Words cannot describe tonight's show at the Blue Cats. Amazing energy. A set that can't be put into words (at least not by me, I'm too unfamiliar with a wealth of what they played to list it all, and I'd have it out of order. But Jamie faithfully recorded it, so whenever he gets to a computer I'm sure he'll set it all straight.

I showed up rather early, at 9:15. Contrary to popular belief, the doors were not yet opened, so I waited outside until they did, and I was the first person admitted. I waited around and moved from table to table as large groups started eyeing whatever table I was at, as if to suggest that their numbers justified making me move. And that was fair enough. I ended up sitting at a table with another loner who, I had a suspicion, was Tom Foolery. Eventually he started a conversation with me, and I was right. We waited around til the opening band came out, and that was an experience.

You'll have to forgive me, I don't remember their name. But their audience was literally 50-100 girls and the various guys that got dragged along. They sounded alot like Matchbox 20 and the girl were screaming and reaching for the band like you see in the footage of The Beatles performing. No joke. Highlights: The lead singer coming out to the edge of the precenium, kneeling down, and singing face to face with a select group of girls, ending his chorus kissing one of them. Later, the lead guitarist similarly went to the precenium to have all of the girls reach for him. At one point, an older man showed up with a vase full of roses, but I never saw where they ended up. It was surreal.

After their too-long set, jamiecarrol came down and joined Mr. Foolery and myself. Much of the crowd, here for the opening act, had left, but there was still a decent-sized small crowd. They played an amazing set, pulling out alot of old stuff, but like I said, I won't attempt to list it. The highlights of the set for me though were 33 1/3 (which was simply amazing live, and its clear that the song has come a long way since it was recorded with Mahaffey, just astounding energy) Action (which I've been dying to hear for awhile now) and Look Out Below, a song that I'm loving more and more each time. Despite the small crowd the band seemed to be at their peak, and it seemed to me that they were having fun with the songs, jamming a bit within their structures.

After Thursday, Matt said goodbye and started to take the stage apart. It was clear that the show was over, without encore, but the crowd (even smaller now) would not move. We stood and clapped and brought the band back onstage. They seemed at a loss for what to play, some requests were yelled, and the band jumped into this encore set:

The Design
Stagecoach

at which point Matt said "you get two more." Then we got:

Serious
Heard It Through the Grapevine (!)
Harold (!!! - as per jamie's personal request to Matt before the show)
Circus

All in all an amazing night. And also in attendance at the show, I was surprised to see a girl that was at last weekend's Attic show. She drove up from Chattanooga by herself, needing to see the band that had occupied her mind all week since the first night she had ever heard them. It was good to see that a new diehard fan had come out of the attic show.

One of the three greatest concerts of my life.

Will

i think our dear jamie's at the lake, so i will post the setlist that my drunk ass scribbled amidst last evening's show.

dedicated to ms. jamie carroll, who turned me on to the features in the first place...

the beginning
see you thru
leave it all behind
oh my love
mexican gatorade
exorcising demons
look out below
buffalohead
temporary blues
the idea of growing old
action
two by two
darkroom
someway somehow
kari-ann
bring on the night
armani suede
33 1/3
god save rock'n'roll
thursday

the design
stagecoach
serious
i heard it through the grapevine
harold
circus


as for a review...god bless them there features. a mighty good thanks for harold. to all who were there with me, what an evening. to those i don't know, why don't i?

You missed Walk You Home... I definitely remember Roger pulling out the maracas for that one. He actually introduced the song and said it was on the ep they were selling in the back. I remember that being rather early in the set, I think either just before or after oh my love, but it may have been just after exorcising demons.

In any case, last night I attempted to write down the name of every song I remembered hearing, and that was the only one that you missed by my account.

But what is Mexican Gatorade? Was that one of their pseudo-warm up type jams that preceded a song?

Will

(Edited by Wiyum at 3:08 am on Sep. 1, 2002)

Man, I wish you'd post more, Freezetag. Extra points for calling Walk You Home "Mexican Gatorade." I think we should petition The Features to start calling it that again.

Did they used to call it that? Humorous. Well, that explains it then.

At least I was right as to when it was played...

Will

Thank you, freezetag...and I hope you're home safe.

Yes, it was a great show, wasn't it? I was a little disappointed with the smaller crowd (compared to other Features shows at Blue Cats), but it is Labor Day weekend...

Anyway, the people that were there were so enthusiastic. I mean...how often do you see an encore when the club is 1/5 full? Those people that were there were just overwhlemingly supportive, Cheers, Knoxville Features Fans!

