5/21/91 The Crocodile Cafe. Seattle, WA (50 min)
Supported By: The Night Kings
Set: Look Back, I'm Blown, Bottle Up & Go, Cold Cold World, Great Down Here, Codeine, Doubled Over Again, Angelhead, Call My Body Home, Stop This World, The Story as I was Told
Encore: Out of Focus
Notes: This is the first Monkeywrench show, which they played around the time they were recording their first album, Clean as a Broke-Dick Dog. They play 11 of the 14 songs off that record (omitting 'Notes & Chords... Mean Nothing to Me,' 'Intermission' (which is more of a "track" than a "song"), and 'From You'), as well as the era b-side 'Out of Focus.' Seven of the 12 songs they play are ones they haven't played since getting back together in 1999 - 'Cold Cold World,' 'Codeine,' 'Doubled Over Again,' 'Angelhead,' 'Stop This World,' 'The Story as I Was Told,' and 'Out of Focus.' After the first song, on the occasion of it being their first show, Tim greets the crowd with, "Welcome to our last show." With Mark and Steve gearing up to tour with Mudhoney to support Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, the Monkeywrench didn't have plans to play shows, and were focusing on the record. Once they get to 'Codeine,' Mark tells the crowd that, "This is the art part of the set." And Tim tells the crowd that 'Stop This World' "is really going to bum you out. Mark's learning the lyrics right now." They come out for the encore, and someone in the crowd is shouting for "Out of Focus." But they've never played a show before or released any music, so if it wasn't someone on the inside who knew about how The Monkeywrench had just recorded this song, then that guy had a hell of a gut feeling. Tom: "Since you requested it, you got it." Mark: "Who wants 'Out of Focus.?" They may have played more songs in the encore after that one.
7/18/91 The Crocodile Cafe. Seattle, WA
Supported By: The Surrealists
4/1/92 "Sub Pop 4th Anniversary Party". The Crocodile Cafe. Seattle, WA
Supported By: Sebadoh, The Supersuckers
Notes: This was a party for Sub Pop's fourth anniversary, and was invitation-only. The Monkeywrench had just released their first album on Sub Pop.
5/28/99 "Garageshock" The 3B Tavern. Bellingham, WA
Also on Bill: Man or Astroman?, Von Zippers, Zen Guerrilla, Thundercrack, Coyotemen
11/12/99 The Crocodile Cafe. Seattle, WA
Supported By: Tall Poppies, Fireballs of Freedom
Set: The Pusher, Great Down Here, Thirteen Nights, In the City Tonight, Love is a Spider, From Now On, Bottle Up and Go, Bring on the Judgement Day, The Empty Place, Solar Revelations, I'm Blown, In the Days of the Five, Cloere, One Step Closer (w/Mike Carroll)
Encore: Look Back, Cherry Red
Notes: Everyone looked amazingly happy. Before One Step Closer, Mark introduced Mike Carroll as the singer and then watched the song from the audience. Tim pulled up two guys from the crowd to sing the chorus. After they finished the song, Tim had blown his amplifier, so Steve and Tim stood at the edge of the stage trying to figure out if they could do an enore. Guy from the Tall Poppies lent them his amp, and the show was back on. During Look Back, Tim stood behind Steve, so that when Steve and Tom sang the chorus ("behind you!"), he would have something to look at. Steve noticed, and got a kick out of that.
4/27/00 EJ's. Portland, OR (70 min)
Supported By: Fireballs of Freedom, Selby Tigers
Set: The Weasel's in the Barn, Look Back, Around Again, The Pusher, Solar Revelations, Thirteen Nights, Love is a Spider, I'm Blown, The Empty Place, From Now On, Great Down Here, Bring on the Judgement Day, In the Days of the Five
Encore: Bottle Up & Go, Cherry Red, Levitation
Notes: There's not a whole lot of talk from the stage, but the band is on. There's some noodling before From Now On. Some people in the crowd start cheering and Mark asks, "You know that one?" They come back out for the encore and Tom and Tim tune for a couple seconds. When they're done, Mark says, "Thank you very much. That was a great encore, wasn't it? Alright, goodnight!...We'd love to take you all the way back to 1992," and after a short dely they go into Bottle Up and Go. After the song, he remarks, "That was a beautiful year, that was a beautiful year."
4/28/00 The Crocodile Cafe. Seattle, WA
Supported By: The Bangs
Notes: This was an all-ages show played in the afternoon, prior to the 21-and-over only show that night.
