Mudhoney Tourbook, 1997

5/16/97 The Showbox Theater. Seattle, WA (75 min)
Supported By: Sinister, Steel Wool
Set: Poisoned Water, Generation Spokesmodel, You Got it, Real Low Vibe, Judgment Rage..., Sweet Young Thing..., This Gift, Move with the Wind, F.D.K., Thorn, What Moves the Heart?, Beneath the Valley..., I Have to Laugh
Encore: The Farther I Go, Editions of You, Drinking for Two, (Symptom of the Universe), Who You Drivin' Now?, 1995, Psychobilly Freakout
Notes: They play a lot of Tomorrow Hit Today (and outtake) songs for the first time: 'Real Low Vibe,' 'Move with the Wind,' 'Beneath the Valley...,' 'I Have to Laugh,' 'Drinking for Two,' and 'Psychobilly Freakout' (a Reverand Horton Heat cover, which they play for the only known time here). When the band comes out on stage, they spend a few minutes fooling around with their instruments, before Mark steps to the mic and says, "we'd like to play a little number that we wrote for Chris Farley, but he gave it to David Spade, so we're trying to reclaim it." 'Move With the Wind' features slightly different lyrics, and 'I Have to Laugh' features slightly different music than the respective studio versions. Matt spends most of the main set talking about a "super Swede," and when he comes out for the encore, he tells the crowd about, "a major catastrophe in the toilet just now. I had a full bottle of beer, hadn't even taken a sip out of it...my lips hadn't even touched the hole. And it fell off the fucking dispenser thing as I was wiping my face off. It fell on the ground, it was all over the fucking floor, and I hadn't even drunk any of it. Yeah!" Mark introduces 'Drinking for Two' with "This one's for my lovely wife who's been pregnant for two months now. The doctor says that we should stop drinking, but fuck that shit!" After the song, he said "Thank you very much, and God bless that little child of mine." Someone keeps calling out for them to play the Melvins' 'Symptom of the Universe', so Matt plays a few notes of it. While the rest of the band is still playing the end of '1995', Steve starts up the intro to a noisy version of 'Psychobilly Freakout'.

6/5/97 Moe's Mo' Rockin' Cafe. Seattle WA
Supported By: Bottle of Smoke, The Kent 3
Set: Poisoned Water, Mother's Lament, Beneath the Valley..., Drinking for Two, Fun and Games, This is the Life (set incomplete and out of order)
Encore: Judgment Rage..., Sweet Young Thing..., 1995
Notes: They debut 'Mother's Lament,' 'This is the Life,' and 'Fun and Games.' This is a secret-ish show, as they perform under the name 'Beneath the Valley of the Underdog,' which is a name they used a couple times in 1997 to play mostly new material or all new material. The show is billed as, "Beneath the Valley of the Underdog featuring members of Bloodloss [Mark] and Valis [Dan] and ex-members of the Melvins [Matt] and the Fallouts [Steve]." Here, of the known setlist songs, they play all new material during the main set, then encore with some older stuff. 'Mother's Lament' was introduced as: "This is a song about a mother who's, like, really sad." '1995' was performed until the crowd began leaving. This was the last show at Moe's before it closed (reopening as ARO.Space, and later Neumo's - "New Mo's"). Jonna McCurry, who did security at Mo's, remembers: "Then there was the last night Moe was open and Mudhoney tore down the green-room wall after they played. It was typical of Mudhoney, but I'm sure that night they figured the place was closing and 'What the hell, let's tear it down.'"

6/13/97 The Experience Museum Grounds. Seattle, WA (15 min)
Supported By: The Kingsmen
Supporting: The President of the United States of America
Set: You Got it, Real Low Vibe, Poisoned Water
Encore: Louie Louie (At the Very End; Steve w/Paul Allen, The Presidents, and the Kingsmen)
Notes: This was the groundbreaking celebration for the Experience Music Project Museum. Before the performances, people such as (the founder of the project and Microsoft co-founder) Paul Allen and (Mayor of Seattle) Norm Rice spoke. The show was hosted by current trendy D.J. Marco Collins, and the trendiest D.J. of the 1960's, Pat O'Dea, who together managed to be incredibly annoying. They kept hinting at the not-so-"secret" encore, which was painfully obvious after The Kingsmen finished their set, because 'Louie, Louie' is their signature song, and they didn't perform it. Mark, Dan, and Matt were asked to join in "Louie, Louie", but refused because, in Mark's words, "A 'Louie, Louie' jam is kind of lame." For his own part, Steve defended his actions by saying, "I've danced with the Devil enough times. I might as well play 'Louie, Louie' with him". 'Louie, Louie' is the un-official state song of Washington, and very nearly was voted the official one a few years back.
Poster

6/21/97 Emo's. Austin, TX
Supported By: The Lord High Fixers, The Prima Donnas
Notes: This was a celebration for Emo's Fifth Anniversary.

6/23/97 Cat's Cradle. Carrboro, NC
Supporting: Redd Kross, Sonic Youth
Set: Sweet Young Thing..., Editions of You (Set Incomplete)
Notes: This was at a party for Mudhoney's t-shirt company, Tannis Root, which was celebrating its 10th anniversary. 200 Tickets were made available to the public.

