Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 15:17:33 -0400
From: Neil Kothari 
To: INXS Mailing List 
Subject: NYC Concert

"Simply amazing as always" is my short summation of the show.

The energy level was brimming, with the line waiting to enter the
club stretching a block long by 7:30 (and the band didn't even come
on until 9:30ish.)  I was genuinely surprised and happily 
impressed by the crowd -- an older, college-and-up crowd, with
not one teeny bopper in sight.  All in all, it was a pretty hip
bunch of people.

Radish opened the show, and I have to agree with everyone else,
they are terrible.  Just because you thrash your guitars ala Slayer
doesn't make you good.  There's this notion in the US that the
harder you play, the better you are.  Wrong.  One plus factor
for them is that all 3 band members appear to worship INXS.  

Onto INXS --- brilliant, tight performance.  Jon's drumming was
as breath-taking as always, and as odd as it sounds, the band
seemed to be playing harder than any time I've ever heard them.
Songs like "Listen Like Thieves" (which had the whole club 
jumping and singing along) were played with heavier guitar
sounds than on the actual album, which was an interesting 
change.  Oh, and honest to God, I have never heard Michael's 
voice sound so crisp, powerful, and emotive.  He was a sight 
to behold alright.  He was just at the top of his game, as 
he captivated the audience, and continually had amusing 
banters with the crowd between songs.

Highlights/notes of the show:  The set-list was the same as 
Chicago, except they added "Mediate" after "Need You Tonight."
HA!  Our show was longer than yours!  HA!  :)  Oh, he even
mentioned having played in Chicago a few days ago; when the 
crowd naturally booed, he said, "Yeah, it was only a one night
thing, it didn't mean anything to me.  I didn't even learn 
her name" or something to that effect.  He basically had us
all laughing the whole night.

They have funky new interpretations of "Original Sin" and
"What You Need" which were excellent, and the addition of
"Kiss the Dirt" was wonderful.  "Elegantly Wasted" was one
of the highlights of the evening, with the crowd singing along
as if the single was one of the biggest INXS hits ever.  (It
was nice to see, believe me.)  Interestingly enough, my 
personal issues with the song aside, I thought "Girl on Fire"
came off really flat, and though the band was *really* into
their playing of it, the crowd just didn't really respond.
Oh, and how can I not mention "Heaven Sent," where Michael gave
the microphone to our very own Josh and Steph to sing for the
first few lines!  Pretty cool all in all....

Following the show, we went to the after-party at Chaos,
which was a mad-house of people.  Luckily, Dana snagged some
passes from Mercury acquaintances, and we briefly went in.
She (having met the band before) introduced me to Kirk,
Garry, and Tim.  (We couldn't get past the papparazzi to
meet Michael, I didn't see Jon at all though he was there, 
and though Andrew was standing near me at one point, he seemed
rather quiet and to himself, so I decided not to introduce
myself.)  Tim (heh, hard to write about someone when you know
they're on the List) is honestly one of the nicest people I've
ever met.  Very appreciative of all of the web efforts. 
At one point in our conversation, when I thanked him for 
the mention on the album, he goes, "Oh, you noticed that, 
did you?"  I look at him, "What the heck!  You didn't 
think I would notice that!"  He sheepishly replies, 
"Hmm, yes, I guess that was a rather silly thing for me 
to have said!"  He sends his love to everyone on the List, btw.  
I also met the notorious Paul Craig, who when he heard 
who I was, did a rather amusing Wayne's World-esque "We're 
Not Worthy!  We're Not Worthy!" 

Well, so it was a great evening all in all.  I finally can
say I've met the band, which is I guess something that I've 
always wanted to do... I've said my "hello" and I'm happy
at that.  

-- 
NKoth@worldnet.att.net -- kotharne@umdnj.edu -- nkoth@iname.com
NJ Med '00 -- http://www.umdnj.edu/~kotharne/
An Excess of INXS -- http://www.umdnj.edu/~kotharne/inxs.html