Paul Westerberg Man Without Ties
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Paul Westerberg 2005 Tour - Milwaukee, Chicago and Louisville

Apr. 15, 2005 @ The Rave, Milwaukee, WI
Apr. 16, 2005 @ Riviera Theatre, Chicago
Apr. 17, 2005 @ Headliner's, Louisville

Thanks to everyone on the message boards for posting these reviews, check out show pictures from Chicago and Louisville.

Apr. 15, 2005 @ The Rave, Milwaukee, WI

Wow. What an unbelievable show. Paul was totally energetic and looked like he couldn't be happier to be playing. His voice was great, the words were (mostly)there the band was incredibly tight, there were no lulls in the show save for a broken string. The entire event is still a little new in the mind, can't quite believe what a good time that was. Best rock show I've seen in a long, long time. I'm still surprised at just how much he rocked. He completely tore it up.

Songs in order: If the tour opener was any indication, this is going to be a great run for Mr. Westerberg. Honestly, he was freakin' awesome last night

posted by erhame (thank you for the complete set list!)


Apr. 16, 2005 @ Riviera Theatre, Chicago

It really was a kick ass show and as I mentioned, Paul seems to be having a blast. He came out smoking with Stain Yer Blood (which totally rocked out), If I Had Hammer ("a little Pete Seeger number for ya" and Gunshy (clearly and for someone's benefit he sang "a former whore PEEING ON AJAX".) During AAA you could tell how much Paul was digging playing with HOF - towards the end of the song as Jim and Paul sang into the same mic, Paul is singing and looking at Jim. As the song ends Paul and Jim are facing each other with Paul just grinning (they are inches from each other) and Paul puckers his lips and plants a wet one on Jim's lips. It was pretty funny and they were both cracking up. We knew it was going to be one of those fun nights.

After a rousing version of High Time, Paul smashed the TV set (as already previously described elsewhere) and as they rip into Making Me Go, a big grizzled veteran stagehand strolled out with a broom and started sweeping up the mess as the boys played. It was a pretty funny sight to see and Paul seemed to be getting a kick out of it.

25 songs or so into the set Paul was clearly up for improvising. When someone yelled out for Gary's Got a Boner, he said "I've been waiting for that one. That's Cat Scratch Fever right?" and proceeded to play the opening chords to CSF. The band followed and it actually sounded pretty good as they played about half the song and out of the chorus it fell apart. He ended it like he did with several of the aborted covers with "Shut the f*ck up!" and made a slashing sign to the band. All done with glee and not malice though.

During Can't Hardly Wait he let the audience sing while he stepped away from the mic and watched. Then he took the mic and either put it on the edge of the stage or threw it into the crowd (couldn't tell from vantage point) and shortly followed with what seemed like a half step, half stage dive into the crowd and on Underneath a Big Horse. He proceeded to finish the song there in the crowd.

Then came requests and cover song heaven. He asked what we wanted to hear and of course there were indecipherable shouts so he says "Folk Star? Should we do that one?" and did so. Then came a full and rocking version of Substitute and a too short bit of Vampires & Failures. As he was singing that a woman in the side balcony was leaving and Paul yelled "Where are you going? Get back here!" and stopped the song. Again it was Paul having fun and not the pissed off Paul. They then played a rocking version of a song that seemed familar but I couldn't place - a Chuck Berryesque tune. He also started with "Like A Rolling Stone (Pin) but stopped that after a few seconds. Next came a bluesy Jesus Left Chicago which ended too soon for my tastes and then they finished with I've Got a Mind to Give Up Living, which Paul was getting into. The encores were familar (though being at Memphis and having missed most of it this was a treat) but rocked out and was a great end to an awesome show. posted by zook


(Paul) walks off stage about an hour into the show and comes back with a TV, which he proceeds to throw down onto the stage. Smashes a guitar into the TV. What'd he say? Something about Reagan? I missed the comment. (The roadies spending 10 minutes sweeping up the debris sort of ruined the dramatic effect.)

