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FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM

Prior to the show, we fought against the horrid Portland traffic, dodged rain and ducked into a fine meal at Portobello Trattoria, a creative vegetarian establishment that is fast becoming my new favorite SE Portland dinner spot.  Their cocktail list is impressive (apple-infused vodka ginger hot toddy), their bottle list is impressive (Russian River… yum), and their menu is the kind that is frustrating due to having too many things you want and one that a meat-eater wouldn’t even notice or care.  Check it out sometime.

After dinner, we got to the venue a little bit before the opener… we had a little bit of time to catch up with Kentucky-based friend / Over the Rhine photographer Bill Ivester.  He’s helping them out on this tour with merch and social media, and photography.  After briefly catching up, we found some seats for the opener…

The Milk Carton Kids were a fantastic guitar duo.  Based on their name, I was going in hoping it wasn’t going to be a repeat of “The Children’s Hour” opener for Over the Rhine a score ago.  Well, I was greatly pleased.  They played about a half hour set of mellower folk songs.  Fitting for fans of Paul Simon.  Excellent guitar chops and quite humorous between songs, as well.  They also have all of their recorded music available for free mp3 download (go here for free music).

Over the Rhine hit the stage at 9pm.  Karin & Linford had Nick Radina with them again on drums/percussion/cuatro, as well as a slide guitar player Jason Goforth.

The set seemed somewhat similar to last year’s tour, a lot of The Long Surrender tunes.  But this time, the album was officially out.  It was nice to hear those tunes more in a live setting.  I get thrown off that it’s technically a 2011 release, I think I’ve had it too long.  Anyway, it’s a beautiful record, and it’ll wind up somewhere at the top of the pile for 2011, for sure.

Setlist: 1 hour 45 mins

• The Laugh Of Recognition
• Rave On
• Undamned
• The King Knows How
• Suitcase
• I’m on a Roll
• Infamous Love Song
• Only God Can Save Us Now
• Latter Days
• “On The Sacred Ground” (new song, currently untitled)
• Jesus in New Orleans
• Trouble (with drum solo)
• All My Favorite People
• Encore: Hallelujah [Leonard Cohen]
• Born
• Drunkard’s Prayer

My favorite tunes of the night were “Trouble” and “Latter Days,” and the lead-in of “Laugh…” through “Undamned” is a great start to the show as well.  The new currently untitled song is great… it seemed quite poetic and moving.  Karin was about to give out a tentative title, then stopped.  I’ll go with “On the Sacred Ground” for now, but I doubt that’s it.  I wish I had more listens to digest it.

They’re wrapping up a few more dates this year, culminating in the annual Taft Theatre show in Cincinnati.  Catch ’em if you can!  Oh, Karin also mentioned that they recorded a Portland Session when they were here.  Keep an eye out on the Portland Session Vimeo & Facebook pages for that to be posted in the future (HERE NOW).

many more photos below

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Over the Rhine’s Site
• Bill Ivester’s photos from the 11/17 show
• OTR Nov 2011 Portland Sessions
• Over the Rhine’s Social Media Links (see below)
  
• The Milk Carton Kids’ Site
• The Milk Carton Kids’ Facebook / Twitter
  My Other Related Reviews~
  • Aladdin Theater (Portland – Nov 2010)
  • WOW Hall (Eugene – Nov 2010)
  • Doug Fir Lounge (Portland – Sept 2007)
  • Bogarts (Cincinnati – March 2001)
  • Canal Street Tavern (Dayton – June 2000)
• Aladdin Theater’s Site / Facebook / Twitter

Check out more tour dates below.

Next show for me… Dan Deacon at the Branx in Portland on 12/3.

~Dan – np: Sigur Rós – Inní (live)

OVER THE RHINE PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2011 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

Fall 2011 Tour Dates

• Fri, 2011-11-18 Seattle, WA The Triple Door
• Sat, 2011-11-19 Seattle, WA The Triple Door
• Sun, 2011-11-20 Seattle, WA The Triple Door
• Fri, 2011-12-02 Boston, MA Berklee Performance Center
• Sat, 2011-12-03 New York, NY (le) poisson rouge
• Sun, 2011-12-04 Alexandria, VA The Birchmere
• Mon, 2011-12-05 Philadelphia, PA World Cafe Live!
• Wed, 2011-12-07 Columbus, OH The Lincoln Theatre
• Thu, 2011-12-08 Kent, OH The Kent Stage
• Fri, 2011-12-09 Grand Rapids, MI Calvin College
• Sat, 2011-12-10 Chicago, IL Old Town School Of Folk Music (7:00 PM)
• Sat, 2011-12-10 Chicago, IL Old Town School Of Folk Music (10:00 PM)
• Sat, 2011-12-17 Cincinnati, OH The Taft Theatre
• Sun, 2011-12-18 Norwood, OH Sunday Soiree @ St. Elizabeth’s