4/28/00 The Crocodile Cafe. Seattle, WA (75 min)
Attendance: 350
Supported By: The Briefs, The Wire Taps
Set: Bring on the Judgement Day, Look Back, Around Again, Sugar Man, Thirteen Nights, I'm Blown, The Weasel's in the Barn, Love is a Spider, Levitation, The Empty Place, Great Down Here, In the Days of the Five
Encore: Day Trader Shuffle, The Pusher
Encore 2: Bottle Up and Go
Notes: Little was said from the stage. Mark seemed to be having a good time, and was grinning a lot. At one point, Tim threw his guitar into the crowd, and began "playing" his distortion box. After the song, the audience returned the guitar with all of it's strings broken. He played one of Tom Price's guitars for the second encore, and told the crowd that he promised Tom that he wouldn't break it.
4/29/00 Showoff Gallery. Bellingham, WA
Supported By: Fireballs of Freedom, The Seizures
Notes: This was an all-ages show played in the afternoon, prior to the 21-and-over only show that night.
4/29/00 The 3B Tavern. Bellingham, WA
4/30/00 The Starfish Room. Vancouver, Canada
Supported By: Wheelie
5/12/00 Club Clearview. Dallas, TX
5/13/00 Emo's. Austin, TX
5/27/00 The Borderline. London, England (65 min)
Attendance: 300
Supported By: The Nomads, The Alchemists
Set: The Pusher, Look Back, Solar Revelations, The Day Trader Shuffle, Thirteen Nights, Love is a Spider, Great Down Here, Sugar Man, The Weasel's in the Barn, In the City Tonight, Levitation, In the Days of the Five
Encore: Bring on the Judgement Day, I'm Blown
Notes: The guys all seem to be having a good time, especially Tim who keeps thrusting his guitar into the crowd to get some feedback. Mark appears to be nervous at first, but later does some rock star posturing and makes faces at the crowd. After Thirteen Nights, Tim steps to the mic and asks, "Can anyone from the Nomads loan me a guitar? pretty please?" Mark adds, "In the regular E tuning, not an opening tuning. That'd be great." After The Weasel's in the Barn, Steve announces, "Tom says to entertain the audience with drugs or something. He think's we're losing momentum. Soon after, an audience member gets the microphone and begins singing "Happy Birthday" to his friend, Martin, which most people in the audience think referrs to Martin Bland. Mark takes up on this saying, "Martin just turned sixteen. Martin is sixteen today and has never been kissed, so all you young boys please kiss him after the show." During In the City Tonight, someone in the audience is rough-housing with his friend, and the security mistake this for an actual fight and move to throw him out. While the song continues, Mark shouts, "Hey, bring that guy back here! Hey! Hey! Hey, fuckhead! Hey, fuckhead!" while Tim runs offstage to argue with the guards. Eventually, the fan is released. In the Days of the Five breaks down at the end, with Mark singing the chorus over feedback from the other guys, who then break back into the song proper for a couple seconds before they finish it.
5/28/00 The Borderline. London, England (65 min)
Attendance: 300
Supported By: The Golden Guineas, The Country Teasers
Set: Bring on the Judgement Day, Levitation, I'm Blown, The Day Trader Shuffle, Sugar Man, Around Again, Cherry Red, Love is a Spider, The Empty Place, Look Back, The Weasel's in the Barn, In the Days of the Five
Encore: Bottle Up and Go, The Pusher
Notes: The guys seem a little more relaxed than the night before, with everyone smiling and laughing. Before The Weasel's in the Barn, Mark addresses the audience: "Alright, ladies and gentlement. What is in the barn!" The audience cheers. "No, there's no 'wooo' in the barn. What is in the barn, baby?" The audience cheers some more. "No, 'yeah' is not in the fucking barn. What is in the barn? It's the weasel, you idiots!"
5/29/00 Wembley Arena. London, England (35 min)
Attendance: 12,000
Supporting: Pearl Jam
Set: Bring on the Judgement Day, Levitation, I'm Blown, Thirteen Nights, The Pusher, Sugar Man, Great Down Here, Cherry Red
Notes: Portions of these two shows at Wembley Arena were released on the 2002 LP ...And One Really Nervous Guy. The title of the record is a reference to Eddie Vedder introducing the band the next night. Mark was drinking wine onstage, and at the beginning of the set, spilled some on the security guard that was
standing below him. He leaned down and kissed the guard on the cheek, and then hopped down off the stage and
kissed everyone in the front of the crowd on the cheek. Later, he began doing headstands, and then headstands and
cartwheels. Before the last song, according to Tim, "I jumped off the Wembley stage and took my guitar to where
the crowd was so that they could be a part of the band. I couldn't get back up after that so I tossed my guitar
back up on stage and I went backstage where the medics came to see if I was OK...Mark jumped off after i did.he
climbed back up on stage. I'm not sure who gave Tom my guitar at that point but the other guy that ended up
playing it was Johnny who had played with Thee Headcoats. It was a lot of fun." When Tim threw his guitar on
stage, Tom picked it up and played both it and his guitar for a while. The Monkeywrench got a warm reponse from
the crowd, especially considering the way that Pearl Jam crowds have responded to Mudhoney.
