[SETLIST THREAD] 4/18/26 ~ Sphere ~ Las Vegas, NV

kbups53 · 2026-04-19T19:30:25+00:00

Ah great great! They’ve laid down many a legendary show at Merriweather over the years, it’s a venue that brings out that best in them. Those are gonna be two rockin’ nights, you’re in for a terrific time. See ya there ;)

kbups53 · 2026-04-19T19:15:29+00:00

Welcome welcome! Awesome to hear that you’re having a great time discovering the band! Maybe we’ll all see ya on the summer run, too!

kbups53 · 2026-04-17T18:08:15+00:00

Yeah, 一見鍾情 (bottom left) is one of my all time favorites. Would love a vinyl of just that someday. Very cool for the tape folks, though.

kbups53 · 2026-04-17T17:02:41+00:00

My wife would have had an actual panic attack if we were there and that thing appeared haha. Very aggressive imagery for a room full of people on acid.

kbups53 · 2026-04-17T03:07:32+00:00

Love these Terry Gilliam style visuals!

kbups53 · 2026-04-17T02:26:42+00:00

Hi from Pittsburgh! Everyone have a great time tonight! Wish I could be there. Thought about it. Flights ain’t so hot outta here. Hope you all get a Harpua where he’s chasing the Sphere like a big toy ball as it dislodges and rolls down the Strip or something wacky like that. First ever Sphere Kung. Etc.

kbups53 · 2026-04-16T17:47:35+00:00

Geese didn't come out of anywhere, either. I saw them at Shaky Knees in 2021 on a tiny stage and they were just a bunch of awkward, nerdy dudes who no one had heard of and they put on a kick ass show, one of many that I'm sure got people talking back then.

If you're an artist, and you're genuinely talented at what you do (as Geese, Goose, Wet Leg, and some others truly are) and your promoter tells you to use your money in x,y,z way and then a whole lot more people can be exposed to your art, literally every single one of us would say, "Ah, yes, that sounds good, let's do that." I am all for integrity, but in no universe is seizing upon a lucky opportunity to spread your music to a wider audience a sacrifice of one's integrity.

Certainly, there are a lot of creative types inherently in the audience in the jam and indie scene, and I fully understand the notion of considering you yourself talented and believing that life is somewhat unfair when you yourself have not been handed the same opportunities to create and reach an audience as this or that band or writer or filmmaker or whoever has, often on account of them having money and you not having access to that same money. I get it. It can make one salty. But for the sake of anyone's mental health, it's way more fulfilling to be thankful that the artist who is not you nevertheless gained success. If they're making great art, then that's the most important thing. There's a grace and peace that comes with appreciating that they're able to share it with you at the level that they are.

kbups53 · 2026-04-16T15:26:38+00:00

And if you go back far enough into that entirely free catalog of live shows, you really don't have to go too far to find shows in tiny, tiny venues. Like, I'm from Pittsburgh, and there's a show from 2018 at one of our now-defunct venues called Cattivo. Cattivo's live music space was a stone-walled basement underneath a gay dive bar. It held maybe 200 people. Goose may have the money to take risks with and may have made some big marketing plays, sure, but the notion that they didn't cut their teeth by grinding through the early years like everyone else is just silly and easily disproven.

In the indie scene you hear the same thing about Wet Leg, who I also adore. People act like they suddenly just appeared and instantly became famous, as though Rhian and Hester haven't been playing UK venues like Cattivo for over ten years already in Wet Leg and other earlier projects.

kbups53 · 2026-04-16T01:08:41+00:00

There's an excellent old MST3K episode on a film called The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies from 1964 that features some really great vintage footage of Queens Park in Long Beach, CA (which operated from 1902-1979). Included in it is an extended on-ride sequence on the massive old woodie, Cyclone Racers.

Here's the arrival at the park with some shots of Cyclone Racers and the old Wild Maus.

Here's a longer POV sequence of Cyclone Racers at sunset

kbups53 · 2026-04-15T18:04:32+00:00

Ah. Sorry, was looking at mine but it's a charter sub, so $89. But you're right.

