...and has pink eye and flapping blisters and a half dozen other maladies of which melora warns the front row of her audience. sort of like beth from the gossip declaring immediately upon her arrival onstage that she has herpes, or nikki of tracy + the plastics being perpetually on 'the sick part of tour.' these ladies all seem to be saying to us, 'rock-n-roll is a cruel, dominating bitch who tortures our flesh, drags us through the rain, and gives us heartburn.'
eh, but they love it. melora seemed no worse for the wear, unless you count her voice cracking in a million pieces on the high notes on 'brand new key,' which was no less adorable as a result. that was the song that hooked me on rasp. originally, and it continues to be their covers that charm me the most. last night's set included some gems. a man in the audience called out at one point for 'transylvanian concubine,' to which melora replied crisply, 'patience is a virtue. what think you, sir, about pat benetar?' at which point they launched into a thrillingly jerky, gracefully off-kilter version of 'fire and ice.'
melora's between-song schtick is notorious, and last night was no disappointment. during 'the part where we answer questions from the audience' (during which i'm pretty sure they ignored the audience completely), she shared the following anecdote:
i think eric clapton said it to me best when he said, 'melora, little melora, don't sell your soul to the devil for rock and roll. don't sell your soul to play the blues because it's not that great, and that baby i had with that supermodel, he fell out the window.'
unfortunately, that speech was not followed by a spooky, tongue-in-cheek rendition of 'tears in heaven.'
but they did do G-N-F'ing-R!!! just when i was thinking, wow did they get their drummer from a use your illusion cover band, they launched into 'november rain.'
but it was 'wish you were here' that really brought down the house (but thankfully did not break out the lighters).
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