Setlist: Pump, Mesopotamia, Private Idaho, Give Me Back My Man, Funplex, Strobe Light, Quiche Lorraine, 52 Girls, Roam, Party Out of Bounds, Love in the Year 3000, Hot Corner(?), Love Shack Encore: Planet Claire, Rock Lobster

Setlist: Thunderbird, Francine, Waiting for the Bus > Jesus Just Left Chicago, Pin Cushion, I'm Bad I'm Nationwide, Got Me Under Pressure, Future Blues, Rock Me Baby, Cheap Sunglasses, I Need You Tonight, Hey Joe, Party on the Patio, Just Got Paid, Gimme All Your Lovin', Sharp Dressed Man, Legs, Encore: Viva Las Vegas, La Grange > Sloppy Drunk > Bar-B-Que > La Grange, Tush

Setlist: Hash Pipe, Troublemaker, Undone (The Sweater Song), Surf Wax America, Let It All Hang Out, Perfect Situation, Dope Nose* (vocal Scott Shriner), Say It Ain't So*, Can't Stop Partying, Why Bother? (vocal Brian Bell), (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To, My Name Is Jonas (vocal Pat Wilson, Scott Shriner, Rivers Cuomo), Beverly Hills. Encore 1: Pork & Beans, Kids (MGMT cover) > Poker Face (Lady Gaga cover). Encore 2: Islands in the Sun, Buddy Holly

Setlist: Thriller, Rock With You, Off the Wall, Billie Jean, Don't Stop ('Till You Get Enough), Black or White, Smooth Criminal, Say Say Say, Bad, I'll Be There, Hot Tub, Beat It, We Are the World

One of my favorite shows of 2008 was Tragedy: The All-Heavy Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees. That group plays metal arrangements of the disco-era Bee Gees hits and sounds a bit like the Gibb brothers fronting Judas Priest and is complete with an over-the-top stage show. We saw them opening for a band we'll travel almost anywhere to see, 2 Skinnee J's. So, when we heard about Dangerous, the Heavy Metal Tribute to Michael Jackson, we were there.

Setlist (as best I can remember)
Set One: Dance Me to the End of Love, The Future, Ain't No Cure for Love, Bird on the Wire, Everybody Knows, In My Secret Life, Who by Fire, Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye, Anthem
Set Two: Tower of Song, Suzanne, Sisters of Mercy, The Gypsy's Wife, The Partisan, Boogie Street, Hallelujah, I'm Your Man, A Thousand Kisses Deep (Recitation), Take this Waltz, Waiting for the Miracle, Closing Time
Encore One: So Long, Marianne, First We'll Take Manhattan
Encore Two: Famous Blue Raincoat, If It Be Your Will, Democracy
Encore Three: I Tried to Leave You, Whither Thou Goest

I was originally planning on traveling around my birthday because I heard Tinariwen was going to be touring in the U.S. I was thinking that I might go to the Raleigh show midweek before my birthday as it was much closer than the show on the day in San Francisco or the shows following in Los Angeles. But then the 2 Skinnee J's shows were announced and we bought tickets. Soon after, dates on the Tinariwen filled in, including two New York area shows scheduled when we'd be there.

The first night in New York was the night of the 2 Skinnee J's show. The second was at a newer venue in Brooklyn called The Bell House. I'd never heard of the place, but before the 2 Skinnee J's show, Lance said he saw Eddie's other band play there and it was a really nice venue in a weird neighborhood. He said it looked like you were in the wrong place because there was nothing there.

Intro Song (Don't know the title), 2 Dimensional > Evel Knieval > Periscope > Mood for Food, The Best, Loud Neighbor, Pluto (w/J Guevera), "Party Favors Story" (Lance), You're a Champion, Girl with the World in her Eyes, "Quiz", Stockholm Love, Secret Frequency, Grown Up, Science, "Andy Action's prostitution story", Pass the Buck > Horns of Destruction > Big Beat Evangelists, "The poo story" (Eddie), "The pee story" (Eddie), The Good, the Bad and the Skinnee > Ballpoint Man > Wild Kingdom > Organic Machine > The Whammy, Riot Nrrrd, Mindtrick, 718

Encore: "Q&A", BBQ, Get in the Van, Sugar and Candy

Set 1: AC/DC Bag > 46 Days, Water in the Sky, Bathtub Gin, Punch You In the Eye > The Moma Dance, Guyute, Swept Away > Steep, Demand > Seven Below, Lawn Boy, Julius

Set 2: Rock and Roll > Piper > Simple > Theme From the Bottom, Shine a Light, Ghost -> NO2, Suzy Greenberg

Set 3: Party Time > Auld Lang Syne > Down with Disease, Fluffhead, Joy, The Squirming Coil, You Enjoy Myself

Encore: Blue Moon, Loving Cup

After the long day of the third show, we crashed pretty hard and got some real sleep. We still spent New Year's Eve day doing a bunch of stuff around the house, dealing with the robbery, but we actually had time to get dinner before the show. The original plan was to go to the Panthers-Canadiens game and then leave after the second period for the show. We didn't end up having time for that and instead went for a pre-game dinner.

Set 1: Soul Shakedown Party, Runaway Jim, Jesus Just Left Chicago, Dixie Cannonball, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Corrina, What's the Use?, Tela, Gone, Rocky Top, Chalk Dust Torture, David Bowie

Set 1: Golgi Apparatus, Maze, Driver, The Connection, Wolfman's Brother, Ocelot, Reba, Access Me, The Divided Sky, Cavern

Set 2: Kill Devil Falls > Tweezer -> Prince Caspian > Gotta Jibboo > Wilson -> Gotta Jibboo -> Heavy Things > Also Sprach Zarathustra > Slave to the Traffic Light