Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:19 amNotes from the past week as Joke wends its way west. It's taken a bit of work to figure it all out - the Joke forum's reporting none of this, but...
1) Paul Ferguson skipped (at least) Montreal and Toronto to tend to an art gallery opening. Fill-in was Jason Bowld of Pitchshifter. He was fine in Toronto.
2) Jaz has been illin,' and whatever he had went right after his throat. Toronto's was a game, but compromised, effort: no Ferguson and five songs cut on the fly from the posted setlist. (Additionally, tour regulars Love Like Blood and European Super State were bypassed for Madness and Bloodsport.)
3) They played [i]three[/i] shows in Chicago this past weekend: a fullish set Friday, and a pair Saturday. brooklynvegan.com reported this in advance. A few people have written me that the Friday and early Saturday sets were also pared down, but the later Saturday was back to full set (+/- 19 songs). Therefore, setlist.fm's data is inaccurate for the last batch of shows.
4) My Toronto review here: http://thegoldenyear.wordpress.com/2013 ... gjoke2013/
Hope the west coast batch finishes strong. Give Jaz an extra hand for really pushing through the murk.