7/4/97 "Pain in the Grass". The Mural Amphitheater. Seattle, WA (50 min)
Attendance: 10,000+
Supported By: The Kent 3, Ten Minute Warning
Set: Poisoned Water, F.D.K., Beneath the Valley..., You Got it, Real Low Vibe, The Farther I Go, Move with the Wind, Judgment Rage..., Sweet Young Thing..., This is the Life, Drinking for Two, I Have to Laugh
Encore: This Gift
Notes: This show was free as part of a local radio station's annual 'Pain in the Grass' summer concert series. This show set the record for attendance at a 'Pain in the Grass' concert, defeating their previous performance on 7/8/94. That's interesting, considering that both official attendance reports were "over 10,000". The show was abruptly stopped by security when, at the end of "This Gift", people began lighting off fireworks despite warnings before the show, and between each set that doing so would cause the cancellation of the show. Security escorted the band of the stage, Mark greeted the events with a shake of his head, and a shrug of his shoulders.
photos | setlist

8/30/97 The Crocodile Cafe. Seattle, WA
Supported By: The Wellwater Conspiracy, The Urinals
Set: Real Low Vibe, I Want To Live, Fun and Games, Oblivion, A Thing Or Two, Editions of You, Move with the Wind, The Butterfly Stroke, Talkin' Randy Tate's..., Try To Be Kind, Mother's Lament, Drinking for Two, This Is The Life, I Have To Laugh
Encore: Beneath The Valley..., Poisoned Water
Notes: Like 6/5/97, they play a secret-ish showunder the name Beneath the Valley of the Underdog, and play new material. They debut 'I Want to Live', 'Oblivion', 'Talkin' Randy Tate's...', 'The Butterfly Stroke', 'Try to be Kind,' and 'A Thing or Two' (which is performed for the only known time).

10/31/97 RCKNDY. Seattle, WA (75 min)
Supported By: KARP, The Murder City Devils
Set: Poisoned Water, The Farther I Go, You Got it, Oblivion, Sweet Young Thing, Judgment Rage..., Touch Me I'm Sick, Move with the Wind, The Butterfly Stroke, Night of the Hunted, Get into Yours, Beneath the Valley..., Real Low Vibe, F.D.K., I Want to Live
Encore: When Tomorrow Hits, Who You Drivin' Now?, Thorn
Notes: They debut 'Night of the Hunted', and they play the rarely-heard 'I Want to Live' and 'The Butterfly Stroke.' Mark prefaced 'Touch Me I'm Sick' with an anecdote involving tubs of I Can't Believe its Not Butter, and then completely changed the third verse of the song. For the occasion, Mark wore rabbit ears and a cottontail, Steve a cowboy outfit, and Matt a rainbow colored afro wig that someone threw on stage.
photos

12/5/97 The Fenix Underground. Seattle, WA
Attendance: 400
Supported By: The Supersuckers
Set: I Want to Live, Get into Yours, Who You Drivin' Now?, Brand New Face, You Got It, This is the Life, I Have to Laugh, Good Enough, Judgement Rage..., Move With the Wind, Oblivion, Thorn, Poisoned Water, F.D.K., Beneath the Valley...
Encore: When Tomorrow Hits, Suck You Dry, The Farther I Go, Real Low Vibe
Notes: They debut 'Brand New Face,' and its the only known time they play it. This isn't the greatest show. The sound was horrible and there were technical difficulties. The crowd was more interested in talking than listening, and the band didn't seem to be to into the performance either. Despite the conditions, The Supersuckers managed to come through with an amazing set.

12/19/97 "10-Year Anniversary of Mudhoney" The Crocodile Cafe. Seattle, WA (75 min)
Supported By: Combo Craig, Pointy Birds
Set: In 'N' Out Of Grace, Sweet Young Thing..., Touch Me I'm Sick, Good Enough, Judgment Rage..., Into the Drink, Real Low Vibe, Get into Yours, This is the Life, I Have to Laugh, When Tomorrow Hits, You Got it, Twenty Four, Ghost
Encore: Oblivion, Suck You Dry, Poisoned Water, Hate the Police
Notes: They debut 'Ghost'. This show celebrated ten years in the existence of Mudhoney. The occasion was marked early because on the actual tenth anniversary, New Year's Day, Mudhoney was in Memphis recording. A banner was present that read "Mudhoney 1988-1998" and the helium-filled balloons that filled the ceiling read "Mudhoney... ten years in, baby!" Some of the balloons were the same shade of brown as the original pressing of 'Touch Me I'm Sick'. Early into the show, a lot of people were calling out requests in-between songs. Before 'This is the Life', Mark addressed the issue: "hey, it's not request hour, so you can calm down right now. Chances are, we're not going to play what you want to hear." After 'You Got it', Mark told the crowd, "here's a bit of trivia for you: that was the first riff we ever jammed on. Here's another bit of trivia for you: this next song is the first one we ever released," and they started 'Twenty Four'. When they came out for the encore, Mark admonished the crowd for not being festive enough: "we spent a shitload on hats and balloons and none of you are fucking cool enough to get it." 'Hate the Police' began right at midnight, as everyone counted down from 10. They slowed the song down in the middle, and jammed for a while before speeding it back up and finishing. Mark remarked, "I believe that that this is the first time ever that 'Hate the Police' has had a Pearl Jam moment. Thank you for letting us extrapolate on 'Hate the Police'."