can you feel it?

"We've been on tour for like 2 months... it's good to be home."

Tonight saw The Apples In Stereo at the Bluebird for a homecoming/last night of their tour. Having never seen them live before, I wasn't too sure what to expect. The keyboard player took the stage first, all decked out in a silver space suit, cape & light-up glasses. The entrance proved to be slightly on the anti-climatic side, however, as the rest of the band was dressed in more of a "rocker" fashion - polka dot shirts, sweater vests, torn jeans & t-shirts. AIS rocked waaay harder than I imagined, and they quickly won my heart - I'm a sucker for percussion. Not necessarily the drum kit; I'm talking percussion as in maracas, tambourines & cowbell - which AIS had in spades.

For 90 minutes we were treated to a band alternating between rocking out and gushing gratitude. It was obviously a special night (Robert had at least 2 brothers and his parents in attendance) and the Apples ended their tour in the grandest of fashions. I don't have any sort of a setlist, though I know they opened with Can You Feel It?. We did get one new (unrecorded as of yet) song - a "post-new-song" according to Robert, as many of the songs were from the new album. Yeah, that's all I've got. Every few numbers, guests would appear on stage - mainly, it would seem, members of the band Casper & The Cookies, who have been touring with AIS. Odd, because they didn't open this particular show... that honor went to local band Landlordland. So why was Athens' Casper & The Cookies present? Your guess is just as good as mine, but they were having as much fun as the rest of us.

The main set ended with no less then 15 people on stage - the 6 Apples In Stereo, Robert's brothers (I think), members of Casper, a woman with a pom pom who was invited up, and two guys from the front row who I suspect invited themselves up, haha. Almost immediately after everyone vacated the stage, the house lights came up... no encore?!? April Fool's, maybe, as the band came back after a moment to play a few more. The first encore song was instrumental, and the drummer gave a drumstick and the cowbell to a fan in the front row. Someone is going to be bragging at the water cooler tomorrow about playing cowbell with The Apples In Stereo... lol. They played a couple more and the encore ended with the dismantling of the drum kit, maracas a-flying and everyone present having a grand time.

EDIT: Ooooh, I've got a setlist now, because someone taped the show and I've downloaded it. So here ya go:

Intro
Can You Feel It?
Please
Go
Radiation
Energy
What's The #
Strawberry Fire
Sun Is Out
Play Tough
Defiant Dignitary
The Rainbow
Skyway
Same Old Drag
Tin Pan Alley
Hypnotic Suggestion
Open Eyes
I Can't Believe
Ruby
-encore-
Intro
7 Stars
Tidal Wave