Friday, February 28, 2003
The Red Rose - Murfreesboro, TN
__________________________

Circus
Exhibit A
The Way It's Meant To Be
Blow It Out
Darkroom
There's a Million Ways to Sing the Blues
Exorcising Demons
The Idea of Growing Old
Me & the Skirts
Kari-Ann
Buffalo Head
Leave It All Behind
Stagecoach*
NEW SONG - UNTITLED
Walk You Home
See You Thru
Look Out Below
Bring On the Night
Thursday
Serious**
The Beginning
God Save Rock'n'Roll

*last played 10-24-02
**last played 8-30-02

Twas a pretty good evening. The Red Rose? Eh, pretty crowded and hot. Familar faces? Lots. The Japanese band? Very cool, very fun. The Features? Pretty loose. But you know what? Some of their most enjoyable shows are when they're loose. They obviously played some fan requests as well as the usuals, and it made for a great setlist. The new song? I can't say much about it yet. It began with Rollum playing his ride cymbal for a couple of measures. It was quite fast and short. I could not make out any lyrics, but then the vocals were hard to hear all night. I want to hear it again. The hip-hop music after the show? I was digging it, baby. That's a good song. "Me and my crew." Holla.

i was definitely digging elekibass. they were a lot of fun. you know you're in for a good time when there is a japanese kazoo choir is involved.

Tonight was indeed amazing. Never before have I been so enthusiastic about opening bands that I had never heard before. I learned tonite that if a band's opening song involves a kuzoo solo, they will indeed rock. First of all, 63 Crayons were awesome. Of course my favorite member was Ray Davies, who I was not aware was the band's percussionist. They had a very cartoony yet rocking vibe, and I really dug the drum machine. Spot on.

Then there was Elekibass. Wow. Not only did they utilize the kuzoo, but they utilized their accents, party hats, and a rocking mask/cape killer combo to start off their set. Amazing. To hear the lead singer tell us to "drink beer" and "fuck starbucks" was truly hilarious. And also, both lead singers tonite felt the urge to bust some funky moves, which I thought was very cool.

I would have paid money to see those two bands alone, they were that good. Then we add the Features on top of that who were, of course, amazing tonite. Here's why:

1. The "whoah-oh's" were back on "Exhibit A." Looks like some band members do check the board.
2. "The Way It's Meant To Be" featured some brand new lyrics (I do believe) that were possibly even cuter/cooler than before.
3. The return of "Blow It Out" and "Dark Room." It had been way too long, and I was so glad to have them back.
4. "TAMWTSTB" gets better and better every time I hear it. I think some of the 15 year old emo kids had to go cry somewhere after hearing it...
5. After many many requests, "Stagecoach" was played. Thank you Matt for fulfilling my request.
6. The New Song, which I had a lyric picked out but I can't remember it now. Great song.
7. The return of "Bring On The Night." I hadn't heard it in a while and it was glad to hear again.

And lastly....

8. "Serious." Once again, the requests worked and they totally rocked. I want "Serious" back in rotation now.

Great show. Great openers.

(Edited by DigsySlattery at 3:20 am on Mar. 1, 2003)

two words: fucking amazing.

the overall lineup for tonight's show was seriously the best lineup that i have ever seen. all of the bands suited each other very very well. it was glorious. they was a very eccentric and whimsical pop mood to the entire show tonight, which is of course very good in my book.....

first up: 63 crayons.

i really liked them a whole lot. the childlike nature of the lyrics along with the slightly jaunty arrangement created a winning combination in my opinion. there were magnificent. i was a little shocked by the fact that i had to play sleigh bells and tambourine for them on two songs, but it was great. i got a free ep and t-shirt out of it. made some new friends.....a great band. please come back 63 crayons.......

next: elekibass

this band was fucking amazing. they reminded me of a mix between of montreal and the move along with the kinks and the beach boys. they were magnificent. i definitely want to see them again. the arrangements were beautiful and.....i am speechless. i loved them. please come back elekibass......

last but not least: the features

great show. one of their best. very loose. they played dark room which made me very very happy. stagecoach and serious were great additions as well. i enjoyed the panda that rollum drew for katie......very sweet. anyway, it was a great show, and i cant wait to see them again, and that probably wont be for a little while since they're doing SXSW and everything, but i hope everything turns out good....... features withdrawl really sucks......

