Photosynthesis Concert Reviews

Concert Reviews

June 5, 1998 - Pontiac Grille, Philadelphia, PA

I arrived at the Pontiac Grille around 6:30 PM on Friday night. The Pontiac is on South Street on Philadelphia, and just steps away from the store "Imagine". There were a few people congregated outside the club and inside Sean was rehearsing/doing sound check. TicketMaster told us the show would begin at 9pm and that doors would open at 7:30, but come 7:30 Sean was still rehearsing. (This was great, since I was first in line and standing on the door step! It was like getting to see him perform twice!) He finally finished rehearsing around 8:45 or so, and he and the band exited the club via the front door, sort of congregating on the corner deciding where to go hang out. I didn't see him sign any autographs, but did learn later that when he and the band arrived to the club around 5pm, Sean spent sometime outside signing autographs (darn traffic!).
The show didn't begin until 11pm, when the opening act, Dopo Yume, performed. They're a three piece from Manhattan and were decent enough. At least they seemed to be having fun!
Sean (et al.) appeared on stage a little after midnight. I have the set list below, with some comments. I don't think the whole set took much more than an hour, but it was totally brilliant. Sean seemed to be excited to be in Philly for the first time, since it is "home of the Philly Blunt". :)

SET LIST

One Night - Sean walked on stage alone with his acoustic guitar, stating "this is a song I'm gonna do by myself, sort of to set a mood for the evening."
Heart and Lung - This is a new song, Sean said he was "trying it out on us." About the first half of the song was vaguely Beatlesque, followed by some heavy guitar. Sounded great.
Cowboy/Wasted
Mystery Juice It was after one of these two songs that Sean stopped and had us celebrate his guitar staying in tune for more than 2 songs. :)
Sean's Theme
Would I Be The One - another new one (?) which went right into Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis
Home - Sean announced this song as one that's "playing on MTV these days."
Queue - Yuka was extremely bouncing during this song!
The band left the stage for all of 2-3 minutes, when the synthesizer began a playback. (Note: if you attend a show, you'll see a Jaz drive connected to the Roland D-70 (I think it's a D-70 anyway). The soundman, who I know from The Bells' recent tour, told me they're using it to store various organ sounds and stuff for playback (i.e. samples, etc.).)
Jam - Sean started the rap, and then the percussionist (whose name I don't know) took over, and Sean played guitar. It's a shame though, because I couldn't understand a word either one of them said! :P
Heavy Metal - After the jam, they launched into a very heavy metal type song. Sean and Timo were jumping up and down all over the place... and there wasn't much room to be jumping, but they were doing it anyway! :)
Spaceship - Sean mentioned something before this song about not having rehearsed it much... but they'd done it about 4 times when I'd been standing outside, so I don't think I heard them right... but it sounded great! This ended the show.

During one of the songs, Sean broke a guitar string (on the Les Paul, I think). Sean was wearing a light blue cheesy shirt with "Florida" on it (much like what your grandparents would bring back from a vacation). Prior to that, during rehearsal, he was wearing a dark blue shirt with what looked like the Superman "S" logo, but on closer inspection, it seemed to be an "F". I thought it might have been the Fuji film logo, and jokingly wondered if it was a gift from Julian. :) Oh, and it looked like Sean hadn't shaved in a while!
At the end of the show, Sean and Yuka shook the hands of people standing in the front (except for me!) and Sean signed and autograph or two, then told us he had to go and would be out later. Well, later didn't come until after 2:30 am, when we were all finally kicked out of the club and just a few of us remained outside in the slightly chilly weather. Timo and some of the other band members came out first, then Yuka, and finally Sean, who attempted to rush to the band's van as soon as possible, but still got stopped by a few fans. Fortunately though, I was able to talk to Timo for a bit and get his autograph, then I got Yuka's autograph and finally Sean's (just as he was jumping in the van, literally!). And then they were off and away in seconds.
Overall, the show was fantastic. After listening to the album I was very impressed by Sean's music ability. (I should probably mention that I've never heard any work he's done with his mother or Cibo Matto, etc.) I didn't know if the show would have a more pop-feel to it, since some of the album tunes are a bit light sounding, but I was glad to see Sean get down and dirty with the music and really belt it out.

