Two of Us

Salim & Rhett at City Winery Chicago -- the #RhettsAllRequestSet

25 November 2014

Where do I even start with this crazy story? Generous friends hooked up tickets and off we go. I made it there in plenty of time, waited for my friends, saw other friends on top of that, MADE friends on top of THAT.

Salim has been big on the boombox this tour. I wasn't aware of all the hard work it was doing. Salim played backing vocals & backing track on cassette via boombox mic'd onstage. It sounded like a full band! It was better than rock 'n roll, it was ART. Pure performance art. Cool effects microphone, his interaction with the front row, his general entertaining demeanor, such a wonderful package wrapped up in a vintage suit. The producer was on display as a performer and it was magic. Salim is a force unto himself and it's never better than when you see someone having as much fun on stage as you're having in your seat.

Rhett Miller has fun on stage. Everyone knows this. Tonight he grappled with his control issues and his OCD tendencies and let the crowd pick the set list. He left a request tube to be filled with our choices, filtered by himself, and presented with aplomb on stage. He acknowledged how difficult it was not having a prepared set list. To make himself feel better he wrote it down as he went even being nudged by the audience to do so. I think he still might have forgotten some too. But this is what happens when you're making live art. He was in high spirits, very jokey and chatty. He was drinking "Irish wine". This seemed to help things LOL

I requested Guadalajara as I didn't get to hear it over the summer on tour. I requested anything Beatles or anything with Salim as well, and put in an any Replacements request for my friend. I was rewarded with two of those, he played Guadalajara mentioned it requested by me and then also later sang In My Life and Girl by the Beatles. He was in full charm mode and it was a beautiful thing. We are all better people today for having been there last night. I'm still working on cobbling the proper set list together but it was fabulous and I'm so grateful I was able to be there.