review #1:
I arrived at Shine a bit early and talked to thier tour manager, Alex, and was able to talk to the band before the show. They were all extremly polite and E was willing to answer some questions I had for him. He said that he really enjoyed making the album, he's satisfied with it for the moment, his favourite songs are Cancer For The Cure, 3 Speed, Climbing To The Moon and P.S. You Rock My World. His advice to aspiring musicians is to not give up, but to understand that it's really hard and competetive. He said that it's a miracle, really, to make it as a commercially successful musician. When I asked him how he felt and how he was influenced by his fans, he said that he's honored and proud to have fans that understand EELS music. He's happy about that and feels close to them. This was all very sweet and made me feel wonderful that he felt this way.

I wanted to avoid the topic of Tommy and the whole thing they went through, but it wasn't something that was ignored. But E didn't say much and I changed the subject. E invited my friends and I to watch soundcheck and stay for the show. I got to meet Adam, the new addition to EELS. He seemed really happy and had a great time playing with the band. He payed careful attention to how things sounded and what was/not working. He's similar to E in appearance, and really nice. There was a chemistry on stage, but I'm not saying that Adam has in any way replaced Tommy. I guess it can be best described as another era in the EELS evolution.

Butch's drum set has become smaller than the last time I saw them. Not as many percussion instruments. Also, only the basic instruments were played. No banjo's or firebells this time. Just a new organ, guitar, drums, and bass. Back to Butch: He's a great singer, he sings Efils God and backup on Last Stop: This Town. He rocked that place!! He's a great guy, always so pleasent and nice.

The show was awesome! As usual witty comments were exchanged between E and the audience. During My Beloved Monster they started to do the Temptations My Girl, only it was My Beloved Monster. Novocaine For The Soul now has a swingy, surfy type sound. It's upbeat... and fast. I really liked it. For the new song Souljacker, a work in progress, E had the words onstage next to the set list.

[review sent in by Terri]

review #2:
E had some banter with the crowd in New York that was kinda fun. At one point he starts talking about how Butch's triangle holder is really the Brit Award they received and belittled the award. Someone from Scotland said something from the back and E replied with a slightly rude comment about Britain. Then the guy shouts out, "At least we buy your albums!" and E laughs and says Scotland is okay after all. Also, a few times throughout the show E would introduce a song by saying, "Thanks for making this one a number one hit." Pause. "This is called Going To Your Funeral (Pt. 1)" and everyone would laugh. After Souljacker he explained it was a work in process, and that the next song was, too, and of course they then launched right into Novocaine For The Soul. One thing I noticed though was that he almost never looked at the audience, he refused to make eye contact or even look at them. Is this usual, because while the show was great musically, there wasn't really much communion between him and the audience (people shouted 'Butch!' throughout the whole concert). E seemed happy and appreciative but maybe it was his nerves. It was mainly industry people, and the concert was put on, I overheard, just to show people that EELS were still a band.

Most of the songs were from the new album, but Livin' Life, Souljacker and Open The Door are not on the new album according to the track listings I've seen. E made this clear when he said: "Tonight we're playing songs from our new album that you haven't heard yet and also testing out songs for the album after that that you also haven't heard yet."

[review sent in by Bill]