June 11, 1998 - Eight by Ten Club, Baltimore, MD

I was fortunate enough to get off work earlier than expected on Thursday. I had a 2 hour drive to my friend's home in Maryland, and then another hour drive to the venue in Baltimore. We arrived in Baltimore around 7:30, an hour and a half before doors were to open. Hoping that Sean might be around and about, my friend and I were eagerly searching for a place to park, when almost out of nowhere, Sean and Yuka step in front of my car! My heart skipped a beat and my friend gave a small "eeek!" as they walked by. My friend didn't think I was going to stop the car (I was approaching a stop sign, so I was slowing anyway, and I *did* stop obviously). As they crossed, a fan approached Yuka (no, not Sean... he was left to stare into the sky), and so I quickly had to find a parking spot (which was harder than it should have been, of course).
After parking and grabbing our things, we made our way to the venue, where sure enough, Sean was still outside. I approached him with an "excuse me" and told him that I'd seen him the previous week in Philadelphia, and enjoyed the show so much that I had to see him perform again. He seemed pleased by this, and I asked him to sign a photo that I'd taken at the last show. He stared at the picture for a moment, and signed it. Meanwhile, my friend was taking pictures with one of those disposable cameras... only the flash wasn't going off. So Sean said, "The flash isn't going off, I know how to work it," and took the camera, pressed the charger and returned the camera too her, then put his arm around me and gave a big smile for her. (Thus now I have a very lovely shot of Sean and me!) Another fan asked me to take a picture of him and Sean and I did, and then Sean entered the club. So we arrived just in time!
The doors opened just before 9pm; as it'd started to rain quite heavily they let us in early. I'd been told that show time would be 10pm, but come that time, the club was still a little empty. Finally around 10:20 the roadies started setting up and turning things on, and that's when I noticed that they were setting up for Sean, and not for the opening act, Dopo Yume. I asked one of the roadies (not the sound guy, Mark, but the blond guy) whether or not Dopo Yume would be performing and he said, "No, they're graduating from high school tonight." Well! :) So I assumed that we'd simply have Sean's set, which certainly pleased me. But another 15 minutes later, my friend (who could see backstage from her position) nudged me and asked if they always wore crazy wigs during the show. I said no, very confused, as the band walked out on stage... only it wasn't Sean and company as we had expected...
The roadie introduced them as "Indie Opo" (hope I have that right!)... Sean played drums while wearing a dark blue jacket, sunglasses and a big blond curly afro wig; Yuka played bass and wore a brown curly haired wig and sunglasses; Timo played congas first, then guitar, and was wearing a 70's style shirt, a long redhaired wig and sunglasses; John (the drummer) wore an electric blue wig and sunglasses and did everything from "sing" to play keyboards and congas; and finally Duma wore an electric orange wig and for the most part rapped. They jammed for a good 30 minutes (which my friend also got on tape) before leaving the stage.
Another 15-20 minutes later the *real* show began. The set list was the same as I'd previously mentioned for Philly... only the song I'd previously mentioned as "Heavy Metal" was instead titled "Queen" on the song list. As Sean walked out on stage, he placed a Baltimore t-shirt over a monitor (the one right in front of me). This t-shirt he'd had on earlier when we'd seen him outside. Sunflowers had been taped to Sean's microphone stand. Unlike Philly, the whole band appeared on stage for "One Night". The transition from "Would I Be the One" into "Photosynthesis" was made interactive with Sean telling the audience to "start getting down" and that he wanted to see "some disco groovin'" or else he'd have to stop the show. Naturally, we all started grooving to the music. Sean made a point of telling the people in the back to dance too, telling them to "feel it in their feetsies". Needless to say, the whole place was alive... up on their feet dancing and Sean looked quite happy about everyone really getting into the music. (His comment was, "Who says Baltimore isn't a rock 'n roll town?") Later on, during the Jam, Sean stood on the very edge of the stage, waving his hands, singing "I'll be what I wanna be, when I wanna be...."
Overall, the show was electric... very much more alive than the Philly show, I'd have to say. And all I can say to you, dear reader, is to go see Sean if you haven't yet! You'll experience one of the best shows ever.