Philzone.org Discussion Board: Archive 2004: Non-PF/Dead Show Reviews Archive 2004: Camper Van Bathoven Shank Hall Milwaukee 10-27-04

Absolutely stellar show. If you like jam bands, especially those with a fiddle but you need more electric guitar than RRE this is a show to see. They are tight, their sound is dialed in and they are having fun. For a band that broke up over creative differences fifteen years ago and had all their equipment stolen in Montreal last week they were having a blast on stage. Really good interaction with eachother and the crowd. The snotty California attitude was just the thing for handling the drunk guy that yells at the stage during every show in Milwaukee. A sort of set list in no particular order from memory goes as follows:

Opened with the intro and 51 7 from the new CD. Both well played. Then they got into material off Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart, they hit Eye of Fatima 1&2, Turquoise Jewelery and Tania and maybe more. On Eye of Fatima and a few others Jonathon Segal switched from Violin to guitar and proved quite nicely that a three guitar attack can work when the band listens to eachother. Greg Lisher is an outstanding guitarist and was hitting it all night. From Key Lime Pie they played When I win the Lottery and Sweethearts. Lowery changed the "I never considered myself a man for killing unkown Communist" line to "killing unkown Islamist" and got a cheer. If there is fault to the band it is that almost everything is mid-tempo to slow and very texturally dense. Your brain and ears get tired. Just when you couldn't take it anymore they hit a stretch with Take the Skin Heads Bowling, I was So Wasted and White Riot. Awesome placemnt in the setlist got everyone re-engaged and rockin out. Couple more off the new cd including Hippy Chicks, a great song with a chorus that goes "We would Die for Hippy Chicks, we might stop and skate a bit but we would die for hippy chicks" great song. An insturmental and That Gum YOu like is Back in Style also appeared from the new one. Circles, a song from II & III that sounds like it has backwards vocals was in there and was executed to perfection and a real surprise. They reffered to it as the obscure obscure one for the night. They closed the set with "Pictures of Matchstick Men" and blew the roof off with it, even if it was expected and sort of their hit they still played it well. Encored with a song by Jonathon I did not recognize followed bby a song called "Duty Free" that they said reminded them of the midwest and drunken irish people. Then Greg left the stage and some guitarhead from Milwaukee who had loaned the band all their guitars for this show came out and they did Mr. Wrong and whoever that guy was played the parts to perfection and ripped a solo on a really nice SG. Show ended and they came out to sign stuff.

During the show they made a funny comment about Greg being a guitar slut or in his sport f-cking period after his guitar of thirty years was stolen so now he's getting around. He really like the Les Paul he was playing that night. Other comment of note was that Victor was now an outlaw as the California Supreme court had declared his marriage illegal. That sucks for him. There was some political undertones to stuff but they do it in such a science fiction or cartoony way that it is not in your face. I like that about them.

Side notes, I missed the acoustic pre-show set at the local independent record store because of work. Pissed me off, I had one of fifty tickets for it that I got for buying the new cd at said local store. If they are coming to your town look for one of these. The show was taped and they appear to allow it and hopefully I'll get it and vine it. By the end of the show they were a bit drunk too, seems to be something Milwaukee does to people but they seemed to think it was funny and it did not seem to effect their playing. I was not drunk so I could be a little critical. No puffing in the venue unfortunately. Finally, it was kind of weird that everyone there was just like me and my wife, mid thirties grown up hippies and punkers, length of hair dependent on current job. Not what you would call a mixed crowd. Probably 150-200 people at the most. CLub was not packed so catch them while you can cause who knows if they'll got through the effort again. In closing: GO SEE THEM YOU WILL LIKE IT

Thanks for the review Chad!

I saw Camper at the I-Beam. Remember that place??

Those were the days...

But the recent reunion I saw was pretty decent. Thanks for the review.

they are here on the 12th. split show with cracker so probably only one set CVB. damn it. haven't heard the new album yet. chad i've got some of their shows if you would like. let me know