Concert review: Strange Lines tour, April 2001 – Florent
2001/04/12 - Astrolabe, Orléans (France)
- She Flew Alone
- Snow
- It Could Ruin Your Day
- You Are the Sunshine of My Life
- I Love the Waiting
- Lemonade
- Be Forceful
- Cleaner
- Coat
- It's a Miracle
- Geneva
- Pink Deluxe
- Shit Castle
- "They Want You"
- Person You Chose
- Tiny Boosters
- Narrow
- Valentine
- The Perfect Date
- Comeback Thursday
- The Rest of Your Evening (Los Angeles)
The weather is OK in Orléans. It had been raining the days before. It's the third day into the Strange Lines tour, and Chokebore is playing in a big venue, very wide stage, high ceiling. There are about 200 people.
When Chokebore comes on stage, you can hear that people have been missing them. They play lots of new, beautiful songs, most of which were never heard before. The last song, after an encore of old hits, is The Rest of Your Evening. Naturally. After running through the crowd during Coat, Troy will take Orléans to bed, before falling asleep later on in the dressing room.
They sleep at a friend's place in Orléans, then drive to Brussels, watching The Godfather on the tour bus's VCR.
2001/04/13 - Magasin 4, Brussels (Belgium)
- Sections
- Snow
- It Could Ruin Your Day
- Days of Nothing
- You Are the Sunshine of My Life
- I Love the Waiting
- Lemonade
- Be Forceful
- Cleaner
- Coat
- It's a Miracle
- Geneva
- Pink Deluxe
- Shit Castle
- "They Want You"
- Person You Chose
- Tiny Boosters
- Narrow
- Valentine
- The Perfect Date
- Comeback Thursday
- The Rest of Your Evening (Los Angeles)
The Magasin 4 has nothing to do with yesterday's venue. Low ceiling, low stage, tighter space making the musicians closer to the audience.
They enjoy playing here, the show is good. Troy plunges in the audience during Coat, makes a headstand and sings the last verse with fans holding his feet in the air and obviously loving this part of the show. The Rest of Your Evening is quieter, but equally mesmerizing.
Troy says his mind broke tonight, it usually takes a few days before it happens.
They drive back to Orléans and go to bed with daylight. Sleep a few hours and drive to the Rock Festival in Fontenay-le-Comte.
2001/04/14 - Rock Festival #12, Fontenay-le-Comte (France)
- Snow
- You Are the Sunshine of My Life
- I Love the Waiting
- It Could Ruin Your Day
- Tiny Boosters
- Geneva
- It's a Miracle
- Shit Castle
- Days of Nothing
- Valentine
- Coat
- Comeback Thursday
Blonde Redhead is headlining today's festival, it's a big place to play, super high and wide, with an impressive light show.
Chokebore is the only band that doesn't have a soundcheck tonight, and they have to play half as long as usual. 40 minutes. The tension is high and they deliver it amazingly well, they look happy. The audience goes pretty crazy on the old songs as well as the new fast ones like It's a Miracle and Shit Castle. Troy breaks his microphone while singing Coat, but comes back on stage anyway to end up writhing on the floor on Comeback Thursday.
Now they must get some sleep and drive to Prague, they have 2 days to get there. Then it's back to Berlin, Colmar in France, and Paris.
2001/04/19 - Boule Noire, Paris (France)
- She Flew Alone
- Snow
- It Could Ruin Your Day
- You Are the Sunshine of My Life
- I Love the Waiting
- Lemonade
- Be Forceful
- Cleaner
- Coat
- It's a Miracle
- Geneva
- Pink Deluxe
- Person You Chose
- Tiny Boosters
- Narrow
- Valentine
- Comeback Thursday
Playing in Paris is weird. Especially now that Chokebore have become the opening act for the French band Experience. They play a very short hour, with just 2 white spotlights in their faces. But the Boule Noire is quite small, the band is close to the audience, and the place is packed with loving and screaming Chokebore fans. The new songs are given a more than warm welcome, not to mention the oldies that French fans have been waiting to see live again for 2 years. Unfortunately, they don't have enough time to play The Rest of Your Evening, leaving the crowd wide awake, screaming for a second encore until every single piece of equipment has been taken off the stage.
Experience couldn't do much more than play their songs after such a performance. For their last date with Chokebore, they offered to switch and become the opening act for Chokebore.