My, my, my, my slow descent...

I think the New Pornographers may have been contractually obligated to play "The Slow Descent into Alcoholism" Sunday night, since the entire event was sponsored by Jack Daniels. Not that they wouldn't have anyway. There was an awful lot of drinking going on, as you might expect - Carl passed around his bottle of whiskey early in the show, and then made Kathryn go backstage to get the other one. The audience was already well lubricated by that point, believe me.

The private event itself was better than I expected in terms of free stuff. We got vouchers for a free iTunes download when we arrived at the High Noon, and our ticket stubs entered us in a drawing to win a $100 iTunes gift card or a signed guitar. (We didn't win.) There was also a buffet of free food, two free drink coupons per person, free taxi vouchers for the ride home, waitresses handing out free drink samples, and a pool table full of free Jack Daniels merch. I noticed various band members grazing along with everyone else. There were an awful lot of sloppily drunk twenty-somethings in the house by the end of the night, which was kind of icky, but if I flash back to my days at college bars/parties on weekends it suddenly doesn't seem so bad.

The show itself wasn't perfect, but it was a lot of fun. After Archer Prewitt's opening set, the New Pornos took the stage. I had been hoping that maybe Neko would show up, since she played with the band Saturday night in Evanston, but it was not to be. There was a lot of joking and audience interaction, and of course plenty of great music. The vocals were very muddy up front, but that's just par for the High Noon course. About halfway through the first set, Carl broke a string and requested the signed Jack Daniels guitar ... which he proceeded to play for the rest of the night. The guy who won it now has a 50% cooler tale to tell. They were taking requests, and I desperately wanted to hear "Breakin' the Law" ... the only problem being that I couldn't remember the title. I wasn't about to yell, "THE LAST SONG ON MASS ROMANTIC!" so I kept my mouth shut. Next time, New Pornos. Next time.

Best as I can recall, they played:

Twin Cinema
The Laws Have Changed
Use It
July Jones
Jackie, Dressed in Cobras
The Bleeding Heart Show
Testament to Youth in Verse
From Blown Speakers
The Jessica Numbers
It's Only Divine Right (I think?)
The Slow Descent into Alcoholism ("there are a lot of songs out there that talk about how sad it is to be an alcoholic, but there aren't too many songs that talk about why people become alcoholics ... because it's kind of fun")
Mass Romantic
Star Bodies
The Bones of an Idol
Sing Me Spanish Techno
The Fake Headlines
Letter from an Occupant