Oct. 21st 1999, the Trocadero, Philadelphia PA

Well, this wasn't especially a good night. We estimated fewer than 200 people in the place - despite Philly's well-established Goth community. Moreover, for no reason we could learn, the club had insisted on an 11 PM finale, so when both MP and GLJ ran over their allotted time the Mish's set was compressed into 45 minutes and six songs. But I'm ahead of myself...

**Mike P: All acoustic. (The electric set with James, Craig and Scott which we saw in DC on Wednesday 20th was not repeated on any of the next four nights.) Added Feel Free, Ground Zero, White Noise, The Stand (described as "the Yes version") and a wonderful older song called "Declare Yourself an Unsafe Building" which he called "the foundation of all my work with The Alarm". No "Spirit of '76" this night.

**GLJ: (not in order) Sweet Sweet Rain, Liquor Man, Uptown, Josephina, Kiss of Life, LKDMD (shown on setlists as "Love Drag"=), 20 Killer Hurts, ...Heaven, Gorgeous, Upstairs, Desire. Jay offered a rueful explanation for his sore throat, saying that when he'd gotten onto the plane in LA it was 98 degrees but when they landed in Boston it was freezing (pretty cold in Philly as well) and his throat hadn't been right since then. He still sounded pretty fine to me!

** The Mish: unfortunately I didn't get notes on which songs were played but they did include "Sacrilege" (which Wayne introed with "People say we aren't playing enough stuff from 'Gods Own Medicine'. Frankly, we just forgot."), "Raising Cain", and "Swoon" (dedicated to EVB with "This one's for you again" since she had spoken glowingly of it to Wayne after the DC show). Wayne's still using all his old hair-preening gestures despite not having much of that now...=). Funny exchange--Loudly happy fan: "The Mission! I LOVE 'em!" Wayne: "You love 'em? Buy a t-shirt."

Note in general: there were lots more GLJ fans than Mission fans at both DC and Philly, and an apparent perception that the Jezebels, not the Mish, were the headliners - a surprising number of GLJ fans had never even heard of The Mission, and they weren't young kids, either. Presumably s'because the varying versions of GLJ have kept fairly active, while the Mish have barely been heard of here since 1990, but we still found it disconcerting...

Very nasty ending to this show: it was no real surprise to be herded from the floor into the lobby after the set, but NO one expected them to use CHEMICAL MACE to drive everyone out of the building without so much as a word of warning! One of the most alarming things I've ever experienced as I suddenly began to cough and choke and realized everyone was doing the same. I heard plenty of astonished (gasping) comments as we hurried out onto the street so I assume it wasn't regular Trocadero policy. This can't be legal, can it? what about people with asthma or other respiratory problems (like my two roommates)? what about the poor vendors, forced to choose between overseeing their wares and continuing to breathe? Shouldn't the club at least give a final warning that people must leave before doing something so drastic? and why Mace a peaceful crowd to begin with?

(non-Jay fans may want to skip this next paragraph.)

--anyway, plenty of time to get air as we waited behind the club for the bands (Wayne told us the club had ordered them out as well!!). While EVB joined the group talking to Wayne, Judy and I spotted Jay; she had brought him some photos of him that Liz had taken in New York, and I summoned my nerve (I'm shy...) and asked him for a hug. Of course you can - it's bloody freezing out here, says practical Jay. So I finally had my long-imagined moment next to my angel, who smelled of clear cold air and smoke, and has the most astonishing turquoise eyes, and is just sublimely gorgeous.

(OK, you can all come back now....=)

and that was that. Stay tuned for Pittsburgh.
...go back to Ysgarlad.
...go on to the next night's show.