Originally Posted by CarneVaca

I've got one word: Cracker.

I've seen this band more than any other performer. I've seen them on back-to-back nights. I've seen them in New York on Wednesday and Boston on Friday.

Each time, and I mean every single time, the show is different. They don't even use a setlist. Ever.

At most they'll play three or four songs in the same sequence from one night to the next. I've seen them open up with one of their sloooooowest numbers, and still get the crowd in a tizzy when they break into the second, faster number. I've seen them do mostly country stuff for the first half hour of a show and still bring the crowd along. Hell, once they stopped in the middle of a six-minute slow song because singer/guitarist David Lowery said he lost his place in the song. Then they started the whole song over again! Later on that same show, they screwed up "Euro-Trash Girl," another long-ass number and one of their bigger hits. But this time, rather than start over, they broke into a Camper Van Beethoven ska instrumental. Now that's taking risks!

Showmanship. Spontaneity. That's what the Mac needs.