Thighs Wide Shut

Roger Waters
Us + Them Tour
Barclays Center
September 11th

Not sure of Roger Waters’ stance on Jews, but I know he doesn’t like walls.  In fact, he wants them torn down.  Like the ones in Israel.  I can see his point.  Other Jews cannot.  So some Jews don’t like Roger Waters whatsoever

https://www.instagram.com/p/BY60TX1jPpn/?taken-by=thighmaster

I am not one of those Jews.  I hope that’s OK with the rest of you Jews.  If not, it’s your loss, cause dude, Roger Waters is the fcuking BEST!!

This was my 5th time seeing the rotten ole bastard.  First two times he did Dark Side in full, then the next two me saw him Wall build and destroy!  Where did he go from there, as in two nights ago?  The best of both + a new album (which is totally NOT awful!)  

Who knows if this will be his last tour or not.  You have to assume it’s the last time, and so you juss go and see him, again and again, and I will continue to do so.  So should JEW!

And dude, LOVE the bobbed hair babes!

but seriously Roger… look, I love your faux David Gilmour – David Gilmwitz, but can’t you and David bury the BS and juss reunite???  You don’t need the money, but there would be plenty.  Do it for us, or do it cause you hate Trump more than all of us (Jews and non-Jews and Jews who hate you) combined 

First Set – Speak to Me / Breathe / One of These Days / Time / Breathe (Reprise) / The Great Gig in the Sky / Welcome to the Machine / When We Were Young / Déjà Vu / The Last Refugee / Picture That / Wish You Were Here /The Happiest Days of Our Lives / Another Brick in the Wall Part 2 / Another Brick in the Wall Part 3

Second Set  –  Dogs / Pigs (Three Different Ones) / Money / Us and Them / Smell the Roses / Brain Damage / Eclipse

Encore – Vera /Bring the Boys Back Home / Comfortably Numb

https://www.instagram.com/p/BY7QBo7jWi-/?taken-by=thighmaster

Eric Clapton
Madison Square Garden
September 7th

Was supposed to see Sir Eric back in 2009, as a part of the RnR HoF Anniversary Concerts, but he couldn’t make it for one reason or another, and I was left waiting.  And either I waited forever, or forgot about him, or something, or another thing, but then he announced that he was playing his ‘final’ concerts ever – a pair of shows in NY and another pair in LA, earlier this year.  Those tix went fast and left me waiting, again.  But then he was like, OK, me gonna do some more ‘final’ shows, same deal – pairs in NY & LA, and so this time I was able to make it happen, and that’s how I came to pray in front of the rock gawd that is Eric Clapton.  It was a pretty penny to pay, but I’d say worth all the pennies!

OK, so a lot of his best songs aren’t even his own, but he’s OUR hoochie coochie man!  He can shoot all the sheriffs he wants!  Even the deputies!!  Snort that Cocaine!!!  (him, not me).  And OK, he didn’t play the ONE song I REALLY wanted to hear (‘Let It Rain’), or even bothered to bother with ‘After Midnight’ (a song he’s shockingly has only played 200ish+ times), but dude, when he broke out ‘White Room’, OH MY FCUKING LORD, was I CREAMing all over myself!!!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYw81Lajkf5/?taken-by=thighmaster

Setlist – Somebody’s Knocking / Key to the Highway / I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man / I Shot the Sheriff / Driftin’ Blues / Lay Down Sally / Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out / Layla / Tears in Heaven / White Room / Wonderful Tonight / Cross Road Blues / Little Queen of Spades / Cocaine

Encore – Sunshine of Your Love/ Before You Accuse Me w(ith Jimmie Vaughn & Gary Clark Jr)

man, he was so wonderful that night.  if only I had a woman to dance with

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYyQZlLDIRl/?taken-by=thighmaster

Phish
The Baker’s Dozen – Night 13
Madison Square Garden
August 6th

After being shocked and awed by Phish’s coconutty first night of their Baker’s Dozen run at MSG, I was ready for them and I to go to infinity and beyond in their 13th and final show  

