atmosphere vs. chicago (2k10 rmx)

it'd been a good 2+ years since i last checked my boy slug live when he busted out the god loves ugly tour to the vic in 08 following his lemons tour appearance at the metro. both shows wowed me endless. as did his gig with blueprint at the orpheum in 05. hell, even his gigs way back when at the warped tour were raw as hell. i know i've caught him live at cmj in nyc too, and dude is obvs my hip hop idol. so when i heard he was busting out his new ep tour for 'to all my friends/blood makes the blade holy' at the congress this past thurs night i was boutit boutit from the get go. homeboy makes hella rad live performances.

unfortunately, my bartending friend also makes hella rad free whiskey cokes. so where i wanted to write a formal review of this performance, i'm afraid jodi's doctor scribble notes are even more illegible than usual. i do know that this show was one for the books though, and slug hyped up the packed ass crowd at the congress more than any other performer i'd ever seen. the crowd was downright ROARING their love and approval for atmosphere, and slug seemed genuinely taken back with appreciation and positive vibes. there was more than a fair representation of old and new material and the sound was surprisingly ok for the ballroom like venue. i know i had a damned fine evening as did everyone else in attendance. now, instead of a formal review, i give you jodi's scribbled ass drunken play by play notes. if they don't make sense, well, then you've never met me under the influence of alcohol.

Atmosphere

1 - "Trying to find a Balance" - folky vocal opener

2 - Slug - "This one goes out to all my friends," - Sexy sleek bass heavy "Shoulda Known"

*crowd roars approval - slug shouts  and pointsto guitarist - "Fix yo' fucking amp!"* leads into new joint,
3 - "Hope" - (i hope you already got laid today twice)

4 - "Guns & Cigarettes" -piano track, crowd arms goin' crazy

*more old shit, 'i just might just find somebody'- 5 - "Between the Lines"

*girlfriend turns to me, "i think i'm starting to question my taste in men. b/c he is downright sexy;" me: "DUH!!"*

*Slug - "I'm sorry Chicago bout all them old songs," (crowd boos), "I just wanted to see how many old fans we got in the room," (crowd cheers - loudly), "Would it be ok if I play some more new shit?" (crowd cheers)*

6 - "nobody tells a cowboy what to do" - "To All My Friends"

7 - familiar piano opening - crowd loses shit, particularly me - "Sunshine"

8 - "Modern Man's Hustle" (handwriting gets especially sloppy) - Slug says he's scared of all the eyeballs in the room, asks permission to play another new song

9 - "Freefallin'" (should be noted when I interviewed him he said he'd love to spend a whole night covering tom petty songs - this reminds me of this)

10 - "Puppets" - Slug, "Oh I forgot to tell you we're Atmosphere. We're from Minneapolis. How many of ya'll have been to Minneapolis?" (crowd roars) "Here's a lil story bout where we're from"

11 - (i think the song was 'waitress' but this is where my notes begin to include one scribbled illegible word per torn up notebook page)

12 - "God Loves Ugly" (jodi's drunk ass scribbled 'god is ugly'- same diff)

*scribbled ramblings on one page read - "groove, trax, purple, whiskey, crazy, god, life" (yep. this pretty much sums it up)*

14 - (where'd 13 go? probably with that last whiskey coke but something tells me it might have been 'reflections,' although that's prob wishful thinking - i just remember rapping to ashley that line about having a lot of lovers) - "Shrapnel" - crowd clapper anthem

*more illegible nonsense - "mixer i missed lots o crowd say whooooahs smore lead a song campfire" - wtf*

15 - "Guarantees"

*Slug - "Let's be real - this is as close to church as some of us get - so make some noise for the person next to you. Chicago, we fucking love you."

16 - "Don't Ever Fucking Question That"

17 - "Pour Me Another"

*Slug - "Childrens, if you're under 25, go have some babies. If you're over 25, go get preggo tonight and get your fucking life together and make babies. (writing gets extremely difficult to decipher and broken - 'lets overpopulate this mother fucker L4 Babiez') 18 - "Love Life"

19 - "Always Coming Back Home to You" (he didn't rep the hidden verse with props to oshkosh, wisconsin - madison, milwaukee - so I look stupid for shouting to Ashley that he gives props to my college town, oh well)

20 - Ode to Midwest - "Say Shhhhh"

21 - "Yesterday" - encore

22 - "Best Day"

notes end here. i proceeded to stumble to the green eye where they rejected my entry. went to swig instead. danced. consumed pbrs and woke up to find incriminating photographs on my camera of a female friend and i paying exaggerated attention to one another's cleavage.

i'd say it was a pretty damn fine evening myself. come back soon, sluggo.

xo,

joe d.