Come True – It’s Only Divine Right-ah!

The New Pornographers, July 12 2003, Bowery Ballroom, New York City:

The New Face Of Zero And One / Miss Teen Wordpower / The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism / The Electric Version / From Blown Speakers / Chump Change / All For Swinging You Around / The End Of Medicine / July Jones / Mass Romantic / Jackie / The Laws Have Changed / It’s Only Divine Right / Letter From An Occupant // encore 1: The Fake Headlines / To Wild Homes / The Body Says No // encore 2: Testament To Youth In Verse / Mystery Hours / Action // encore 3: When I Was A Baby / Centre For Holy Wars

This show is definitely going down in my personal hall of fame as one of the best shows that I’ve ever seen, not just because of the consistently energetic performance and the insane level of fun that I had at the show with my friends, but because…I wrote the setlist. And they used it.

Let me explain.

On the train ride down to Manhattan, I passed a few minutes of my time by writing up a mock setlist of what I would play that night if I were the New Pornographers. When I was at the show with Emily and Todd, we decided as a joke to put the fake setlist in front of Carl Newman’s monitor before the band hit the stage. We never thought that he’d be so amused to see that an audience member had made up a setlist for them that they’d decide to actually play it through. To be more clear, they played the main set that I had written out (everything up to “Letter From An Occupant”), and took requests for the three (!) sets of encores. “The Fake Headlines” and “Testament To Youth In Verse” were included in the encore on my fake setlist, but the rest of the encore songs were not.

The show was so damned tight, I could probably list off 80% of the show as being highlights. “July Jones” was particularly strong, and I’m very proud of how the string of three showstoppers in a row at the end of main set worked out.

If anyone out there can hook me up with a recording of this show, I will do my best to repay you somehow. I still can’t believe they actually played my fake setlist. How fucking joycore is that?

(Those of you who may be unfamiliar with The New Pornographers should check out their Matador site, where they are streaming the entire Electric Version album, and have a few mp3s available to download.)