It's show recap time!

First, thanks to zoo for selling me a ticket, and at non-scalping prices, too.

While I was exploring Arizona's efforts in the fine arts in the afternoon -- much earlier than sound checks usually run -- I heard what was clearly a soundcheck of "Lie" and decided to rest my aching feet by sitting on the corridor floor and listening to the rest of the soundcheck, poised to flee the moment the music ended, as $20 a ticket is not sufficient to grant rights to stalk band members. My impression was that the next song run through was OSTCYL, and that what followed that was something new that got run through more than once. At some point in the multiple run-throughs, I looked both ways down an entirely empty corridor and realized that if I was right, I was the only person on earth outside the entourage who'd heard this song all the way through live. I could not make out lyrics, but it was gorgeous, and I do not say that lightly. (So if it wasn't new, it needs more outings.)

The Script worked hard for a scattered audience that wasn't giving them anything like the love they deserved. I am not a screamer (it's a good thing there aren't many of me), and I was tempted to scream and jump up and down just to set an example.

People who've commented that DC&TA shows seem to go by blindingly fast are right on target, and it's not the set list length: it's the pacing. There are no moments of tedium; pauses are right where they should be to give the audience space to breathe.

This was a particularly good banter night -- it'd be worth an extra $5 here and there just to hear Cook's manners of pronuncing "Arizona" -- though fried food did not come up at all, justifying my sense that the fried offerings here are pretty pathetic, also suggesting that Cook had no more luck than I did in finding the chocolate-covered scorpion vendor. (Pour moi, I'm relieved, as if I'd found it, I'd have had to eat one, just from a sense of honor.) He may have been nicer about the audience's response than we collectively deserved. Of the shows I've been to in AZ, he got the most audience reaction, but the baseline is low here. On the up side, newbies who are concerned about the screaming level can relax, as the shrieking seems to be tightly limited to when he invites it.

Cook did take the precaution of just straight-out telling people to be quiet during the a cappella part of Lie. At least Arizonans can follow instructions. It is far more compelling in person than on tape, and I hope the fabulous videotapers around here will take it in the right spirit when I say that even their best work does not capture in-person sound quality. It's not just the bass and the drums coming up through the floor; it is that Cook's voice has some qualities that video does not fully represent.

Yikes, I'm not going in order. I'll admit, I stood still and stared in a sort of pole-axed manner for all of Mr. S and the first half of Heroes, making my commentary useless but in an appreciative way.

He tried the audience-clapping thing for WOHWWS, and it was kind of a mixed success. Either I have no sense of rhythm or that beat is very hard to keep up for any length of time. (I hadn't had any booze, though I can't vouch for the rest of the audience.) THAT song is way better in person. I have appreciated it on video, but with the throbbing floor, it's hot.

Very cute opening to IDIFY, but I'll leave it to someone else to tell, as I won't get it right if I try. (No, really, I did NOT have any booze!) I can testify that people do not actually touch each other during BBS, no matter what Cook tells them to do, at least not the sort of touching one reports to the authorities. May I just keep muttering "much better in person"? I wish there was a second show tomorrow night so I could process the experience properly.

Standing in the middle of a crowd when they pick up the sing-along portion of Declaration -- mildly stunning (more so if more people know the words). IJDIYAT was apparently a substitution for something else; certainly the right call to try to get people moving. THAT one live is like being in the middle of a lightning storm, and I don't mean thunder distant overhead. I mean the lightning is hitting on both sides of you, and the hair on your arms stands up.

Audience managed to sing one verse of CBTM, sort of. I know I'm saying much, much less than usual about how Cook handled the songs, and it's one of those cases where anything I might have been muttering to myself came under the heading of pleased assent. He gave the audience a certain amount of grief for mumbling after the first two lines of the sing-along part of LO, which actually was lovely. I'm glad I had a spot with audience on all sides, as the effect of the sing-along parts under those circumstances is BIG.

Rumor is correct that Cook did a walk-around on ADAM; he went up and down the aisle nearest me, and I have the bruises to prove it from fans climbing past me to touch him. I do not touch people without permission, and it didn't seem like quite the moment to say "Mr. Cook, may I?", so I kept my hands demurely somewhere or other around my own person. A LOT of security was involved, and rightly so; it was like one of those "touch the king to get healed of leprosy" situations from medieval Europe, so I hope Cook's immunizations are up to date, also that he's well-informed on ergot.

I am beyond pleased. It's not just that Cook is a skilled performer (which he is), with a voice I'd never properly appreciated before this (all prior adjectives to the contrary), or with a good band (which they are), or with a knack for charming the audience (which he's developed). Lots of people with good songs and musical ability end up with a string of songs and whatever. This works as a total show experience, where you kind of don't see the train that hit you until it's already past and the whistle is echoing in the distance.