New York - 9th August 2000

All the tour, I wondered if it would happen and it did tonight....!

This was one of the best audiences of the tour as it was obvious that there were loads of real Todd fans in the crowd tonight! Possibly I noticed it more because the last two concerts some people attended just because it was free entertainment but tonight it cost to get in and was worth every penny (or every cent)!

The Irving Plaza was a very well organised club somewhere in Manhattan. Those of us with guest passes or tickets at will call were directed to queue away from the other ticket holders and were dealt with promptly. They also arranged checking the over 21 ID to be done outside the venue so that when the doors opened promptly at 8.00, we could all just pile in quickly! There was a balcony around the hall but most people stood in front of the stage. We could virtually stand where we liked and there was no pushing despite it being almost sold out.

Kasim, Todd and Trey came on promptly at 9.30 to massive applause and cheers as always! Tonight loads of people in the crowd even recognised I Hate My Frickin' ISP! Almost as soon as they finished that song Todd sang that he'd "Lost his reach in Wilkes Barre" and later complained that he mucked up his voice at a radio station birthday party! He did sound croaky all night and missed a few notes (and a few words when it gave out totally) but he just seemed to laugh and it didn't reduce his enthusiasm in the slightest! At the concert when he said that he had the flu his voice was deeper than normal but tonight it was just croaky!

When they got to the foot-breaking part of Couldn't I Just Tell You, Todd and Kasim actually performed the scissor jumping again which was the first time on this part of the tour! Afterwards Kasim pretended to limp around the stage which Todd found hilarious! He mentioned that there was a long story behind that "particular two step"!

Love Of The Common Man got a big round of applause tonight (people seemed to recognise the tune quicker than at other concerts too) but Trapped got an even bigger one - that mixture of Kasim and Todd's vocals sounds just wonderful!

They played the first part of Love In Action and then Todd gave a talk about it being an election year before they sang Yer Fast which most people recognised!

Todd sang Secret Society with obvious trepidation about his voice but he gave an adequate performance. After the inevitable # One Lowest Common Denominator (for the first time on the tour the audience's "So hot" part was really loud!) Todd said that there were playing from the racy to the dandy as he started There Goes My Inspiration!

It seems to be request time during Todd's solo spot on this leg of the tour, however someone shouted out The Wheel which Todd refused to sing as it lasts seven minutes and his voice just wasn't up to it! He said that he would sing something without any falsetto in it! He opted for a pleasant song called Tiny Demons (I think). Todd obviously realised that lots of people there had already been to several of the concerts on the tour or had the album so he said that he wouldn't bother to tell the Hawaiian War Chant story and asked us all to help him out when he got to The Lion Sleeps Tonight yodel part!

Kasim and Trey returned to the stage and Todd introduced his "Special Guest" Jessie who he thought that nobody would be surprised to see with him! They then ventured into the Mystified Melody which was quite chancy with Todd's voice but he got through it okay.

Todd has a list by his feet of "Tunes we know how to Play" and he just picks what he fancies playing each night and I'd wondered all tour if he might by mistake play a song twice in one night and tonight he did! After Mystified I heard the distinctive opening bars of Love in Action that they'd played earlier in the show! Kasim realised almost immediately and mentioned it to Jessie but didn't get a chance to say anything to Todd before he'd started singing! It was during the first line that a look went over Todd's face that he realised what he'd done so he stopped the song and neatly turned it into the "Unfinished business" of doing the ending part of the track!

For only the second time on the tour (San Francisco obviously being the other one) Todd could sing all the correct words to One World! Kasim provided his usual hand punch and it was great to see him singing some of the verse on his own away from the microphone, he was getting into it so much! It was good too to see Kasim trying to throw some guitar pics up to some family members on the balcony!

They played the same order as last night for The Ikon (Todd, Kasim, Jessie and Trey) which was a brilliant performance tonight! Kasim went for the deep notes again - he played SO deep that I could feel it through the floor. Tonight Trey just played and played and played - it must have been the longest ever!

As always they ended with the great World Wide Epiphany which they played with so much enthusiasm despite the fact that it was getting very hot in there (Kasim's shirt was nearly undone all the way!) and all the band were looking drained before they left the stage for a much-needed day off and hopefully for Todd to rest his voice for Ohio!