I also got to meet a few Pink readers at the park yesterday, including Alison who I got to take a pic with:

The day was just really very fun. Michael did a great job planning everything and we had a blast as a result. I gotta say, it wasn’t the Gay Days bit that made yesterday fun … we would’ve had just as much fun on any ol’ day together.

Thankfully, I managed to rally and get better by the time I had to get back to LA to see Liz Phair at The Troubadour last night. It was my first show at the venue and it was awesome. Liz performed her debut album Exile in Guyville in full (like she did in NYC earlier this summer) to a sold-out house … which included Morrissey himself watching from the VIP balcony. Sadly, I couldn’t snap any pics of him but I did get a few of and with Liz:

The crowd was in LOVE with Liz last night. The whole show was basically a sing-a-long with her … she even mentioned how much she loves play to LA crowds. I must admit, tho, that the band was kinda messy last night. I thought they were really tight when I saw them in NYC but played a bit sloppily last night. Honestly, tho, it added to the overall feel of the show. Liz brought Blake Freedman on stage with her to duet on Flower again and she referred to her as her “protégé”. I gotta say, I was not impressed with any of her performances … she’s not a very strong singer and I don’t understand why Liz keeps bringing her on stage. After the jump, check out video of Liz performing Supernova during the encore …

In the piece, entitled Dirty Pretty Thing, Liz gushes a bit about her new boyfriend for the early part of the article without offering too much information about him … which I thought was kinda cute. She talks about her debut album Exile in Guyville but it’s pretty much the same sort of stuff that we’ve heard her say over the years … I was more interested in learning that her last album Somebody’s Miracle (which I love) did not feature her on guitar. She wrote all of the music but she claims that higher-ups at her record label (Capitol) insisted on having the guitarist in her band play all of her guitar parts for her:

The album was then barely promoted and ultimately flopped, yet Phair says label president Andy Slater made it as difficult as possible for her to get out of her contract.

The final portion of the article talks about her upcoming return to her “indie roots” by releasing an album on Dave Matthews’s ATO Records label:

On her upcoming album, she’s happily preserving the “messy, sloppy Liz Phair core of passion” by reinstating spontaneity as the key ingredient. Every sound will be genuine Phair, not just her vocals and guitars but sounds from her everyday life, like the thundering horse hooves of her corral and the waves crashing outside her Manhattan Beach, CA home … “Everything I’ve been doing is coming from a really right place, like I’ve never been this happy …”

To which I say, Hallelujah. Unlike a bitchy group of indie snobs who cast her out and basically spit upon her — metaphorically, of course — after she released her “mainstream” album Liz Phair, I have been a huge fan of hers from the start. Getting to see her perform 2 nights at the Hiro Ballroom earlier this summer was such a treat … I am so ready for new Liz Phair music. I’m excited at the prospect of a totally Phair album … all her, entirely. She is an amazing talent and I know the best is yet to come. If you’re not familiar with her work, I highly suggest you seek it out. She is one of my fave artists ever, I think y’all may love her, too.

[Source]

I’m not sure if I preferred one show over the other but I really loved last night’s performance. Liz looked stunning in her hot pants ensemble and, as I mentioned, appeared much more relaxed than her show the previous night. After the jump, check out more photos from last night’s show, video from her encore performance (she performed Chopsticks, May Queen, Wild Thing and Polyester Bride — I recorded each song) and some of the stuff that she spoke to the crowd from the stage …

Here are a few more pics of Liz on stage with her band (Greg Suran, Nick Macri and Dan Leali) last night and a couple of me with my friends Marissa, Ahmad and John:

After Liz performed Never Said she gave a shout-out to Brad Wood and Casey Rice adding, “I wish they were here.” Right before she performed Fuck and Run she alerted the crowd, “Now we’re on Side 2″ and then explained her stress over the redux version of the new release — she didn’t want anything to compromise the integrity of the “double album”. After Divorce Song she exclaimed, “I feel awesome cuz I’m singing along with you guys … you should applaud yourselves.” She kissed her favorite guitar, explaining that it is “about 30 years old” and is “about to die”. It’s the guitar she submerged under Lake Michigan while shooting the video for Never Said. After she performed Flower (again with Blake Freedman) someone yelled out “HOT WHITE CUM!” referring to her song H.W.C. and she replied, “That could be us in an old folks home — HOT WHITE CUM! Verbal incontinence!” After Johnny Sunshine she polled the audience asking, “How many people bought the record when it first came out? How many used it to get over a break-up? (she raised her own hand) How many used it to get together with someone? How many have fucked listening to it? Wow! You must have a dynamic sex life!” After Strange Loop she bowed a bit and before she left the stage said, “Thank you guys … 15 years feels like a minute.”

And then came the encore … she opened with Chopsticks altho someone yelled out for May Queen … she promised to “chop thru half of it” after Chopsticks:

Liz was in fine form last night. I’ve been lucky enough to see her a few times on tour (in Detroit, Toronto, Grand Rapids) but never in such an intimate setting as last night’s concert. The Hiro Ballroom is tiny and the stage was practically in the middle of the audience … pretty much everyone in the place was close enough to reach out and touch Liz on stage. I loved every second of her performance. She played all 18 of the songs on Exile in Guyville and an extra encore set of 3 extra songs, one of which was a new as-yet untitled song. After the jump, check out more pictures from last night’s show, the full set-list, some of Liz’s quotes from the stage and a video of her new, untitled song …

Here are a few more pics from the show last night … among them, a picture of Liz cutting her nails on stage and a pic from her duet with an audience member for the song Flower:

And here is the full set list from last night’s show:

6′1″
Help Me Mary
Glory
Dance Of The Seven Veils
Never Said
Soap Star Joe
Explain It To Me
Canary
Mesmerizing
Fuck And Run
Girls! Girls! Girls!
Divorce Song
Shatter
Flower
Johnny Sunshine
Gunshy
Stratford-On-Guy
Strange Loop

Chopsticks – solo on keyboard
Untitled new song – solo on guitar
Polyester Bride – solo on guitar

After Help Me Mary Liz said “you guys are great … it’s an energy lovefest in here.” After Dance of the Seven Veils she said, “I knew this was gonna be my fucking favorite show.” She dedicated Explain It To Me to someone she hoped was in the crowd saying, “Nash if you’re out there, I’m gonna dedicate this song to you.” She actually cut her nails on stage with clippers after she performed Mesmerizing (saying that she knew she wasn’t going to get away without cutting them on this tour). After Fuck and Run she confessed, “I was so fucking scared to do these shows … I was 18!“ After Shatter she introduced the members of her band — Greg (on guitar), Dan (on bass) and Nick (on drums). She gave their last names but I failed to make note of them. Then she called out for Blake Freedman to join her on stage and the two of them performed Flower together. Right before Strange Loop she wished everyone a “Happy 15th birthday” and then continued by saying, “Not to piss off every other city but I always felt that Guyville was a New York record. It’s great to see everyone singing along.”

For the encore, Liz told us that she was “unprepared” to do an encore and then told a story about seeing Nicole Richie on The View performing a bit of a song on the piano … then she went right into performing her song Chopsticks solo on the keyboard. Then she played a new untitled song and ended the night with Polyester Bride. Here is video I shot of Liz performing her new song: