Tally Hall on a Boat! 7.8.09

I logged onto facebook to find a notification from Tally Hall. Clicking on it I read that they were going to have a concert on a boat! Sounds awesome… when was it?

Tomorrow Night!?!

So I had like 30 hours to inform friends and get something together. Sadly all of my friends who are Tally Hall fans are quite far away from NYC, and none of my friends from home were avaiable…

So this led to a debate of whether or not it was worth it to go alone… I debated this for a long while, not even buying my ticket until about an hour before I left for the show… but as it turns out it was completely and totally worth it.

I left my house and hopped on a train around 2:30 into New York City, giving me time to explore the new High Line park constructed on the west side of Manhattan out of an old abandoned elevated rail line. There I saw Boba Fett playing the accordion, read a book, and at 6:00 made my way toward the docks to board for Tally Hall.

Arriving at the dock was confusing, there was no visible entrance… and I only knew it was the right place because I saw the boat docked on the other side of a fence. I then ran into Rob and Zubin… but as I am a rather new fan, and this was my first show, I did not realize it was them (actually, I thought it was Zubin, but was not sure so I did not say anything). I (in retrospect, rather stupidly) asked Joe if he was there for the concert, and where we were supposed to board… he said he was there for the show of course, but oddly enough he said he was not sure where we enter, and then he continued into the nearby parking structure.

I finally realized that the only way to get to the dock was past a sign that said “NO TRESPASSING: Authorized Personnel Only”. I decided the worst that can happen is I get yelled at, and continued toward the dock… No one stopped me, in fact I found a long line of people on the other side of that sign… Why it was there? I’ll never know. I waited for about 30 minutes at the dock with a small group of people who had also arrived for the show. There was also a large congregation of older people at the dock. There were a number of other boats boarding at that time, and so we thought these people were waiting for other boats, and that the 5 of us (the only young people around) were the only ones there for the concert. Obviously this was not the case, and after the wait we realized that there were many more people waiting for the concert than we originally realized.

We boarded the boat to find a pirated copy of “The Hangover” playing on the boat’s Television… which was rather amusing. The first hour, (and indeed the entire ride) was filled with referances to the SNL “I’m on a boat” digital short… I will admit it took some effort for me not so break into singing it. I made my way up to the stage area and found a table of Tally Hall merchandise, where is signed their guest book… first with a failed-Haiku… (Which ended with “God Damn You Guys Are Awe-         …         “) and then with a flip book in the corner of the book in which a man meets a untimely demise upon asking his friend if he wants a Banana… not realizing the Banana is carnivorous.

After about an hour, the boat finally departed into the Manhattan River… and shortly thereafter the opening act, April Smith came on and performed. She was quite good, and had a great voice… but we were all happy when it was Tally Hall’s turn to take the stage. I managed to squiggle my way to the front in between acts… and waited for the show to begin. Tally Hall came on… and awesomeness ensued. I took their set list after the show… so here is what they played:

A Lady
Sacred Beast
Welcome To Tally Hall
You & Me
Hymn for a Scarecrow
Good Day
Never Meant to Know
Two Wuv
Spring and a Storm
Greener
So Happy Together (The Turtles Cover)
&
Ruler of Everything
Turn The Lights Off
The Whole World and You
Just a Friend (Encore)

Overall an amazing show. I texted the friends who lived too far away to come pictures of Rob and Joe, and one of them replied encouraging me to meet them after the show. Rob broke a string during the middle of the show, and while he attempted to replace it the group entertained us with some banter which I sadly can’t recall. Unfortunately I was unable to properly document the event as I lost my camera two weeks ago, leaving me with just my cell phone to take pictures… otherwise i’d be sure to link to photos of the event. However there were plenty of people with fancy cameras there, I’m sure some photos and videos will turn up online soon.

I really enjoyed their cover of So Happy Together, one girl in the crowd enjoyed it so much she let out a scream after the first three notes, before anyone else had recognized it… which actually messed up Joe and caused the band to have to start over, humorous banter also ensued.

During “Just a friend” Rob took the megaphone to the rear of the stage to sing, giving people back there a front-seat which was pretty cool.

After the show I bought Marvin Marvelous Mechanical Museum on vinyl (I collect records), and to my eternal joy, was able to get the entire band to sign it. I’ve already listened to it a dozen times… and for some odd reason it is slightly different from the CD version I have… minor changes in post-production, with some added or removed effects from the CD.

I talked with Ross about their upcoming album, and if he had any idea when it would be released. He said (understandably) that due to the time needed to record the songs as well as some issues with the label and stuff it would not be out for a year or so (Late 2010?). Yet, I have a feeling it will be worth it. I also told Ross of my experience the first time I heard Tally Hall, and how I instantly fell in love with their music, as well as how this may have been partially due to the fact that I first heard them at 3 in the morning… so just about anything fast-paced and peppy seemed great.

I also met with Zubin and Rob, got my photo taken with them. I told Rob how disappointing the Stream-Roller clip on the webisodes were, but he pointed out that they eventually do pay that off in the final episode. I then asked Zubin if he had any advice for the band me and some of my friends are thinking of starting up… which due to our musical inabilities and un-creativity will likley consist of 90% They Might Be Giants and Tally Hall covers. He told me that was no problem.. to just give it a try… go with it. Hopefully it will go somewhere.

After a little more talking it became time to leave, and the people who ran the boat were starting to ask people to get off. I left with my autographed album and a copy of their set list, but not before Andrew gave me a big friendly half hand-shake half high-five goodbye.

T’was a fantastic show.