1998 tour reviews

please send any reviews you would like to share to jlondon@okc.oklahoma.net ...please try to include opening acts if known as well as a setlist...

11/11/98...the masquerade...atlanta, ga...

John,
I visited your page on and off for about a year. I just saw Sunny Day last night in Atlanta.
Thought you would want to know what it was like. After reading over the reviews of the previous
SDRE shows on this tour, I think that the turn out might have been their biggest last night. They played for about 2 hours. I didn't write down the set list - I was their just to enjoy the music. Out of all the set lists that I did read, I think that last nights was by far the longest. I wasn't expecting them to play so many songs off Diary - it was very impressive. I met Dan and his wife and learned allot about how Sub Pop took advantage of SDRE's contract - it was actually quite depressing to hear about, but that is the reality of the record industry; they could care less about the artists they sign. Anyway, it was a great show. If you have any questions about the show, feel free to ask.

Mathew Suberati <suberamcs@gvltec.edu>

i know i'm not on the sdre list, but i thought i'd mail you my review of the
show anyway because i'm such a great fan of your page. So me and 6 friends
piled into my friend's mom's mini-van and drove the hour and a half from macon
to atlanta to see sdre. i've been into them for 3 or so years now, and i
always thought i'd never see them....so here i am on my way to live out my
dream for the past three years......and i was not disappointed at
all.........heroic doses, the first opener, was amazing......rockabilly math-
rock, incredible. 764-hero was the most god awful band i'd ever seen, their
songs sucked and the bass player danced around like a dork. then came sdre,
and they rocked. the set list was as follows (maybe not in right order):
in circles (amazing)
pillars (joe's bass fucked up just before the bridge part, so they stopped,
and they started frmo that exact spot after 2 minutes, it was so weird, but
dan thanked us for being so nice and waiting on them. he asked "where did all
of you come from?" he was so excited, he told us we were the best audience
yet, and it made him feel like they'd never left.....he also made a funny
joke....someone later in the show requested pillars and dan said "you must of
showed up late, we already played pillars, like, twice!")
guitar and video games
blankets were the stairs
100 million (i damn near almost cried....i never this song was so powerful, by
the second chorus i thought dan was going to self-distruct)
song about an angel (the crowd lost it when this very unexpected song started.
my friend kent was crying by the end)
every shining time you arrive
the prophet (mind-blowing)
waffle
how it feels to be something on
rodeo jones (the crowd was so together during this, we were loving every
second of it, it was such a great moment)

encore:
j'nuh (they played the "j'nuh" part for so long, i think longer than they did
anywhere else, at least at the chicago show i heard on the internet. dan said
afterward that he had "never felt so much energy." the man never stopped
smiling.)
roses in water (the crowd didn't get into this much.....i love roses in water,
so me and my friend were the only two moving around.)
days were golden (beautiful, when jeremy sang the final little added verse
after he puts his guitar down, dan just stood there with his eyes closed,
smiling and appreciating what was going on....it was sweet....and william's
drum coda was wonderful, i didn't expect it to be so fitting.)

it is a day later and i am still emotionally drained....you've heard it before
but if you haven't seen them yet you really cannot anticipate what you are in
for.

sam <ArchedLoaf@aol.com>

Wednesday November 11th will forever be a wonderfully pleasant memory for me. True, three drunk guys tried to mosh to some stuff and someone let loose the foulest smelling vomit I've ever encountered just a few feet behind me. This, of course, just happened to coincide with the encore. Still, it was absolutely the most incredible show I've ever experienced. The crowd was also the most well behaved group I've seen in quite some time (excluding the previously mentioned alcoholics). Dan was just thrilled to be alive. He seemed to be rather enamoured with the crowd. An anecdote to add to those already mentioned in the other reviews of this show: At one point between songs, Dan said "Wait a minute," and, with a puzzled look on his face, started bobbing his head to the beat that was bleeding through the floor from "Hell" (the dance club downstairs at the Masquerade). He then made some comment like "Awww...hey, we gotta be more energetic than the ravers!!!"
    I was fortunate enough to nab a set list. Pathetic, but I'm thinking of having it framed along with one of Dan's picks.
    The set list went as follows:

circles
pillars
G & VG
BLANX
ESTYA
100,000
angel
prophet
waffles
How feels
Rodeo
----------
JANNA
Roses
DAZE