5/30/00 Wembley Arena. London, England (35 min)
Attendance: 12,000
Supporting: Pearl Jam
Set: The Pusher, Look Back, The Weasel's in the Barn, Great Down Here, Love is a Spider, The Day Trader Shuffle, Levitation, In the Days of the Five
Notes: Before The Monkeywrench come out, Eddie Vedder plays one song solo. When he's done he takes the time to introduce The Monkeywrench: "Alright now it is with great pleasure and aplomb that I introduce Mark, Tim, Martin, Steve..." and there's a huge pause while he blanks on Tom's name and scans the front of the crowd for someone to shout it at him. He gets out of it with, "And uh, one guy who's really nervous." Near the end of In the Days of the Five, most of the music stops save for a little feedback while Mark sings nearly a capella. They all rejoin the song for the big finish.
8/11/00 "Las Vegas Shakedown". Gold Coast Hotel. Las Vegas, NV (50 min)
Supporting: Onyas, Nashville Pussy, The Fuzztones
Supported By: Wayne Kramer, The Street Walkin' Cheetahs, The Demonics
Set: Bring on the Judgement Day, Look Back, The Day Trader Shuffle, Thirteen Nights, Cherry Red, Love is a Spider, The Weasel's in the Barn, The Empty Place, In the City Tonight, Levitation, In The Days of the Five, Notes & Chords Mean Nothing to Me
Notes: This was the first day of a three day festival. Steve is wearing an extremely wide tie with a short-sleeve shirt. Mark is really animated, particularly at the beginning. He introduces 'Cherry Red' with, "This song is from the finest garage band of 1971."
8/19/00 "Hey Punk!" 5th Ave Skate Park. Seattle, WA (60 min)
Set: Notes and Chords Mean Nothing to Me, I'm Blown, From Now On, Around Again, The Pusher, L.I.E.S., Levitation, Solar Revelations, Cherry Red, Great Down Here, Do You Love Me (w/Duane Peters, Steve Olson), Born to Lose (w/Duane Peters, Steve Olson)
Notes: Throughout the show, Tim keeps letting various members of the audience make noise with his guitar. Around Again is stopped and restarted after Tim and Tom don't begin the song at the same time. After The Pusher, Tom steps to the mic and says, "Goddamn that pusher man," to which Steve adds, "If you goddamn that pusher man you can skate more." A few songs later, there's confusion as to what song is to be played, and Tim creates feedback with his guitar while it's decided to play Levitation. They have another lengthy discussion before deciding on Cherry Red. Great Down Here is restarted when Tim begins the song before the rest of the band is ready. After that song, Mark introduces their "newest, oldest, bestest friends," skaters Steve Olson and Duane Peters, and adds that "they were skate-punk before the rest of you were skate-punk." Tim walks to the mic on the far side of the stage to point out that he was skate-punk back when Olson and Duane were. After another delay of a few minutes while Olson gets settled in, they break into Do You Love Me, with Olson on stage left handling lead vocals while holding a guitar that serves little more than decorative purposes. Mark, Tom and Duane handle back up vocals from stage right, sharing two microphones.
9/1/00 The Pine Street Theater. Portland, OR
Supported By: Nebula, The Heads
9/2/00 "Bumbershoot Festival." The BumberClub. Seattle, WA (60 min)
Supporting: Heather Duby, Oldominion, The Makers
Supported By: The Melody Unit, Polecat
9/7/00 The Liquid Room. Tokyo, Japan
9/8/00 Ebisu Milk. Toyko, Japan
9/10/00 Club Quattro. Nayoga, Japan
Supported By: Antonio Three, Gasoline
9/11/00 Club Quattro. Osaka, Japan
Supported By: King Brothers
9/13/00 Shinjuku Loft. Tokyo, Japan
9/28/00 Chilkoot Charlie's. Anchorage, AK
9/29/00 Mammoth Music. Anchorage, AK
10/6/00 Las Palmas, Spain
Supported By: Beachwood Sparks
Set: Bring on the Judgement Day, Look Back, Solar Revelations, The Day Trader Shuffle, Thirteen Nights, I'm Blown, Love is a Spider, The Pusher, Levitation, Great Down Here, In the Days of the Five, Notes & Chords Mean Nothing to Me
Encore: (missing)
Notes: During the first song of the set, Tim breaks his hollow-body guitar when he drops it off the stage. His amp lasts until the second song, at which point it breaks. He replaces that amp with a different one, and a few song later replaces that amplifier for another new one. Over the course of the set, he also manages to break some strings on his guitar. During the encore, Martin's drum stool falls apart. Despite all this, the audience seems to enjoy the show.
10/7/00 "Festival Serie B." Calahorra, Spain (60 min)
Supporting: The Real Kids
Supported By: Chariot, El Hombre Burbuja, Insanity Wave, La Granja, Giant Sand
Notes: The Pusher, Look Back, Solar Revelations, The Weasel's in the Barn, Thirteen Nights, Cherry Red, Love is a Spider, I'm Blown, The Day Trader Shuffle, Levitation, Great Down Here, In the Days of the Five, Notes & Chords Mean Nothing To Me
Encore: (one song)
Notes: Mark Lanegan was supposed to go on after The Monkeywrench, but didn't show and was replaced by The Real Kids. The Monkeywrench don't hit the stage until 3:00 AM. Tim and Martin don't have any problems tonight, but Steve manages to break some strings. A great show.
11/3/00 "Terrastock 4". The Showbox Theater. Seattle, WA (45 min)
Supported By: Windy and Carl, The Lothars, Voyager One, Ethereal Counterbalance
Supporting: Ghost, Damon and Naomi, Charalambides, Albunai!, The Wellwater Conspiracy, Tarentel
Set: Cherry Red, The Empty Place, Solar Revelations, The Day Trader Shuffle, I'm Blown, Love is a Spider, The Weasel's in the Barn, Look Back, Sugar Man, Levitation, In The Days of the Five, Notes & Chords Mean Nothing To Me
Notes: This performace occured on the first day of a three day festival. Mark comes out to the lip of the stage and leans out over the crowd to sing during Solar Revelations. He makes it back to his normal spot by doing a backwards summersault over a stage monitor. During The Weasel's in the Barn, Tim runs over to the far side of the stage and manages to unplug his guitar in the process. He sheepishly goes to plug it back in while Steve laughs. Steve and Tom use the song to show off some coordinated moves with their instruments. The same thing happens to Tim again on Sugar Man, which has an intense middle section. During In the Days of the Five, Tim jumps into the crowd and gives it to Scott McCaughey, who puts it on and plays for a couple measures. Tim then spends most of the rest of the song playing in the crowd.
11/4/00 The 3B Tavern. Bellingham, WA
Supported By: Mooney Suzuki, The Gimmicks
11/9/00 Magic Stick. Detroit, MI
Supported By: Nebula, Easy Action
11/10/00 Empty Bottle. Chicago, IL
Supported By: Nebula, Easy Action
Set: Bring on the Judgement Day, Solar Revelations, The Day Trader Shuffle, Levitation, Thirteen Nights, Love is a Spider, I'm Blown, The Weasel's in the Barn, Great Down Here, Sugar Man, Cherry Red, In the Days of the Five, Notes & Chords Mean Nothing To Me
Encore: Look Back, The Pusher
11/11/00 7th Avenue Entry. Minneapolis, MN
Supported By: Nebula, Lee County Killers
11/12/00 Concert Cafe. Green Bay, WI
Supported By: The Immortal Lee County Killers, The Chargers, The Mistreaters, The Mystery Girls
Set: The Weasel's in the Barn, Look Back, Thirteen Nights, Levitation, Love is a Spider, The Empty Place, I'm Blown, Solar Revelations, Sugar Man, Cherry Red, In the Days of the Five, Notes & Chords Mean Nothing to Me
Encore: Great Down Here, The Pusher
Notes: Late in the set, in reference to the financial troubles that threaten to close the Concert Cafe, Tim tells the crowd that he doesn't mean to sound old school, but to keep supporting all-ages venues. Mark chimes in with, "But if you're going to play an all-ages show, make sure there's a sympathetic bar next door." "Unless your straight-edge!" Tim adds, crossing his arms ito form the straight-edge "X" symbol. After Notes and Chords, Tim says, "Everyone who's not already in a band, go out and start one!" "But whatever you do, please, please...don't suck," Mark adds. When they come back onstage for the encore, Mark addresses the crowd while the other guys are getting their instruments ready: "These guys have a harder job than me. They have to keep their instruments tuned and all I have to do is sing and keep my shirt tucked in." Tim reminds him, "And keep your fly zipped."