....tell me about it, dude.

of course it's even worse for you, stalker.....

Tonight's show was one of the bests I've seen. It was amazing.

63 Crayons: I really enjoyed them a lot. They were very good, in my opinion. One of the best openers I've seen. I hope I get to see them again sometime.

Elekibass: I was a little frightened when they paraded onto the stage in their masks and cape thingies, but I enjoyed them quite a bit. They employed the "la la la's" well, and their music was really cute and happy. I could have done without one of their later songs which sounded way too much like "You are My Sunshine" for my liking. But, overall, I thought they were a nice little group. I'd like to see them again.

The Features: Tonight's set was amazingly good. Every song that was played just made me even more hyped and happy to be there. Not one song was played that slowed down the tempo too much. The night was very upbeat and lively, as a whole. I was very happy about "Serious" and "Stagecoach". Oh, I really liked the new song, too. Gosh, some of the lyrics were just coming to me, but I lost it. And, of course, I was so so happy to get to hear "Dark Room" since I haven't heard it since the last boro show. I was insanely happy during that. Well, now I've typed too much...The show was absolutely magnificent. I loved it. I want another show.

"Throw big American party!" Elekibass rocked last night. I enjoyed the whole thing. I would have preferred to have seen them at a larger venue, one where I could see and hear more clearly. I couldn't understand much of what they were saying outside of many "lalalala"s, but I think I heard him sing in the second to last song, "We are North Korean. We nuke you. We pee in you coffee." Let me know if I'm wrong on that. I also thought it would be funny if after the show, someone would hear them talking with deep southern accents, proving that their show was a gimmick.

It wasn't the best night to take one's future brother-in-law to see the Features. The Red Rose is a bit small, and the vocals were a bit inaudible. It was actually the first time I'd seen the Features inside there, and the first time I'd seen them at Red Rose since my first date with Token. All in all, a good show. TF once again proved his Features (or Rollum) mind control tactics by simply yelling "Bring on the Night" once and having it rained down from heaven upon us. My new pastime for many of the songs, especially "See You Thru" and "Long Way Down" is to come up with the cheesiest hand motions to extemporaneously dance along with the song.

Yay, someone to carry the torch! My pals & I have a huge arsenal of annoying interpretive dances for most of the older Features songs. Maybe if we ever get to be at the same show again, we can trade moves. See You Through was my favorite, because you can knock on the door & ring on the telephone, etc.

I'm sure a lot of our moves are the same, but we'll have to do it next time you're around.

i thought the show was really really good.
63 crayons were enjoyable. i felt like asking for ray davies' autograph after the show.
elekibass were extremely good. that's probably the most entertained i've been by an opening band ever. thumbs up to them.
i thought the features were especially good tonight. i'm very excited that "darkroom," "bring on the night," "stagecoach" (finally, after months and months of waiting...thank you features!) and "serious" were played. it seems like the band is more willing to play requests at red rose shows (ie "hey lou" at the last one). it was nice to meet justanotherdrive and carligula. to keep this short, i'll just sum it up: the show was great and a good time was had.

Is this because you are afraid of masks? Because I am too. One time, I saw G Love & Special Sauce on Halloween & a lot of people there had masks on. I couldn't relax the whole night. Also, when the Features played Seth Timbs' wedding reception, I was terrified when I saw a masked marauder crawl out from the bushes during "exorcising demons." of course, the masked skeleton "demon" decided to fuck with me (i think he sensed my fear) and did all of these weird dances around me. needless to say, i was scared.

anyway, i thought the show was pretty good. i really loved the new song; it seemed like the audience didn't know what to make of it. i think it's the shortest features song in history. also, it seemed like a lot of the songs were played at a slower tempo & kari anne seemed to drag on. and on. but i was glad to hear stagecoach, serious, and bring on the night. exhibit a & the way its meant to be are quickly becoming favorites.

the cutest thing i saw all evening: the drummer for elekibass hugging rollum.