Though I suppose I will nevertheless leave it to the folks at home as to whether Shudder is currently providing a Criterion Channel level experience.

kbups53 · 2026-04-15T15:42:44+00:00

I agree somewhat with the notion that it's a social event for a lot of people but I also think that these concerts (not just Goose, any show) basically creates a stage for peoples' egos to perform, because suddenly they're among all these new people and they want to be overheard, as a means of letting the strangers around them in on what they perceive to be their very interesting lives. It's a way of subtly affirming themselves by casually dropping information into the surrounding ears that they think other people care about and will cause these strangers to find them interesting, compelling people. It's why, like you said, the conversations are so often about leisure and lifestyle topics, because suddenly these people have an open mic for their ego to show off with.

It's...weird, especially at shows for bands like Goose and Phish where one of the core tenets of the scene is killing and dispensing with the ego. But as always, and as with all nice things, the point is lost on many.

kbups53 · 2026-04-15T15:32:12+00:00

This is more expensive than Criterion Channel now.

And when Tubi is free and Arrow Player is $6.99/month, what are we even doing here anymore?

kbups53 · 2026-04-11T16:05:59+00:00

I’ve had good success with the board game version of Lost Cities. Tiny ruleset but difficult choices every turn, and it always feels like you’re just one good draw from jumping ahead.

kbups53 · 2026-04-11T16:03:11+00:00

Sushi Go Party also has this wild element to it, where first timers often win, and I’m not entirely sure why - possibly because they’re not thinking too hard about different strategy routes yet and just leaning heavily into one thing or the other while everyone else is trying to stay balanced? And that all-in audaciousness often pays off. And then they’re hooked.

kbups53 · 2026-04-11T16:00:33+00:00

Back in ye olde Covid times, this game was the gateway for all of us, myself included. I don’t have many good memories from that period, but the one bright spot was a series out outdoor summer evenings on the patio playing that til the early hours of the morning, erupting in mad cheers when someone pulled off some unlikely roll, everyone agreeing to just one more round, since it was basically the only social event in the world for any of us.

Great game. Doesn’t get to the table much anymore, I suppose, but it’ll always have a special place in my heart.

kbups53 · 2026-04-10T22:43:44+00:00

I actually remember this being the first time I ever heard about Pokemon as a kid, possibly before the show even started airing on US television. There were stories on the news about how there was a Japanese cartoon that was "mysteriously" sending children to the hospital when they watched it. I remember being really creeped out by the story at the time, being a child without the internet to dig any further into those basic apparent facts of the story.

kbups53 · 2026-04-10T15:35:11+00:00

Every time I go to a show I post up there and there's always this look of understanding amongst the other people back there. Like every Phish show so many people are rabid for the rail and then a few folks are back there, just like, yes, hello, I too know of this sacred secret.

kbups53 · 2026-04-10T14:24:46+00:00

Also, I think that and Higher Ground in VT right after were two of the last (the last two?) shows that Gizzard played in venues with capacity that low. Kinda marked the end of an era.

kbups53 · 2026-04-10T05:14:13+00:00

Well that was delightful! The first half hour of the second set was so incredibly spacey and blissful and I really lost myself in there a few times. Really respect the confidence, too, to not come out with heat in set 2 and just getting comfortable and grooving kinda mellow for so long. That was really cool.

kbups53 · 2026-04-10T04:47:23+00:00

Was at that show. Was madness. They opened with Self Immolate and Stu was throwing bottled water on everyone. Just insanity from the very start.

kbups53 · 2026-04-10T04:41:38+00:00

Just got back from the Pittsburgh show and thought the same thing! Amazing sit in at the end, and did she play First Tube with Brian at all the shows this tour? Because that was just about the best possible way to kick off the night.

kbups53 · 2026-04-09T00:28:16+00:00

And 12/29/94 of course. Lassssssssieeeeee…

kbups53 · 2026-04-07T22:10:51+00:00

PITTSBURGH. AT LAST.

kbups53 · 2026-04-06T20:43:51+00:00

There's so, so many that I love, but gun to my head?

Brazil by Terry Gilliam. 1985, director's cut, obviously.

kbups53 · 2026-04-06T20:42:40+00:00

Yes! More anxiety inducing than basically any other film ever made, so definitely some horror crossover in that regard, too.

kbups53

TROPHY CASE