From CGee:

I’m back in Oz for another round of concerts. I’m looking forward to the music but not the numerous taxis, airports and planes that will be involved.

It’s tough for me to say something I haven’t already said in previous reports about the concerts. Each show is unique but in its ‘nuts and bolts’, similar. The Grand Central is small and the crowd last Monday seemed to enjoy the show. They were enthusiastic but not overly so and seemed curious about the music as well as interested in hearing Russell speak. It was more a music night than one with a lot of chatting.

There were some technical glitches as the paper mentioned, but it was handled smoothly. Russell attempted to remove and replace his ear apparatus and its power pack midsong and was almost successful, not missing a note, until he had to have an assist from Stewie with securing the pack to his back on his belt. There was some strange feedback going on at around the same time and Russell decided to stop the show and try to fix it. Although he used that opportunity to request people put away their many digital cameras and cel phones as that might be the cause of the noise, it appeared to me that it had something to do with Dean’s equipment. The break didn’t seem to effect the flow of the concert from an audience point of view and everyone got right back into it.

The set list was similar to previous Oz concerts with Painted Veil but no Full Length of the River. They started way early, around 9:30ish which works for me!

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I don’t have much to add to what Kells said about the Vanguard on the 4th. I think Russell and the band enjoyed being ‘home’ again after doing so many shows there. The band sounded great but I have to say after all the recent flurry of activity, everyone looked tired. I loved the expanded version of Full Length of the River in LA but it really filled the room and resonated at the Vanguard. Stuart Hunter is amazing and this song really allows the band to showcase what they can do.

For the first time in my memory, the show ended with MHMH and with the audience that night it worked just fine. It was more a mellow crowd and unusually intent on listening to Russell talk. The band is such a fixture at the Vanguard now that even the staff is familiar with the music. The drink checks are distributed to the tables about half way through the concert. There was a change on my bill and the waitress sort of appeared next to me, crouching down with the new bill just as they started Full Length. She looked up and said “That’s a new song” and while I was futzing with the bill, she stayed by my side to give it a listen.