The spelling, capitalization, and abbreviations used are those of the set list itself. Just thought it was interesting.
    Thanks to those of you who were there that contributed to such an incredible experience. Check out the website for my weekly radio show....When HIFTBSO came out, we played all three albums in their entirety.
http://members.xoom.com/pupnroo

If you get a chance, check out the site for the station, as well. (Support college radio!!!!!)
http://www.mtsu.edu/~wmts

Thanks again for the great website!!
--David Sullivan (aka Wallaby) <dbsullivan@mindspring.com>

11/13/98...firestone, orlando, fl...

dreams came true last night at the sunny show in O-town. there had to be at
least over 2,000 people sardined in this little club (one of those ecstacy
driven glow stick night clubs that orlando in notorious for) orgasming all
over the place for sunny day.
the opening acts: heroic doses was super cool and 764 hero sucked ass and
definetly wasn't worthy enough to lead into sunny day.
when sdre came out, the screams about blew the blacklight lined roof into the
sky. From that point on, dan's smile never left his face. i have never seen
anybody enjoy playing a guitar as much as that bearded man; it was inspiring.
it was sunny's first time in o-town, and dan excaimed that they'll be coming
back. he also kept on saying stuff like "this is incredible" following thank-
you's after every song. the man loves his job. sdre are just the nicest bunch
of guys in the business. I don't have a setlist. this is what i know. they
opened w/ in circles, then pillars, guitar and video games, then my eyes
rolled back in my head and i can't remember. the best done and most crowd
pleasing was "song about an angel." they also played something off the pink
album, go ahead and curse me for not remembering, and dan introduced it was
only the second time they ever played it live. After the song, dan said, "i
think we're finally getting that one down," or "we're getting bettre at it" or
something like that, followed by, "not to sound cocky." Then Jeremy said "it
was still dificult for me."

<Shiblanka@aol.com>

11/17/98...deep ellum live, dallas, tx...

This was one of the most amazing nights of my life. I drove three hours
from Texas A&M to Canton St. in Deep Elum to here my favorite band of
all time. When me and my friend Tim arrived we were unknowingly
drinking at the bar next to Joe Bass. He is a cool individual. After
the opening acts 764-hero and vive voice quit playing the crowd went
wild. This was not in noise level, merely emotion in the crowds face.
I have waited 4 years to see this unmatched band and it was well worth
the wait and drive. Everyone else has said enough about the lineup and
the music. It is all true if not more, and was very spiritual. At the
end of the show we waited out to talk to the band. It started with Dan,
who wouldn't sign a womens breast because he has a wife. This gave me
great respect for him and the band. Everyone signed my Diary vinyl and
my "anvil" shirt. Me and Jermey had a picture taken together from some
awesome person I forgot to thank. Jermey talk to us about his music and
all the Playstation games he loved. It was if i had "100 million"
questions to ask him from over the years, but i could only listen. I
wanted to talk to him about his faith... Thanks SDRE for everyting
...see you in Austin...FEB.99

-ZACK DOWELL '02 AGGIE <dowell@aol.com>

hi john,
figured i might as well throw my two cents in too...like zack above, a couple of friends and i drove
three hours to catch the show, although from louisiana. i knew it was going to be a good night
when i spotted mr. & mrs. hoerner walking down main street when we got into town. we stopped to get some food at cafe brazil (i recommend the spinach crepes) and managed to get out of there around 9:15. by the time we walked back to deep ellum live, viva voce was finishing up their set. we managed to catch the last three or four songs and i thought they were pretty good. maybe it was the heat from all the people, but i thought 764-HERO was a little lame. i got into a couple of their songs, but overall, they just weren't my bag. i did manage to meet up with my old roommate who now lives in dallas and we managed to do a little catching up between 764-HERO and sunny day. speaking of sunny day, well i kind of knew what to expect from the previous set lists and reviews. dan
started out by saying how cool it was to be in dallas for the first time, and thanked everyone for showing up. somehow we managed to find a spot on the floor that wasn't too crowded. sometimes i always luck out like that at deep ellum live (tons of people in front, tons of people in back, but nobody on the sides...weird). anyway, i eventually forgot about how hot it was and didn't move from my spot until they took their break (and i hit the merchandise counter). i was transfixed and had an excellent view of the band for the whole show. dan was amazing! i couldn't take my eyes off of him
for most of the show. the prophet and days were golden were both incredible. this had to be one of
the best shows i've ever been to and i can't wait to see them again the first of the year.
thanks,
bryan <sidra3@rocketmail.com>

