This show was more laid back musically than the other two, maybe because they already played for an hour and a half earlier that night. The songs were a little slower and seemed more heartfelt. On "Prayer For the Paranoid" Rachel almost blew a cue because Neil kept singing through a verse that they usually cut. She opened her mouth and stopped herself at the last second. For all three shows, the band ended "This Road I'm Traveling" with this crazy psychedelic drone and tons of cymbals. It was almost reminiscent of the freakout ending of "Avalyn" they did back in '92. It was very cool and kind of un-Mojave 3. An audience member yelled out "Cool! Very Cool!" at the end, which sums up my thoughts, also. Anyone reading this: I missed their '99 tour. Did they do the psychedelic ending back then, too?

Another thing for all three shows was that Neil made a prominent mention of the fact that they were playing three shows, at least once during each concert. I could not tell if he was being sarcastic, like "I can't believe we couldn't just book a bigger venue for one show," or pleased like "Check it out-we sold out Chicago three gigs in row." Finding out what the capacity is for Schubas would shed some light on the subject. I'm guessing 350 or something, but I could be dead wrong. My tape of the show came out very good

A few more small tidbits: Ian always made himself available after the show and was kind of charming. I think he's the cut-up of the group. I asked him a few questions and he said, 1) no, they're not playing Krazy Kos this tour, for shame 2)he's looking forward to a royalty check for his songs 3)(more technical): yes, that IS an electric twelve string on "No Matter What You Do" and 4)the only effect on his kit on "Out Of Tune" was compression, no slowing down, and he used the same cymbals that he's using now for the tour. I'm a drummer, so the drummer questions were more specific. He offered up that they were rehearsing "Dagger," and I guess they played it in Seattle. Shucks! I wouldn't have believed my ears if I was at that show.

I asked Rachel if Neil was a slavedriver and/or a jerk and she smiled and immediately said "You're asking the wrong person. I dated him for four years." She subsequently proceeded to right my view by defending him and concluded that he's a "good guy." The question was loaded--I was just playing devil's advocate. She offered up that there had been talks of taking over "Pygmalion" from Creation and properly releasing it stateside because it never was, but that plan was pretty much abandoned. Rachel was very polite and open. She is just a sincere and sweet person. I'm looking forward to her album, that is if everything goes according to plan. I told her emphatically that I would buy it

I also asked her if there's a "roosan street" somewhere and she said, "It might be in New Jersey. You'll have to ask Neil."

My conversations with Neil were awkward simply because I was an awkward fan trying to ask the band too many questions. The one question that elicited the most response from Neil however, was "are you angry at Creation for how they treated your albums…?"
He thought for a split second and came back matter-of-factly that he was not angry, and that he and the band are doing what they want to do now. Asked about the demo-trading going on by rabid fans, he said the old demos weren't released for a reason, and even if they were subsequently issued, no money would go to him at all. One final question was "is there a roosan street somewhere?" Laughing: "I hope so. I hope there is."