BoDeans
2007.04.20 Midwest Wireless Civic Center • Mankato, MN

Sam Llanas, Kurt Neumann, Jeff Allen, Noah Levy

Friday April 20, 2007
Midwest Wireless Civic Center - Mankato, MN

If there is one thing that I learned this weekend....it's that Mankato is a long way from home. But the drive was made easier by good friends and lots of good tunes and in all reality...it was well worth it. I don't think I really realized how much I've until they walked out on stage and started playing.

Even with a few line up changes, they still sounded fantastic like always. As many of you know, Eric was out on tour with Five For Fighting, so we had the pleasure of seeing a new face in the back providing all the low tones. Jeff Allen (who also filled in at the Twins' Rally show last year) was on bass and really did a great job too. Funny though, because I'm told Jeff use to play with Five For Fighting as well. Seems like a little "switch-a-roo" going on there or something. :)

We were also left missing our favorite accordionist, Bukka. Sam filled us in half-way though the show that Bukka couldn't make it this time because he was getting married this weekend. So a very big congratulations going out to him!

As for the rest of the guys, they were looking good and sounded great. There's really no better way to spend my Friday night than front row at a BoDeans show...even if I did have to cue the guy next to me when to jump in TRS. :)

For all those curious minds out there, here's how the show progressed:
1.YDGM - Always a great song. Noah really got in his groove and as a result it sounded fantastic...although Kurt's unbelievable solo near the end sure helped too. Just like the holiday shows, they slowed it down right in the middle and then let it build and build and build until that big powerful ending like always.
2. Runaway - always a crowd favorite, even when it's so early in the setlist.
3. Good Work - All Kurt on this. I swear that purple guitar of his has complete control over my feet sometimes....and this is definitely one of those times.
4. 617
5. Idaho - "yeah!", girls, this time they definitely heard us. :)
6. Texas Ride Song - Kurt tells us "this is a jumping song. If you feel like jmping, this is your song." So....is it s bad thing that I was already jumping before he said that?
7. Naked - Sam was telling us before the song that he and Kurt have been playing together for over 25 years...Kurt pipes in "Funny, because I'm only, like, 30..." Sam also mentioned that people were asking where Bukka was, and so he went on to tell us that Bukka couldn't make it because he was getting married and then went on to dedicate this song to him.
8. Still The Night w/Wanna Be Sedated - When it came time for us to sing our part, Sam told us to "be a rockstar!" Like always Kurt led them right into the insane speed of Sedated. But this time Sam was switching back & forth from the "Wanna be sedated" lyris to "if I could hold you tonight". It was just enough to keep us all on our toes. Afterwards, Kurt reassured us that "it's just playing really fast."
9. Stay On - "oh yeah!"
10. Makes U - no "beautiful" or "bellissimo" this time around. Instead we heard Sam do some sort of devilish sounding laugh that you only hear in the movies. Of course in this case it only resulted in laughter from the rest of the band.
11. Nobody Loves Me - always a favorite amongst us and this time was no exception.
12. Fadeaway - "hey, that sounds like Fadeaway"... (for those that get it....) I wrote in my notebook that Kurt was on fire...but in all honestly....that really never truly describes his solo because it's always mesmerizing.
13. Closer to Free - once again we were treated to Sam on the harmonica since Bukka was absent. And once again it sounded fantastic! (even if Sam did have to knod to Josh to let him know when to run out. :)
- encore -
14. Feed The Fire w/Gimme Shelter, Slow Ride, Midnight Hour, Light My Fire - Noah looked like he was having way too much fun with this one. Lots of curls going every which way. Somewhere in the middle, Sam introduced Kurt as Kurt Robert Neumann....Guitar Hero....dot F'ing com....300 gigabyte. That's quite the title you've aquired Kurt. And of course this all brought on lots of laughter from the rest of the band as well. Later on Sam threw in the usual slew of covers in the middle including changing up the line from 'Light My Fire' to "come on baby, feed the fire!"
15. Good Things - as always a great song to end a great show.

All I can say is that I definitely needed this show and certainly can't wait until the next one. So....with that said....is it June yet?