11/19/98...jackson hole, phoenix, az...

I was at the show here in Pheonix thursday and it was amazing! they were
suprised when they got on to see that the place was packed! They began with
"In Circles" and tears were coming down my eyes.... it was bueatiful, a moment
that i thought i would never have. Then Pillars, and then about 50% from How
it feels to be something On and 50% old stuff. The show was truely one of the
greatest events of my life, the energy the feeling the power it was golden.
But i'm sure you all have felt it before...Anyway after the show I managed to
sneak backstage!!!!!!!! and i hung out with sdre for like an hour, it still
seems like a dream. I talked to William about Foo Fighters and how he quit
because Dave Grohl went behind his back and rerecorded his drum tracks, which
i had read but didn't believe, and how William made Nate choose between sdre
and Foo but Grohl upped his pay and Nate decided to be with Foo, William was
pretty upset with this topic and didn't enjoy talking about it, when i brought
up the original break up to him he got so emotional about it "I was against
it! (jeremy's religion)" that i stopped him and said well it's cool now, out
of fear of causin a band arguement with Jeremy 5 ft away!!!!!! The first
person i saw was joe bass he said he is enjoying being in sdre and went and
got the other guys to come out of the bus, he seems really mellow and cool..
Dan came out and was cool, and i talked to him about how he seemed so happy
and into it on stage, his stage presence was great. Then I talked to Jeremy i
told him all i thought about sdre, and how i would describe their sound that
night as golden, a word used the new cd, then i asked him about one lyric that
had always totally bewildered me..on the web it says and i thought so too for
J'nuh "A Pumpkin KnifeTo Pry On Their HandsOn Silver Bars" Well Jeremy sang
it to me "a pocket knife to pry in arthur's hand, a plastic wound" and went on
to explain that when he was a kid he had a stuffed monkey named arthur and one
day his neighbor took him and with a pocket knife cut into his plastic hand
wounding not only the monkey but Jeremy instead, it sounds funny now, but he
was dead serious, and i felt his emotion has he told the story. I also got my
shirt signed by everyone, they are great, i gave jeremy stayed outside as long
as he could before the bus was leaving, a homeless man somehow mad his way
over to us and i gave him a dollar, and jeremy gave him five! I gave him a hug
and then they left.

Chad < SundayRE@aol.com>

11/20/98...the palace, los angeles, ca...

I was just writing to speak of the Nov. 20th show in LA. I've waited four years to see Sunny Day,
and I had HIGH expectations. Each member of SDRE showed me how I'd not given them enough
credit over the years on the very first song, In Circles. It was amazing. They all came out in full suits,
and they blew the crowd away with an enhanced version on the song. After other a few other greats,
including Pillars, The Blankets Were the Stairs, and Waffle, Dan Horner (who wore a huge grin all
night), at the risk of sounding "cheesy", told us that we were the best crowd they'd ever played to.
Everyone went crazy. One of the highlights of the show was when they played Song About an
Angel. These guys are so smooth and confident, they blew the crowd away without even the hint of
pressure. Jeremy's vocals sliced through everyone on songs like How It Feels To Be Something
On. He hit every note without a care. On the encore, they played an extended performance of
J'Nuh, then a long version of Days Were Golden. Everyone was so into them, there was almost
complete silence between the songs, everyone eager to hear what was coming next. This was
definitely worth the wait. Anyone who's into music can at least appreciate the sheer talent this band
possesses. This is one I won't soon forget.

Evil Cow <evilkow@yahoo.com>