Paul Westerberg Man Without Ties
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Paul Westerberg 2005 Tour - Vancouver/Seattle/Portland

Feb 17, 2005 @ The Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC
Thanks to Joe Kenney for sharing pictures and a bunch of videos from the show and to David Hart for the pictures and everyone who wrote in with reviews. Click here for pictures of from these shows. The videos below are all from the Vancouver show:

This is my best stab at a set list, based on a bunch of input, thanks all and corrections welcome:

Absolutely Smoking.Paul and HOF were hotter than hell last night. From the opening chord of Merry Go Round they did not let up and gave the audience exactly what they came for. They all had big smiles on their faces and they were having a great time. Oh, and not only Smoke on the Water but a great version of that Partridge Family Hit " I Think I Love You" started off the encore.

David Hart


Among my favorites were very spirited versions of Valentine, Alex Chilton, and a highly energized finale of Left of the Dial. The encore was a song that nobody seemed to know. Paul broke down a bit and forgot the words to crackle and drag and had to finish with someone holding up a lyric sheet, he laughed it off and recovered, everyone was respectful.

Overall, great show. Paul is back. He took time to talk with everyone who waited by the bus.

John Regan


Well I've been a long time fan of the Mats and Paul, I've downloaded live footage, and live bootlegs, but never seen a live show until last night.

Kinda a shaky start with merry go round, but after mixing up some classics with some solo material, Paul hit stride with the chiming of Love Untold. From everything I"ve ever read or been told, the meltdown that Paul had when he forgot the words to an accoustic song (that I"ve never heard) was not unusual. It was funny when his new guitar player came out and held the lyric sheet for him, but that still wasn't good enough. My guess is that song comes off the playlist for Seattle tonight. (ed note: That was "Crackle and Drag")

Speaking of set list, my table was over by the sound guy, so I could see the set list for the evening. I figured the third last song, Alex Chilton, was my chance to get infront of the stage and see things up close. It was a lot of fun listening to everyone belt out the words to Chilton and Left of the Dial until we all broke into a united croon for the anthem Can't Hardly Wait.

I gotta tell you one of my oldest jokes when I"m playing guitar is if people give me requests, I always say "Sure, but it might sound a little like Smoke on the Water". Well, at one point in the night Paul asked if there were any serious requests he could take, guess what song he broke into ?

Paul came back for a second encore, which was another song I didn't know, neither did the band members, they just played their part and watched Paul for his rapidfire changes. After about 2 min of that, Paul enlisted some audience participation for a spell along which consisted of F * * K O F F, after that, he dropped the mic and walked off.

All in all, pretty good show, wonder where I"ll catch up with Paul again...

Stiffler's Mom


Feb 18, 2005 @ Showbox Showroom, Seattle
Thanks to the folks on the message board for the setlist and to Michael Raley for the review below.

I went to the show in Seattle last night. Unreal. Simply over the top. Paul opened the show with ‘Merry go Round’ straight into ‘Someone take the Wheel.’ All the while wearing and old wool jacket complete with multi-colored scarf and winter hat.

This was a straight up rock show and Paul was in great form. Electric guitars and sparks were flying. His bass player, Jim Boquist (Sun Volt) was terrific. Adding Michael Bland (Prince) on drums. The rhythm section was very tight.

Kiss me on the Bus, Alex Chilton, I will Dare, Can’t Hardly Wait, Valentine, I’ll be You, Little Mascara. Waitress in the Sky, Sadly Beautiful (which he dedicated to Bob Stinson who passed 10 years ago yesterday.) It was sweet, He said “Bob would’ve laughed at that one.” And a bevy of other Mats classics. It rocked and Paul was on top of his game.

The rockers continued all night the energy level was incredible. Even his solo stuff was welcomed. Knockin’ on Mine was great, First Glimmer, Love Untold (beautiful), Born for me, High Time, Mr. Rabbit, AAA, Let The Bad Times Roll…and a few others…

A highlight of the evening was an incredible version of “I Think I love You” by the Partridge Family. Surreality visualized!

The crowd was respectful, but shouted out requests and Paul was so gracious. He shook hands with the fans in front when he left. You could tell he was having a great time. He did bring a glass of wine out on stage with him and he had fun with a drink early on, but he really didn’t drink if you were wondering. His shirt (a bright pink silk shirt with vest) was soaked with sweat by the end of the night.
Paul did 2 encores ending with Left of the Dail. No one left. When I walked off the floor over 20 broken beer bottles and the dust had settled, I felt 25 years old again for a quick moment.

It was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.

If you are a Paul fan (personally I love all of his solo stuff) or a Mats fan, YOU MUST SEE A SHOW ON THIS TOUR.


Feb 19, 2005 @ The Roseland Theatre, Portland

The show was everything rock and roll should be. Tight, ragged, live, passionate, loud and fun as hell. Here's the set list with two ommissions, songs I couldn't peg but am sure someone can fill in the blanks: There were plenty of cheers warranting a second encore, but they left us wanting more! Like someone else wrote, go see this show!

K. Curry


Paul and band in top form in Portland tonight. I believe Paul's son was running around preshow in the crowd and sitting on the lap of the stage during his set, which started about 15 minutes late. As for songs, very similar set to last night's seattle show. Paul was in red pants, black shirt with hand-made hearts sewn in throughout and a black cowboy hat, midway through the set he was thrown a bright green blazer and wore it through the duration. As I mentioned the band was in great form, they played their heart out - especially michael bland. There were however techincal problems and it was evident there was little or no sound check conducted. Things started out with Paul getting a constant shock from his vocal microphone and kept asking for a "windscreen" for the mike. I know this pissed him off a bit. In addition to this the folks mixing tonight's show did a down right shitty job. The bass was turned way up and muffled a majority of paul's lyrics throughout the show. Paul even commented about the guys responsible for the mix must have been "reading Shakespeare" instead of doing their job. Anyway I throughly enjoyed the show despite the problems and hopefully the technical folks on the subsequent show will get their act together.

That's all from Portland tonight

Velvetnose