Philzone.org Discussion Board: Archive 2004: Non-PF/Dead Show Reviews Archive 2004: CVB Columbus 10/30/04

The triumphant return of Camper Van Beethoven. It had been 15 years since they had played Columbus. THe Newport was comfortably crowded, not packed, but the audience was very vocal and enthusiastic. I managed to achieve "elbows on the stage" status at the left corner of the stage (right in front of David Lowery). Greg Lisher, lead guitarist, was next to Lowery, so guitar was prominent from my perspective. Jonathan Segel (mainly violin & keyboards), Victor Krummenacher (bass) and Frank Funario (drums) rounded out the 5-piece. Here was the set, or at least close:

Favorite Fruit
Sweethearts
Eye of Fatima Pts 1 & 2
Tania
51-7
Sons of the Golden West
Abundance
Good Guys and Bad Guys
Waka
Long Plastic Hallway
Circles
Sad Lovers Waltz
Might Makes Right
Skinheads Bowling
Club Med Sucks
Hippie Chix
RnR Uzbekistan
That Gum You Like
Matchstick Men
Militia Song
Wasted
White Riot
Shut Us Down
Turquoise Jewelry
Life is Grand
Lassie Went to the Moon
~encores~
Interstellar Overdrive
Cattle
Bad Trip
Heart

There was much good-natured back and forth banter between stage and band, and the crowd was very much into both old and new material. The band members came out afterward to sign autographs and shoot the shit. A great show.

CVB had all of their guitars and other gear ripped off in Montreal at the beginning of the tour, so they played with borrowed guitars. The opening band, the Damnwells, coincidently, had their stuff lost by the airline, so they played all of CVB's borrowed shit, too. Despite all this, Camper sounded right at home. Go and see these guys if you get the chance.

BTW, Trebor, I saw your post on the CVB board that you got Atlanta tix, enjoy!

/image{x}

"so guitar was prominent from my perspective"

damn image formatting!