After the show starts to hit a lull, they launch into "Can't Hardly Wait" ... Westerberg throws the mike out into the audience, and follows the mike a minute later.

Last half hour... the show devolves into Westerberg starting lots of songs but not finishing them. The band is waiting for him to make up his mind about what to play... One verse of "Like a Rolling Stone" ... maybe two-thirds of "Substitute" ...

By anyone else's standards, the show would at this point probably be considered a train wreck, but it's classic Westerberg. As someone in one of the VIP balconies stands up, he yells, "Hey, don't you walk out!"

What was that bluesy song he played just before the encore? The rest of the band was starting to leave, because Westerberg had said they were done, then he lies down on the stage and starts making squealing noises with his guitar, which eventually turned into this song. "This is our last song. We may never ever play again," he says.

Will they even bother with an encore? Yes... Westerberg brings a telephone with him and smashes that on the stage. (More sweeping roadies to the rescue.) Then the glorious finish: "Alex Chilton" and "Left of the Dial."

In all, he played about 2 hours and 15 or 20 minutes. And yeah, he played "Different Drummer" and also Pete Seeger's "If I Had a Hammer" ... which sounded remarkably like an old Replacements song the way he did it.

I'm sure I'm missing some key details here. Please pipe in if you were there. Quite a night... More of a shambling mess than either of the Mats shows I saw back in the day, though it was a good kind of shambling mess, IMO.

posted on the board by Miss E, written by Robert (thank you Robert and Miss E)


Apr. 17, 2005 @ Headliner's, Louisville

Intro/Entrance Song:
Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues-Danny O'Keefe (1972)

Stain Yer Blood
Final Hurrah
If I Had a Hammer
Kiss Me on the Bus
Gun Shy
AAA
Merry Go Round
Someone Take the Wheel
Live Forever
Mr. Rabbit
Little Mascara
Lost Highway (barely a verse--quit it)
Born For Me
High Time
Valentine
Makin' Me Go
Let The Bad Times Roll
As Far As I Know
Eyes Like Sparks
Paul Acoustic:
Skyway
I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend-Ramones ("The best song ever written," PW)
Lush & Green

Band back:
If Only You Were Lonely
What a Day for a Night
How Can You Like Him?
Love Untold
Different Drum
Knockin' On Mine
Can't Hardly Wait
Alex Chilton
Left of the Dial

Encore:
Now I Wonder

Compared to what people reported about the Chicago show, Louisville was more a straightforward rocker with no hijinks Whatsoever. Paul's communication with the audience was minimal, aside from asking what people wanted to hear before starting his brief acoustic set. Before Love Untold he said "we play this one evernight because...oh I don't know why..." and before Live Forever he identified BJ Shaver. Sometimes Paul is talkative and sometimes he isn't.

Only one song was abandoned, "Lost Highway," and it's better that he did as somebody was getting the chords all wrong. Highlights for me were "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" and "Different Drum"...I always enjoy Paul's choice of covers...maybe since I've been seeing him since 1985 songs like Can't Hardly Wait and Skyway have lost their appeal to me. But I'd love to hear IOU and Bastards of Young...As Far As I Know rocked out and it was cool to hear IOYWL yet again...although he completely mangled the lyric order and lyrics. Things like that don't bother me as I'm used to Paul's imperfection. It's human.

While Paul didn't seem to be in a Bad mood, he didn't seem giddily "happy"...he and the band just got down and got it on. My guess is that Chicago wore him out and he was still recovering in Louisville. The one-song encore was a bit weird: Now I Wonder. I'm still pondering that. After NIW Paul left the stage to a rabid crowd that was going nuts for more, but that was it. Maybe 30-45 minutes passed and Paul came outside from the bus to sign things for people and pose for pics. BTW, I was completely sober, up front, and took notes. One more thing, somebody came up front during Born For Me and proceeded to scream her request throughout the song, which nearly ruined it for me and the people around us. For once I'd like to hear Paul tell people like that to shut the fuck up. Cheers.