wanting Barbie dolls as a kid and having fantasies about being Madonna, to her teenage years where she frequently got in trouble with the law and started using numerous drugs because she was in so much mental agony from gender dysphoria. While gaining acceptance by her band, her personal life did take a nasty turn; she had a severe suicidal breakdown in 2013 which led to a suicide attempt via pills and alcohol, then found out her suicidal thoughts were being caused by a reaction to her hormone therapy that gave her a parasitic intestinal infection. Once that was cleared up, her wife, whom she’d married several years previous and had a daughter with, decided she wanted a divorce. At this time Grace also moved from St. Augustine, FL to Chicago, not only to get away from her now-ex, but also in Chicago it’s considerably easier for trans people to get the help they need than it is in Florida. To this day Grace is technically homeless as she shares a 1-room apartment with her manager now. But she hasn’t let these setbacks stop her.

In January 2014, after numerous delays and re-recordings (including the amicable departure of Andrew Seward, and the not-so-amicable departure of Jay Weinberg), Transgender Dysphoria Blues finally saw the light of day. For this album Atom Willard (ex-drummer for Rocket from the Crypt, Angels & Airwaves and The Offspring) became a full-time member. Laura Jane Grace ended up handling bass duties on the album apart from two songs (which featured NOFX frontman and friend of the band Fat Mike). Soon after, ex-(International) Noise Conspiracy bassist Inge Johansson became the new full-time bassist and Against Me! was once again a four-piece. A rejuvenated AM! toured extensively in support of the album which received rave reviews from critics for being bold, in your face and bringing to light the issues transgender people face, ranging from subjects like separation from someone you were close to before (“F***MYLIFE666”), false perceptions about trans people (the title track), pretending to be someone you’re not in order to be accepted (“Drinking With the Jocks”), gender dysphoria and the mental effects it causes (the title track, “Unconditional Love” and the hard-hitting “Paralytic States”), plus the album’s signature song “True Trans Soul Rebel” and finally an angry rant against a controlling person in “Black Me Out”. As a bonus the album also contains a tribute to Grace’s friend John Paul Allison, known by his nickname Pope (“Dead Friend”), as well as an acoustic ballad where Grace talks to her daughter Evelyn about mortality (“Two Coffins”).

This brings me to the concert itself. I know literally nothing about either of the two opening bands, but both were decent enough. By the time AM! came on I was in the front of the audience stage right, in front of Inge, so I ended up hearing a ton of bass and almost nothing else. I couldn’t really hear Laura sing at all apart from a few of the quieter songs. They turn the instruments up so loud that hearing is near impossible. During many of the faster songs I was being shoved so hard against the stage I thought I’d faint, thankfully I never did. I’ll say, singing along to all of the gender identity-related songs with 800 others was cathartic as heck and something I really needed to do and hopefully I get another chance because I’ll need it again. Also singing “Black Me Out” and imagining all the a-holes I’ve ever met standing right in front of me instead of my new favorite band and literally telling them to f*** off at the top of my lungs is the best feeling ever.

The cutest moment of the whole show came when Laura started the encore with a rough solo cover of “Wagon Wheel” (yes, that one) which she played by the request of a girl that was there for her 8th birthday. I had saw the girl’s sign when I was standing in line and thought to myself, “yeah, that’s a long shot”. I’ll go eat my nonexistent hat now. Dang it Laura. You melted my angry, bitter heart, but you also rock for making that kid’s night. After the show was over I had hoped to get a copy of the typed setlist but that didn’t happen. What did happen afterwards though, was something I never would’ve thought about happening. I’d gone to the merch table to buy a copy of their new live record and then a guy that was behind me in the audience all night got to talking to me. I think he sensed that me being this half-pint standing in front against the stage getting shoved from behind and kicked in the head by stage divers all night meant that I was super-devoted to AM! and yeah, I am. So he felt that it wasn’t right for him to keep the Laura Jane Grace-autographed guitar pick that she’d used in the concert, and gave it to me instead. That alone could’ve easily been the best thing ever, but that was topped several minutes later.

Laura came out and talked to those of us standing in front of the venue, posing for pictures and signing autographs as well. Sadly I got neither of the latter two things because I didn’t have a marker plus the camera in my phone is awful (no flash, plus I have to send pics to my email address in order to even get them on my computer at all). But hey... I did get a handshake. That was cool. I told her the show was awesome and she said thanks. Dad was waiting for me at the same exact time so I felt a bit rushed because I had to leave. I really did want a few more seconds with her. I know she would’ve been cool with that. I really hope I can have another opportunity in the future, and hopefully not be as rushed by my dad next time? We’ll see.

Lastly, the setlist:

True Trans Soul Rebel, Pints of Guinness Make You Strong, Unconditional Love, Walking Is Still Honest, Cliche Guevara, You Look Like I Need a Drink, White People for Peace, F***MYLIFE666, Transgender Dysphoria Blues, White Crosses, Spanish Moss (demo version), Two Coffins, Bamboo Bones, T.S.R., Pretty Girls, Thrash Unreal, The Ocean, Black Me Out, I Was a Teenage Anarchist, Encore: Wagon Wheel, New Wave, Drinking With the Jocks, Sink Florida Sink