Joes 2-January 17 Setlist

CS, BD, DH, and JR

Set 1
Ballad of Lightning
Reality
Surround Me
Fool's Bargain
I Have Fallen
Good to Me
Nobody
She likes to move it
Broken Glass
When I'm with you
Fade Away

Set 2
Maggot Brain
Roll like Thunder
Mamas and Papas
Sunrise
Revolution
Again
Wake Up
Let You In
Hey Joe
Beautiful World

Set 3
She's a Diamond
Is she cold
Yoshimi
Lack of Water
What the Hell
Sooner that Later
So Slow to Rise
Same Old(name?) (new song)
When You're High


This was a cool show. First set was a lot of older stuff off of the 1st MCA release. This band is gelling and sounding better each time I see them. Shaffer is on his game right now, and you can tell he's taking the shows seriously. It's great to see the band coming together like this!!

Does anyone care anymore?

As most of you know, this thing called Chris Shaffer's music has been an obsession of sorts for me since the mid 90's. It started with getting the bob and tom cd with Everybody on it, and I was hooked. Over the last 14 years, I've seen Shaffer 100's if not a 1000 or more times. It was simply what I did. My friends knew if Shaffer was playing anywhere in the area, I would be there. The frequency has changed a little now with family demands, but I still get that same feeling when I catch Shaffer.

I think it's kind of like my grown up (kind of) version of collecting baseball cards like I did when I was a kid. I have a real need for catching a new tune live. I bet I have 500 minidiscs in the closet that I've recorded over the years. I suppose that's what keeps me coming back, just being able to record the moment in time on disc, to listen to again myself or to share with friends later. I can remember driving home from shows in columbus, ohio, fort wayne, south bend, etc. and listening to the recording the whole way home. My obsession grew from there.

The point of my post though is this, does anybody who used to care so much about this music still care? As I go to shows now, I don't see many of the same faces from show to show, and I wonder why. Has life just changed that much for everyone that catching a show doesn't fit into life anymore or is it that the music isn't the same with different guys playing the instruments? Or perhaps have people govne away because they don't like the things shaffer does at times?

I would contend that many people don't get that magical feeling from the band that they used to get from the original why store. Why? I'm not sure. I think the talent is there with these four. Dan Hunt and Jerry Reiskamp on rhythm are rock solid. Benito on guitar smokes. Is it different from the original? Sure, but it's still damned good.

I would love to hear the old TWS play some of the songs on Vim live just to compare it to the way this group plays the songs, but that isn't ever gonna happen. I think this group pulls off live versions of those new songs incredibly well. I would kill to see Shaffer play them with Rusty Anderson's band like he did this past weekend in LA.

I've said this a million times, and I've been wrong every single time, but I'll say it again now. I think Shaffer is on the verge of getting some radio play. If, and I know it's a big if, he can keep these three with him, and if, and I know it's probably a bigger if, he can keep a relationship with Rusty, he might get some breaks to go his way.

Maybe that's why I keep going back, I keep this hope for this guy to make it. Why? I don't know. I just hope he can reach people the way the original store reached me back in the day. It sounds exaggerated, but for a period of time after my mom passed away, they were one of the things that I lived for. I loved that feeling the music gave me. I'll be forever grateful for that feeling.

So, where are the rest of you, and why don't you feel the same about the band as you once did? I'm interested.