Before the concert, I huddled up with my 3 diehard Phishead buddies and we all guessed as to what they were going to play.  The final flavor/theme was pink glazed donuts with rainbow sprinkles.  I had no idea what songs of their own that they would play (cause I only know like 5 of them), but I had some ideas of what themed songs that I hoped they would play

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXeTzQ5jXj_/

By day I’m your humble TM, but by night I’m MP, and MP’s guesses were… garbage sauce, but I really did wish they played what I guessed, and that they didn’t, or anywhere near that was actually kinda disappointing.  Sure, the boys played Bowie and the Stones and Willie Nelson, and a bunch of songs that made the faithful happy, but I really thought they were going to tear the roof off in the final night.  I mean, they did, but I just think they could have gone bigger.  Like play the Pretty In Pink soundtrack in reverse order, or something else that would be out of their comfort zone, and perhaps a little more Junior Senior-y

Still, it was the best Phish show I ever went to, but not for the music.  I me enjoyed myself cause I was with these three fellas who love Phish so much, but not as much as I love them

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXeHpfNjvss/?taken-by=thighmaster

Set One – Dogs Stole Things / Rift / Ha Ha Ha / Camel Walk / Crazy Sometimes / Saw It Again / Sanity / Bouncing Around the Room / Most Events Aren’t Planned / Bug / I Been Around / Izabella (Jimi Hendrix cover)

Set Two – Simple / Come Together / Starman (David Bowie cover) / You Enjoy Myself / Loving Cup (The Rolling Stones cover)

Encore - On the Road Again (Willie Nelson cover) / Tweezer Reprise

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXd-UF2jweZ/?taken-by=thighmaster

Phish
The Baker’s Dozen – Night 1
Madison Square Garden
July 21st

David Bowie is no longer with us, and yet I was super lucky to even see him 1.2 times in concert.  Junior Senior are no longer together, but caught them twice and super loved it.  I missed out on those Page/Plant shows of the 90s, but I did get to hear Robert Plant some Led Zep tunes in my ear once!  The incredible Harry Nilsson barely toured when he was living, but I only grew into his genius 17 years after his passing

As for Phish, I’ve now seen them 3 times – which means I’ve seen them more than I got to see David Bowie and Robert Plant play live combined!!!  In my mind that is plain wrong, but life doesn’t work on plain wrongs – it works on plain truths.  I’ve said before that I care not for Phish and their original music, BUT they are certainly a ball of fun to see live, and are perhaps the greatest cover band of all time!  And in fact, they covered ALL the artists I mentioned above and I loved all them covers!

Donuts are handed out every night of Phish’s ‘Baker’s Dozen’ residency at MSG, and the night’s chosen flavor sets the tone for the show.  Night one’s flavor was coconut, and while Nilsson’s ‘Coconut’ was an obvious cover choice, much to the crowd’s surprise, and to mine – they opened with a cover of Junior Senior’s ‘Shake Your Coconuts’.  The Phish phollowing probably knew zero about Jr Sr, which is fitting cause I know next to nothing about Phish, and am well versed in the Denmark’s duo oeuvre, but after 3 minutes of tearing through the rip-roaring track, band, audience and me were all on the same page from the get-go

Just keep on dancing now
Just keep on getting down
Just keep on having fun
The party’s just began

it was all such awesome plain truth!

so much so, that I won’t even bother to make up a faux setlist like I did for the previous two shows I done saw!  if only Phish did a whole Junior Senior show.  that would be something… and maybe even count as my 3rd Junior Senior show, and not a 4th Phish show  

here’s another plain truth – I will probably see Phish a 4th time.  COVER ME GOODD!!

Set One – Shake Your Coconuts (Junior Senior cover) / Martian Monster / Timber (Josh White cover) / 555 / Pigtail (Trey Anastasio song) / Halfway to the Moon / Reba / Moonage Daydream (David Bowie cover) / Walls of the Cave

Set Two - Tweezer / Seven Below /  Billy Breathes /  Sparkle / Everything’s Right (Trey Anastasio Band cover) /  Slave to the Traffic Light / Suzy Greenberg /  Coconut (Harry Nilsson cover)

Encore - The Mango Song / Good Times Bad Times (Led Zeppelin cover)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TwEQkx-8aU

Gorillaz
Merriweather Post Pavilion
July 17th

How lucky are we to be alive (and well) in a day and age where we get to over-experience the genius of Damon Albarn – our most magnificent modern music maestro, master of majestic melodies in multiple multitudes?

