Gulf breeze on the porch, me and my honey rockin' back and forth

In addition to ending a 2 1/2-year Better Than Ezra draught for me, last night's show was special for a few reasons. First and foremost, my dear friend Carmen trekked from Florida to attend. Although we've been online friends for going on three years, this was the first time we met in person. I very much enjoyed getting to spend an entire evening chatting with her and having someone to share fan-girliness with (Jason was with us and overjoyed, I'm sure). Our combined obsessiveness inspired us to arrive an hour before doors, making us first in line and first to the front of the stage, just left of center. The audience slowly filled in from there. We were a little concerned when the crowd was very sparse for the first opener, but it was packed by the time BTE came on.

Second, the venue is unique and pretty fabulous. The boys performed at Sloss Furnaces, an iron foundry turned national historic landmark to preserve Birmingham's industrial heritage. All of the strange contraptions used for iron production remain around the site, including a huge furnace at the end of the building in which the concert took place. The structure is well covered but not completely enclosed, allowing for a quasi-open air experience. The fabulous cross-breeze made the evening feel a tad tropical (which Kevin noted during the show).

Third, the concert, titled "Raise the Volume," is a fund-raiser for Birmingham's Laps for Cystic Fibrosis organization. Five Birmingham high schools joined forces to sell tickets and otherwise promote the event, raising a combined $20,000. The top two fund-raisers each got to choose a band from their respective schools to perform as opening acts.

Both were mainly cover bands, performing tunes by groups that have been around since long before they were born. Altamont's choice was called Sweet Santana and the Love Parade (or as Kevin said later, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium). These kids looked YOUNG (I assume they were underclassmen) and goofy, the latter primarily due to the ridiculous costumes they were wearing. The guitarist (who kicked ass, by the way) wore a Sgt. Pepper-esque military jacket; the bassist a crazy multi-colored Cat in the Hat-style cap; the drummer a kingly velvet purple cape; the saxophonist an open shirt with a big black sequined bow tie, big sunglasses and a plaid golfer cap; and the lead "singer"/screamer a red vest without a shirt and a Native American headdress. They covered mostly Red Hot Chili Peppers and did OK. Mountain Brook gave us Square One: four shaggy-haired cute dorky boys wearing dark t-shirts, ragged jeans or khakis and Converse. They seemed a little older (maybe juniors or seniors) and performed better, offering a set of Chili Peppers, Collective Soul, Led Zeppelin, and Beastie Boys.

We then endured a 20-minute wait as BTE's crew set up for the main act. Carmen and I could scarcely contain our excitement; Jason played his Nintendo DS. Finally, the lights went dark, and a recorded intro brought Kevin, Tom, Michael and Jim to the stage.

The 1 3/4-hour set was high-energy, the banter hilarious, the music FANTASTIC. The smiling, cheering, singing, and dancing left my face, throat and body sore. I anticipated that seeing someone other than Travis on the drum riser would be strange, but it wasn't. Michael looked at home there and tore it up, and the interaction among all of the band members felt natural. I miss Trabby, but Michael fits in well.

Of course the music is the big draw, but the interaction and banter is really what makes the live show special. We got the always entertaining battle of the "yeah, yeahs" between Kevin and Tom. Tom definitely won with a long, loud screechy "yeeee-aaaahhhh" that made Kevin say, "Wow." (Tom's only other mic time consisted of a pitch for today's Ezra Open, after which Kevin encouraged us all to take a road trip to New Orleans after the show.)

Other typical banter included Kevin's insistence toward the beginning of the show that the South has the most attractive people, and his warnings that those who are sensitive to flashing light should avert their eyes from his guitar fret prior to "Extraordinary" and that the room was bound to overheat prior to "Miss You." However, the pre-"Miss You" bit was modified such that the caution actually was coming by way of the specter of "old man Sloss," whom Kevin said looked like Yoda. Another reference to Sloss's history and legends came via a comment early in the show that Kevin was going to go on a haunted history tour of the venue later.