Fan-friggin-tastic show! Working with the information we were given on this messageboard, Sina and I assumed 63 Crayons weren't playing, so unfortunately we missed them. We did however see a gret deal of Elikibass' set and I must say that I can't remember the last time I PURELY enjoyed a band like that. I was grinning from ear to ear from the 3rd song to the very end. I can't think of a more appropriate opening act for the almighty Features. I even bought the CD but must say that it doesn't do their live show justice.

The Features set was chock-full of rairities and very new songs which is always a treat for those fans like myself who rarely miss a show. Profuse thank yous to Matt for bringing back the yelling in Exhibit A. Not to be the unpopular one, but I can't say that I'm loving the other new stuff as much as that one, but I'm sure it will all grow on me.

Being unencumbered by my usual non-dancing crew, I had the best time to date dancing with Sina and her crew. I think they only pissed off about 6 or 7 people this time, so it was a pretty quiet night. I wish that I could have met all the people (especially the ladies ) we were dancing with, but the music was obviously too loud for that. (In fact, if you were one of those dancers, please let me know) Either way, it was very fun. Thursday just takes on a whole new level of excitement when you're with the right group (especially Roadie).

It was a pleasure talking with BrianW about filming and such. I just wish I could have carried my part of the conversation a little bit better. It was great to once again see/meet IWE, Digsy, HSS, Sexy Sadie, that guy who was too cool to shake my hand, and other people. I'm pretty sure I was standing next to YDDD and Token, but I was a little shy for some reason. I also blew it once agin and totally snubbed Mike D and JC. Sorry guys.

I'm hoping that we might get more posts out of Ben*Slack after this show.

I can't believe I gotta miss the next one. I'm sure it will be bad-ass.

(Edited by carligula at 3:19 pm on Mar. 1, 2003)

i think rollum was forced to find a place to piss last night after the show, as the bathroom was in use. i tried to offer him my cup, but alas, he required more.

63 Crayons reminded me of a mix between the Raveonettes and the Moldy Peaches. This sounds very unorthodox, but it worked quite well.

The primary lyrics on the new Features song were "its getting harder to ignore, your pants are tighter than they were the day before" or something very similar to that. I am confused by this, which should explain the look on my face at the show. Is this to mean that... A. There are yet more young-ins on the way to influence Features lyrics, B. Matt is trying to lyrically combat someone's obesity, or C. Someone incorrectly washed and dried a pair of pants so that they are indeed "tighter than they were the day before." I'm going with C on this one. You just don't put corduroy pants in the dryer. You just don't do it.

The show TOTALLY rocked. I only wish that I could have done the grind with Carligula more....

Good show, I actually enjoyed the Red Rose a little this time, I was especially honored when asked if I could buy a guy and his friends "like, a case of beer, or something." Sorry I didn't have my car man, keep trying, I never had the balls to ask a complete stranger to buy me beer. Elikibass were entertaining, I think they should be in a movie, playing a wedding reception or something. I need to hear the new song again as I played a big part in the running out of beer/pbr substitution, and can't really remember it. "Hey Tom, how long since they played Bring on the Night?", what timing. See y'all Friday and maybe next Saturday at Blue Cats (if I don't see you tonight, that is)

Yes, people in masks scare me. I found myself backing away from the stage (or floor, I guess) and cowering a little when they got closer to me.

Your experience sounds very horrifying. I'm sorry you had to go through that. That would definitely make me uneasy.

Oh, it was nice meeting you, Carligula.

Token identified you, but didn't say anything to me until later. TF pointed out JAD to me, and I wanted to introduce myself, but I didn't see him after the show. In case you didn't know Smee, that was me standing next to you (I too have my shy tendencies).

Yes I forgot to mention that it was nice to meet JAD and to be formally introduced to Carligula. And it was nice to not be lynched for being "that guy" (as Mike D calls it).

Yeah, I was way too tired to deliver a lynching after grindng with Ben*Slack all night. Maybe next time, dude...

I loved the first two bands, especially 63 crayons. I am sad to say that I didn't get to stay for the Features bacause I got sick. I hate how I get freaked out at shows, it sucks sometimes. But what am I going to do?

...and you do mean HUG. was there not lifting of rollum off of the ground involved? man, i wish i could've seen this...i'll second the vote for cutest moment nonetheless.

yeah sorry about that info about 63 crayons. when i went to do the posters, i double checked the red rose site cause i wanted to make sure the date was right, cause at first they had it on their site as March 28, not february 28 so i saw 63 crayons on there, and i had been told it was just elekibass. so i asked, and was told that it was only elekibass, which it was going to be for a while. so i'm sorry about the bad information. it changed later i guess, but no one said anything...

