the super furry animals have saved the world again

super heros are only in comic books my ass!
look up in the sky, its some welsh guys.
with really good taste in delivering high quality hope wrapped in the most pleasant sonic explosion this side of the 60's.



meeting up with ken, laura, james, and marva. gretchen and i spent our 12th (or third leap year) anniversay in san francisco. a trip wrapped around seeing the super furrys play at the Great American Music Hall.
thank you sfa for giving me the best show i've ever seen.
















it wasnt about the light show (or lack of one), or the video screens (or lack of them), or massive american fanbase (or lack of one of those too).
i'll tell you exactly what made this my all time favorite music concert.

it was the music.
it was also the killer PA system in which to deliver the bands ultimo-sonics.
a perfect evening of excellent song writing (the best i've experienced this side of lennon/mccartney and brian wilson smeared together.)
perfect sonic execution.

everybody in the band lending their part flawlessly. kian on keys doing all the psychedelic tinking that makes me smile. guto on bass with the most round bottom and precision patience. dafyd on drums, oh so solidly, playing real kit in and around the programming. bunf with his great gibson gods bringing sonic gifts to us mortals. and gruffs sweet upside down rythmn guitar finesse. of course gruffs voice of all voices, and the tasty bax of bunf and kian.

the room itself sounding like the inside of a finely tuned stradivarius. ornate at every glance. and the line array pa system, with its absolute sonic perfection. l'acoustics V DOSC line array was and still is the best of the industry. everyone has their version of line array now. but, the v dosc is the best. loud and pure. no ear fatigue. able to carry on a conversation without the pain. yet, able to rock your nuts, band permitting. and oh were they ever rocked!

i saw the band a week before at emos in austin. the pa there was challenged, but, it was a great show never the less. but, it was no great american music hall!

its the bands whimsey that really gets me. even their serious songs are tongue in cheek. you gotta look beyond surface to find the meaning in the song. and just beyond that, the joke. sometimes a humorous joke, sometimes a satirical joke, sometimes downright a sad joke.

i'm gonna find a setlist online somewhere so i can comment on everysong...

notes:
kliph from flaming lips played scissors and scissors solo on 'torra fy ngwallt yn hir' (which gruff said the closest american pronunciation is 'terrible mountaineer').

some women sang duet with gruff on 'hello sunshine'. edit: the woman was wendy flowers of...
wendy and bonnies' song 'by the sea' is borrowed for the mello intro of 'hello sunshine'. they were sisters (13 yrs. and 17 yrs. old) from san francisco who put out one album in 1969. cool! i didnt know that!

gruff chewed giant carrot on 'recepticle for the respectable'. paul mccartney chew'd the carrot on the album. he also chew'd carrot on the beach boys smily smile.

what does the german sign mean at the ende? bleich euch ...??

kian back to audience when he plays guitar? huh?

red power ranger represents the leader of the fighters of corporate evils and monsters.

grateful deads 'one from the vault' is from gamh.

go here for this guys great photos from the LA show.
sfa on flickr here
and this guy keeps up with the furrys and all of their sideshows, more than the furrys website does here



added feb. 16
Emos : Austin, TX : Feb. 03, 2008
Slow Life
Rings Around the World
Gateway SongRun Away
Golden Retriever
Do or Die
Neo Consumer
She Got Spies
The Gift that Keeps Giving
Earth
Zoom
Receptacle for the Respectable
Juxtapose
Into the Night
Baby Ate My 8ball
Calimero
Earth II
If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You
Hello Sunshine
Man Don't Give a Fuck
Cosmic Trigger

Great American Music Hall : San Francisco, CA : Feb. 09, 2008
Slow Life - gruff sings through eyehole of red power rangers helmet.
Rings
Gateway/Runaway
Golden Retriever
Do or Die
Neo Con
Terrible mountaineer (Torra Fy Ngwallt Yn Hir) - starring kliph scurlock (drummer flaming lips) on scissors. something about "will you cut my hair long?"
Gift That Keeps Giving
Earth
Zoom
Receptacle - it was a big carrot!
Juxtapose - gruff did the 2 mike boom. one side vocoder (oh so nice) and clean voice.
Into The Night
8-Ball
Calimero
Hello Sunshine - duet with wendy flowers. a repeat of the fillmore 2002, 2004, 2005 sfa shows.
Man Don't Give
Cosmic Trigger