Set List: Of The Girl, Hail Hail, Breakerfall, Whipping, Corduroy, Animal, Small Town, Dissident, Given To Fly, Faithfull, Even Flow, Untitled, MFC, Light Years, Off He Goes, Insignificance, Black, Jeremy, Porch/(It's OK);
encore: Wishlist, State of Love and Trust, Go, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Daughter/(Wrong Child), Smile, Rearviewmirror

Ice Bowl 2000

This was my first show ever after being a huge fan for 5 years. My friend Tim flew up here from hot Florida to the freezing tundra of Wisconsin.

As the show began Supergrass played a surprising great set. Our view started out far but we ended up closer than we imagined thanks to security who pushed us over into a row to be seated while we just looked at the stage.

We kept waiting for PJ to come. Then we heard the "Baba O'Riley" intro and we started jumping everywhere and getting excited. They opened with "Of The Girl" which was absolutely amazing. "Hail Hail" warmed us all up and afterwards Ed welcomed us all to the "ice bowl." The band kept the heat going with "Breakerfall" and "Whipping" that brought steam to the rafters of Alpine Valley. Once we heard the intro to "Corduroy" the place was on fire. Everyone was jumping and singing their lungs out on it. Mike did an amazing solo in it. Another heated song was "Animal" and then surprised by Ed taking us to a "Small Town" early in the set. "Dissident" was awesome as usual. "Given To Fly" and "Faithful" had our vocal chords screaming. "Even Flow" was awesome. I've listened to so many bootlegs and out of all the shows I've heard I thought that was the best Even Flow solo by Mike I ever heard but this was the first time I've seen them so.

Then Ed strapped to his Telecaster began the Untitled intro to "MFC." This version of "Untitled" was longer than usual. He was adding a lot and instead of the lyrics "I could be there in ten minutes or so" he said "twenty-three minutes or so" as a reference to Michael Jordan? "Light Years" was started with a drum intro as if it was the beginning of "Not For You" but surprised us with an amazing "Light Years." Jeff with the stand up bass had me believing "Daughter" was next but "WOW," "Off He Goes." Then "Insignificance" was a great filler before "Black." The crowd was really into the feeling of the song. Singing every lyric word for word as I watched Tim drop a tear. "Jeremy" and "Porch" followed which made a trilogy of Ten songs. "Porch" had Ed doing his rounds with greeting the crowd and a very long Mike McCready solo. That was the end of the first set.

Photo credit: PJP (pjp@inhiding.com)

Ed came back to the encore greeted with a sign from the crowd saying "Let Ralph Debate" referring to Ralph Nader. Then Ed talked about Ralph being at Chicago in Tuesday for the Rally. Then the mirror ball came down for a beautiful "Wishlist." "State of Love and Trust" was next. The crowd was so into it. Me and Tim were high-fiving everyone around us and singing with them. I felt as if I was jumping ten feet high. After that "Go" made our bodies sweat in 20 degree weather. "Better Man" had us all singing along which led to a "Save it For Later" tag. Then "Daughter" finally arrived with an REM tag, "The Wrong Child." Seeing Jeff with a 6 string and Stone with a bass we all had a "Smile." Ed commented about a friend of Jeff's who gets 2/3 of a penny every time a "No Code" album sells. Ed said that's about $20 then, jokingly. Then said $2,000, then $20,000. The night ended with "Rearviewmirror." Looking behind you and seeing close to 40,000 people and hearing them sing "once you were in my Rearviewmirror!" you got chills, not from the cold but from the crowd and how everyone was in tune to one line.

Chicago awaits for us to be warm.
-Tom Boharic(b_tom@hotmail.com) and Tim Lloyd(MLloyd8098@aol.com)