I only discovered this man in 1998, after a former thigh mistress imparted her Blur wisdom on me.  I felt so behind (they were already on their 5th album), and dumb for being so behind on Dan Abnormal, but once bitten, 9ever smitten

Since then, it’s been nothing but Damon Albarn for me, in any shape or form, and there have certainly been a lot of forms.  Blur is what launched him into the stratosphere (WOO-WHO!!), but in their long 21st century hiatus, his idle hands were hardly anything but.  There was a fantastic teaming with Clash bassist Paul Simonon and Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen – The Good, The Bad, The Queen, another side project with Allen and RHCP’s Flea - Rocket Juice & The Moon, a (not so amazing considering how amazing he is) solo album – Everyday Robots, and other lil things here and there, but the one project that seems to capture his greatness greater than all the rest of the greatness (yes, even more than Blur!) has been Gorillaz

Now four brilliant albums deep, the Gorillaz is not only Albarn’s most tremendous accomplishment to date, but they may in fact be the best music act going IN THE WORLD!!!  I may be biased, but I am not wrong.  The Gorillaz’ albums act as a mix tape carnival of what the world sounds like, well, at least to Damon.  And we’re all ears!! He supplies the basis, and brings on a bunch of guest stars – legends, ones in the making, and people you have zero awarness of – and blends it into the best cocktail that you want to rub your cock to

On the Gorillaz’ latest go around – Humanz – it’s not more of the same – but even more insane!!!!  And when it came alive at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland (where I haven’t seen a show since 1997, when I caught the Wu-Tang Clan open for Rage Against The Machine… and then left after the Clan finished their set!), it was even more marvelous live, in the flesh… and on tape!  

Tape! as in pre-recorded video, for the contributors who couldn’t join the Gorillaz on this tour.  And in the past, that was part of the problem of their ability to tour.  The first album had few guest stars, but when their all-star studded second, Demon Days, dropped, they weren’t really into the pre-tapping stuff, and so they only staged concerts in 2 cities, for 10 shows in total (I saw 2 of them!).  That was it!  Everyone else outside of Manchester England and New York City had to suck it!  And that really sucks.  People deserved to see Demon Days toured… even if, lets say, Ike Turner and Dennis Hopper couldn’t make it to every stop (although they did film one of the shows for all to see)

But such things don’t stop the Gorillaz now.  It’s all systems go, even if some of the guest stars can’t go with them. So while Gorillaz newbies like Vince Staples, Danny Brown, Peven Everett, Jamie Principle and Pusha T (his 1st appearance on the tour) were able to join this Merriweather date, we had to make do with a pre-recorded Mavis Staples and a bunch of others.  We didn’t get De La Soul, live OR recorded, and so we didn’t get soulful De La/Gorillaz tracks, and that’s OK, cause everything we did get was amazing (although I really would have loved to have heard ‘She’s My Collar’ and ‘Charger’, which were played at other stops), and we always get Damon Albarn at every show, and he gives us his all, and all of him is all I truly need (this marks the 11th concert I’ve seen of him in some form or another.  I look forward to the next 11)

Guess if I want it all(barn), I’ll just have to quit all my jobs and follow Damon everywhere he goes.  I bet he even makes sweet music on the toilet.  Too be honest, I’d love to find out.  I’d even do the wiping!

Setlist РM1 A1 / Ascension (with Vince Staples) / Last Living Souls / Saturnz Barz / Tomorrow Comes Today / Rhinestone Eyes / Sleeping Powder / 19/2000 / El Ma̱ana / On Melancholy Hill / Busted and Blue / Let Me Out (with Pusha T) / Submission (with Danny Brown) / Strobelite (with Peven Everett) / Andromeda / Sex Murder Party (with Jamie Principle) / DARE / We Got the Power

Encore – Stylo (with Peven Everett) / Kids With Guns / Clint Eastwood (with Vince Staples) / Don’t Get Lost in Heaven / Demon Days

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWrSKeWjCGi/