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I arrived at the Tabernacle about 30 minutes early. There weren't many people there so it was easy to move around. I walked up the staircase to get into the concert hall, and looked to my right and noticed a merchandise stand. They had a small assortment of T-shirts and stuff. So, I walked up and bought a Daisies Of The Galaxy EELS shirt (kinda steep at $25 but who could resist) and a $5 sheet of Daisies of the Galaxy stickers (a ripoff, but yet again, who could resist). Then I proceeded into the concert hall. E wasn't on stage yet and everyone was kinda just hanging out. I saw E's piano sitting in the middle of the stage and pointed it out to my friend. Eventually E came out wearing his denim hat, vest, and pants. He waved to everyone and quickly took a seat at his piano. It was really cool being so close to the stage. But anyways, right after he sat down, he started pounding on the piano. He pounded from the low keys up to the higher keys and then made a little tune with just bashing the keys! It was pretty cool! I was kinda disappointed that the rest of the band was there, but I could live with it. Then E got up and said, "Hello ladies and gentleman, we are EELS." It was a little weird he used 'we' since no one else was on stage, but no one noticed.

A stage hand then walked over to E and handed him an acoustic guitar. E then played I Like Birds. During it, he did the whole bird whistling thing. I liked it. After the song, E started talking, "You know people, today it has been 1 year since I stopped smoking crack cocaine." A few people cheered. "Thank you", he said. E may have said one or two other little things but I don't remember. Then he went back to sit at his piano. He said, "This next song, Walmart doesn't like it too much, but I'm gonna play it for you guys because we're not in Walmart." Immediately I knew it was It's A Motherfucker. After the song, E said "How's it going Tabernacle people? Georgia people, I like you guys. It's spring time you know? Spring time in Georgia. Well, at it was this morning. I'm feeling really good tonight, how about you folks?" Then E played Feelin' Good on the piano. A few people cheered during the song. E got up from the piano seat and the stage hand handed him his guitar. Then E sat back down in front of the audience. He then said something similar to "I've been feeling pretty good, and I'm gonna start over." Then he played Grace Kelly Blues.

By now I had realized that no one in the room cared that EELS was here except for me and about 3 other people. That kinda pissed me off. Anyways, E finished the song and said something about the next song (Daisies Of The Galaxy) and something about the album which I don't remember. Then he played the song, which is probably my favorite song from the new album. It was great! Then E got up and sat back down at his piano. He played a song I didn't recognize... and that kinda frustrated me. I am a big EELS fan, and the fact that I didn't know the song was frustrating! But anyway, I think the song may have been called "Think About It". Again, E was handed his guitar and sat down at his bench. He then played Mr. E's Beautiful Blues. It didn't sound as good it does with drums, but still, it was great. I took some pictures with my camera during it. When E was done he paused for a couple seconds and said, "Now, this next one is from all the way back... all the way back from the summer of 1996." I heard a guy behind me say "Yeah, ALL the way back". Then E said, "Everyone just close your eyes and think of what you were doing back in the summer of '96. You were in your jeep, listening to your radio." I don't remember what he said after that, but then he started to play Novocaine For The Soul. He played really fast on the guitar to make up for all the lost instruments that weren't there to back him up. It didn't very much like the Novocaine we all know. At first, I thought it was a totally different song. One verse sounded a little off: "Life is great, and I feel great", maybe he just forgot the words... Then he went to sit back down at his piano and played one last song. I was suprised to hear him play a cover of I Can't Help Falling In Love With You. Everyone cheered when they heard him play it. When he finished, he got up and said we were a great audience and that he would love to come back sometime. E said something about when he comes back with his band he was going to "soft rock the house down".

Between most of his songs he kept complimenting the audience for how quiet and polite we were being during his performance. I thought it was a good little solo performance, but I wished that Norton could've been there to play drums. After E left, some woman came out who was from our local Atlanta radio station called 99X. She said that she hoped we all enjoyed EELS and then she threw some white T-shirts into the audience.

[review sent in by Ryan]