I had fun. Nice to meet everyone. I'll only remember about three of you because I couldn't really hear who everyone was. I have to say that I didn't like the beginning of the new song, but when they got into it, it was pretty fun. I have to say that watching Rollum durring the show was very enjoyable. I love Rollum. And about the person saying no one would let them to the front, I let a couple of people in front of me because they were pretty short and I was pretty tall. One person even gave me part of her beer, which was kind of gross (the beer) and weird (the situation) at the same time. In 36 Crayons, did y'all see the guy on the left with the antenna thing? That was pretty awesome. I'm going to try to make it out on Saturday night to see them. Even though I felt like complete crap the next day at work, it was well worth it. I would do it any day.

I'm pretty sure it was me who offered the rest of my PBR. I thought it was nice because you let me jump in front. You seemed pleased. Especially, since you were unable to purchase any on your own (given the states age requirement). But, next time I'll just slip ya a little thank you note.

It was a nice thought, just I don't like beer.

Welcome to the board, mary! I'm pretty sure I gave beer to an underager as well. Actually, I think it was Sina's beer, but it was given to me, so I just shared the wealth. She seemed very nice and appreciative.

After a very hectic weekend, I am finally getting around to posting. Everyone has said it already and I agree. I loved the show. Hearing "Serious" again made the whole night. I met a very cool new Features fan at the show and a few message board members (Carl, JAD). All and all the night was a success.

Wait, so board members are handing out beers to underage fans? And you're giving them away for FREE? Come on... this is a perfect opportunity for some quality mark-up. After all you are providing a service to the youngsters who could normally not step up to the bar and order one for themselves.

I am only kidding of course... Damn you two for giving away beers to the underaged. We do not support such things here at TheFeatures(.com). Thank you.

(Edited by BrianW at 12:57 pm on Mar. 3, 2003)

nice to meet you. you think this would've happened sooner.

I'm not surprised. He's so introverted.

The Show was really good. They performed better this time than in December at the Rose. It was very crowded and hot. But there were the same old fans there, which made the show awesome. Everyone was singin along with the Features, I didn't see one one body that wasn't movin to the music!

Welcome to the board, OS!

So I just updated the Interactive Discography and I noticed something: the two songs that were in "orange condition" before the show were both played at the show. Coincidence, or did people request these knowing they'd been gone for quite some time, or am I just crazy?

I also added a section under the actual song list that explains recent changes. We need to save The Design!

Will

ah yes, "the design". it really should get more play. i'd also like to see "temporary blues" played more frequently...and "the damage is done".

Agreed on both fronts...

And while we're mentioning it, I'd loe Moonlight to become a song that is played at eery show. I just love it so much.

Will

I swear! Those songs kick too much ass to be disregarded as they have been. I also got to hear Serious for the first time at this show and it too was great! My best advice is summed up as follows: "Shit! Play all of em!" ...except Rabbit March...

i agree about moonlight, and i really like what they've done with temporary blues...

And Temporary Blues and Paid to Think...

i've really liked the way temporary blues has sounded lately. did my ears detect a change in it?

"temporary blues" seems to have elements of "discotheque" in it now.....the "i wanna go home" part.....

Hasn't Temporary Blues ALWAYS had a certain bit of Discoteque in it, or have I completely lost touch with reality again?

yes, the tune has always had a little bit of discotheque in the chorus, correct? but i think it finally features lyrics from discotheque in it.....i might be wrong though.

(Edited by ray davies at 1:13 am on Mar. 7, 2003)

You guys need to stop talking... especially you YDDD...

Why would anyone want to kill Temporary Blues?

Will

I think that TF and I had a discussion about this back in the summer. Apparently, Discoteque makes up a decent part of Temporary Blues.

i think what was trying to be said was that the new temporary blues has alot more of the original discotheque included now (ie the "i wanna go home"s etc). though i've only heard it the one time, i loved it. i do miss parts of the old one though, but i guess it's worth the sacrifice.

exactly. i think it's very nice, and i'd never do away with it.