Yesterday, Friday August 11th, Bowery Ballroom at 9:00 PM, we (and by "we"
we mean us, Carlos y Gisele, the two writers of this review) had the
magnificent pleasure to enjoy Eels perform.  Since it was so special, we
want to share the experience in full detail. However, if you just want to
get a general overview, just skip a couple of paragraphs and read the last
one.

We took the subway to Grand Street.  It started to rain, so we found shelter
at McDonald's, meanwhile we ate something. It occurred to me that, in some
way, I had to let E know how special his music is for me, so I wrote him a
little note.

Later, we reached the Bowery Ballroom one hour in advance and hung out in
some kind of lounge.  There was a girl selling t-shirts and stickers, all
daisies related.  I couldn't find a shirt my size, damn!  A couple of
minutes past 9 we heard some loud music and went upstairs, where the stage
is.  Never got the opener's name, it was a guy with a great voice but we
agreed that he wasn't very original.  Anyway, he left quickly to let the
main act do its stuff.

We noticed a lot of cool instruments and things all over the stage.  There
were some ornaments from the last album's artwork. We quickly spotted the
piano, at the left corner, and moved right beside it. Roadies bursted in and
did their work. Now the show was about to begin.  A couple of fellas entered
the stage dressed up, one as a nun (the sax player) and the other (the
trumpet player) wearing a white robe and a gold Arabic hat, or whatever you
want to call it.  They also played other wind instruments and the trumpet
guy did some funny "cow sounds" in "tiger in my tank".

Then came the bass player, a guy dressed up as a circus ringmaster and the
really nice talented multi instrumentalist, Lisa Germano.  Then came Butch. 
At this point I was officially very excited.

Note from Gisele: I have to mention that I had heard very little from Eels.
My friend here bought the tickets and asked me to go with him. He has
introduced me to a great band and I have to thank him for that. Absolutely
loved it.

Ok, back to the music.  The band started on with an instrumental medley, all
different versions from all 3 albums and all incredibly great.  The first
one was "last stop: this town".  I also recall "my descent into madness" and
"beautiful freak".

Then, Butch, while pounding on his drums, introduced E. and a roadie came
out and stood by the microphone, claiming for cheers. Obviously fooling
around. Butch then asked him to leave and go find E. and another roadie came
out, doing the same.  People laughed a bit, yet clearly letting him know we
wanted the real man.  So, after that intro, the man called E made his entry
to the stage wearing pyjamas as if he just woke up - all scruffy looking -
pointing us with a flashlight and guided by a roadie to his stool.

He sat at his piano and, without hesitation, he started to play "packing
blankets".  We don't remember the exact set list, the also played some songs
I believe they are either b-sides or new songs, all very optimistic
sounding.  They played old songs, like "my beloved monster", "guestlist" and
"novocaine for the soul".

At one point, E told us how beautiful Butch could sing and so he sang a part
of "jeanie's diary", really groovy.  Then he said that because of the tour
he wasn't so sure what day of the week it was and when he figured out it was
a Friday he said something like: "we have been giving you a Thursday show,
sorry.  Let's play a Friday show" and with that they got into an excellent
version of "the sound of fear" followed by "tiger in my tank".

The moods were great, E pounding his piano, Lisa Germano singing some parts.
E commented having gone to England and being fed up with people asking him
to play his "#1 hit song" and if he felt like playing some other song it had
to be a "hit" from the past albums.so he said: "alright I'll play our number
one hit song climbing up to the moon", which was not a hit but equally good.

After an hour and a half he announced that they were about to play the part
where they leave, hide behind the stage and wait for us to clap and scream
for them to come back, if it we wanted them to do so. After that he
introduced the last song: "Susan's House". E picked the phone shaped
microphone at the top of his piano and improvised the whole song.

The first encore started with "Hospital Food". To introduce the song he
briefly narrated how he used to dream playing his bongos every morning while
he walked past the bowery ballroom heading to school. He really tried to
follow his mother's wishes of becoming a tap dancer, but he sucked. So since
the tap thing did not work out he would instead play the bongos and make his
wishes come true. Right in the middle of the song, Butch start going off
with the drums and singing, E abruptly turned to Butch and the orchestra
stopped. E in irony started asking Butch questions. "Well, Butch are u
planning to start a solo career because as far as I know, I'm still the
leader of this band, or is it that I missed a meeting or something?".E asked
the audience if we wanted to listen to Butch perform and obviously Butch got
away with it. He took out a CD booklet from Motley Crew and recited with the
pounding of his drums a song that included lines as treat me like the dog I
am.slap me like the dog I am..etc. After that funny stunt they restarted
Hospital Food exactly where they left off.

At this point, I remember the note I wrote E a couple of hours earlier.  So,
while he was playing some guitar I placed the note on his piano stool. Later
on, he saw the note, picked it up and   put it in his shirt pocket.  Nice!

My favourite song, "p.s. you rock my world", ended the show in high spirits.
Have to admit that I was very emotional at this point.  The lights were
turned on and people started to leave the place.  We were very happy and
satisfied; it had been a really special night.  Then, after 5 minutes, they
surprisingly returned to play a very rocking version of "Mr. E's Beautiful
Blues".  We could not believe it!  It was too much.  After that, they left.
You could see they were having so much fun, playing new and older songs,
making lots of eye contact and talking very much with us, the audience.  If
you haven't seen them, you got to go to the next show, take our word.