I think that the band recognized just how fired up Knoxville was, and rewarded that enthusiasm with one of the longest sets I've ever seen them play. 26 songs! The only longer show I've seen was 5-2 at the Boro, which was a hair longer, at 27 songs.

I think that the highlight of the night for me was the encore. Six songs! And look at those songs: some newer (The Design), some older (Circus), some super-rare (Grapevine), and one of my very favorite Features songs (Harold). Add in 'Serious' and 'Stagecoach' and you've got one hell of an encore, and a great ending to one hell of a night.

It was nice to meet you, Wiyum, and to see you again, TF.

'Walk You Home' was originally called 'Mexican Gatorade.' That's oooold schooool knowledge, freezetag, that I didn't know you had.

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 5:40 am on Sep. 2, 2002)

very good show friday night:
high points:
-longest set ever!
-best encore ever!
-very few (if any) broken strings
-harold!
-the design

mid point:
-the old chorus lyrics of the design. there's just something..er..inspirational about pelham singing "there's more to life than living.."

low points:
-lack of the two crazy mountian dancers that are usually breaking it down jessco style every other time i've seen the features or the bitter pills in knoxville.
-the opening band, ingram hill (which is a book publisher, right?...clever). i shall spare the the harsh words, because i could keep going for a while. one point of advice though-if you sing and play guitar, you don't fucking need a wireless microphone.
-opening band's fan's: since they were all crowded around like the band after their set, like a goddam n'sync show, deevol and i literally had to throw 'bows to get to the men's room to take a piss.

looking forward to the shows with pere ubu. if any of you don't own 'the modern dance' or 'dub housing' i strongly reccomend picking it up.

Well I'm glad to hear that everyone had a good time and hung out etc etc ETCETERA. Myself, on the other hand, spent the evening con mi familia with no way of getting to the venue. Oh well...I did listen to Features' songs in my head all night and I think at one point I was compelled to do the See You Thru claps.

There is always the next show...

I had no idea that my reputation would preceed me.

After three days, all I can say about this show is, "Wow." The Features astound me. Almost every time I see the band, I think, "That was one of the best shows ever." Then I go to the next show, and it's even better than the last. It's to the point where they play an absolutely incredible show and I think, "Ahh... Another average Features show." They continually amaze and surprise me. Yes, the set was great. Yes, Blue Cats is an excellent venue with incredible sound. And, yes, Ingram Hill sounds like Matchbox 20.

And I really enjoyed seeing/meeting everyone that I saw/met there. I hope everyone got home safely.

i hate ingram hill. they are from memphis and seem to be the buz around there right now.

hmmm... being from west virginia, i might have to take this jessco bit to heart...

Hello, Features fans,

My name is Alan, and I, too, was at the blue cats show last friday. All I can say is wow. Being new to the Features' fan-base, I can honestly say that I don't know much about the band, but they're definitely one of my favorites now. I heard about them through the fact that they will be playing with Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire, another band I like, later in October. This prompted me to check them out and I instantly became a fan. I bought The Beginning EP, but I'm having a really hard time finding other stuff...even downloadable stuff. A friend of mine gave me a mix CD of hers, but I don't know many of the song titles.

Anyway, you should all definitely try to make it to a Features show or two with Andrew Bird. I'm not sure where they're going...probably the usual places: Chattanooga, Knoxville, Atlanta, etc. The thing about how a band is "the best you've ever seen" each time you see them definitely applies to the Bowl of Fire. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I'm very interested in a copy of the blue cats show if anyone taped it...it was so good, I would pay money. I usually record shows with my minidisc recorder, and I'll definitely do that in the future. If anyone happens to be an Andrew Bird fan, I have plenty of one-of-a-kind live stuff to trade with.

See you 'round

Alan

P.S. If there are any fansites or other places I could go to get info on the band, lemme know.

Welcome to the message board, bowl of fire.

here's a link to find some more features' material, maybe you'll find some stuff you dont have.....

http://www.angelfire.com/va3/ozmium/

it may be helpful..

I found a lot of stuff on Kazaa for downloading so I'd try that if you need some more.

Hello Bowl of Fire, and welcome. You can send an e-mail to:

featurestaper@hotmail.com

if you'd like a copy of the show. He taped the Blue Cats show, and will be happy to do a B+P for you. This is where you send him the blank discs to put the show on and a self-addressed return envelope with postage paid (or enough $ to cover postage). Then he makes a copy of the show and mails it to you.

I'm glad to hear that you liked the Features. I look forward to seeing AB'sBoF in October.