Kevin made sure to point out that Jim Payne's father played for Auburn (drawing emphatic boos from the crowd) and to reference the rivalry between Alabama and LSU, conceding Nick Saban to us but predicting that the Bayou Bengals would avenge last year's loss to the Crimson Tide this fall. Kevin also brought up Jim's Alabama ties during his pre-"At the Stars" guitar change, asking him to play something by someone from Alabama. Jim started to play "Sweet Home Alabama," but his guitar apparently was out of tune. Kevin asked the crowd who else was from Alabama, and someone shouted out Oasis, to Kevin's great amusement.

Of course Kevin did his little dance during the "Miss You" prelude to "Juicy." He also did a crazy sexy dance toward Michael at one point, which he described as "Princing it up." This led him to sing a bit of Prince's "I Would Die 4 U."

When Kevin noted the tropical feel of the breeze, he said it made him feel like singing "Margaritaville." Tom started playing it, to which Kevin replied, "I said LIKE. It's like saying I feel like an eagle. I'm not really an eagle. I can't fly." Jim then started playing Steve Miller Band's "Fly Like an Eagle," and the boys broke into an awesome partial cover of that song, to the audience's delight.

During the "breakdown" part of "Desperately Wanting," Kevin had Michael interpret some vocal gymnastics on the skins (Kevin proclaimed the he had no rhythm, himself). Kevin then had the lights dimmed and asked Jim to interpret his lyrics in a sexy voice. So Jim spoke the lines "Take back your life/let me inside" in a Barry White-esque low, steamy style (which Jason just said sounded more like Satan to him haha).

Finally, during the partial cover of Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" in the middle of "In the Blood," Kevin invited the cute little drummer from Square One (whose name also was Kevin) on stage to play the cowbell. The kid rocked it.

The whole audience got to participate during a couple songs. Kevin asked us to sing the chorus of "A Lifetime," predicting that if everyone in the audience sang it in unison, we'd all start looking at each other and making out. "It will seem weird and wrong at first," he said, "but then you'll just go with it." Apparently, not everyone sang in unison, because no making out occurred that I saw. He also asked us to sing the chorus of "Collide." I expected he might have us sing the "do do dos," but he didn't; he actually had us sing the chorus. We sang the cover of Sublime's "What I Got" at the end of "Extraordinary" with him as well.

Because there were so many high school students in the audience, the boys had to keep their set as clean as possible. We noticed this most in "King of New Orleans," as Kevin left out his customary "mother fucker" after the line "Gutter punks are all the same" and sang "Break that STUFF on down" (in lieu of "shit").

Following is the setlist, which I know is in the right order for the first few, last few and encore. The middle, I'm not too sure about, but I know I got all of the songs in there.

Good
Misunderstood
Sincerely, Me (Not ENTIRELY the right words. lol)
Rosealia
A Lifetime
Extraordinary/What I Got
Partial Fly Like an Eagle cover
Collide (So beautiful, I almost cried; video forthcoming)
King of New Orleans
At the Stars
Absolutely Still (video forthcoming)
Laid
Southern Thing
Miss You/Juicy (video of Miss You forthcoming)
Desperately Wanting

Encore:
Burned
Part of It's Only Natural (Not entirely the right words here, either, but I LOVE the slower live version so much more than the album version)
Breakdown (Tom Petty cover)
In the Blood/Don't Fear the Reaper

I took a few videos, as noted above, and tons of photos. As soon as I have a chance to pull them off my camera and post them, I'll let y'all know. Those were the only souvenirs we got, unfortunately. A lot of picks came our way but were caught by other people around us, and we couldn't get the security guy to give us the one that landed at his feet in front of us. One of the event dudes gave it to a high school chick near us who either was cuter or just squeaked louder than us. Nevertheless, it was an amazing show and an all-around wonderful night. I will not let another 2 1/2 years go by without seeing them again.