11/30/00 The Troubadour. West Hollywood, CA
Supported By: Nebula, Flash Express
12/1/00 Club Mesa. Costa Mesa, CA
Supported By: The Bell Rays, Flash Express
12/2/00 Bottom of the Hill. San Francisco, CA (70 min)
Supported By: Zen Guerrilla, The Clay Wheels
Mark with Clay Wheels: (Sonics Medley)
Set: Bring on the Judgement Day, Look Back, Solar Revelations, The Day Trader Shuffle, Great Down Here, Love is a Spider, I'm Blown, Thirteen Nights, The Weasel's in the Barn, Levitation, Sugar Man, Cherry Red, In the Days of the Five, Notes & Chords Mean Nothing to Me
Encore: The Pusher
Notes: During the last chorus to Look Back, Tim steps up to the center of the stage to play. Mark sneaks up behind him and crawls between his legs, causing Tim to fall on his back. Tim recovers, and goes over to sing backup on one mic along with Steve and Tom. Before Love is a Spider, Mark asks, "Has anyone seen Roy Loney? Has anyone seen Roy Loney? I left a ton of messages on his machine," while peering out into the crowd." Half-way through I'm Blown, Tim falls into the audience, and plays while the crowd keeps him afloat. Levitation is introduced with, "This is a song that was written by someone who lives in the Tenderloin." Sugar Man has a long, intense middle section. After the song, Tom steps to the mic and says, "Let's play some grunge," which makes the other guys crack up. During In the Days of the Five, Tim tries to give his guitar to Mark, who runs away. Tim then goes over to Steve and puts his guitar around his neck. Steve then plays the guitar while Tim plays Steve's bass, which Steve is still attached to. When they get back onstage for the first encore and are retuning their instruments, Tom thanks The Clay Wheels and Zen Guerrilla for letting them use some of their gear. Steve adds, "I wouldn't let us use their gear." At the end of The Pusher, Tim gets up on Martin's bass drum and lets Martin play his guitar with his drum sticks. Johnny Manack of the Clay Wheels:
We sound checked with a Sonics medley and Mark Arm comes running up with excitement. After the song was over, he came up to me and said, "We just did a Sonics tribute CD and I'd love to join you guys
on vocals when you play that Sonics medley tonight!" and he handed me [the] disc! He joined us for the medley (no brainer!) and we sang together, it was so awesome!!! What a neat and memorable evening!
3/30/01 The 3B Tavern. Bellingham, WA (70 min)
Attendance: 200
Supported By: The Blow-Up, The Glory Holes
Set: Levitation, Look Back, Thirteen Nights, The Weasel's in the Barn, The Day Trader Shuffle, Love is a Spider, Bring on the Judgement Day, I'm Blown, The Pusher, Great Down Here, Cherry Red
Encore: In the Days of the Five, Notes & Chords Mean Nothing to Me
Notes: A fun, rowdy show. The audience engages in a local tradition by throwing more beer at the stage than they end up drinking. Before The Day Trader Shuffle, Steve takes a full bottle of beer and slowly dumps it on a member of the audience with great fanfare. After the song, Tom mentions that he prefers red wine and asks that people throw that on stage. Mark comments that he prefers cocaine, and makes the same request. After I'm Blown, Tim walks over to Tom's mic and says that he'll show everyone his "Eddie from Nebula lick" and plays a short minor pentatonic speed lick. Later, Tom and Tim hit the first chord to Cherry Red, and everyone stands around while Steve makes a big display of cleaning his glasses before starting the song with his bass riff. They come out for the encore and start up In the Days of the Five. Mark quickly stops the band and gets a guy in the crowd who's just thrown a beer to come up on stage. After a little prodding, he comes up and Mark gets him to tilt his head back and open his mouth. Mark then pours a beer all over the guy's head and asks, "How did you like it?" The guy responds, "That feels just great," and gets off the stage. After another false start, they play a particularly aggressive version of the song. After it's over, Steve quickly gets off stage while the other guys stand around waiting for him to come back. They end up starting Notes & Chords Mean Nothing to Me without him and after a short while he comes back on stage without his bass. He drapes his arm around Mark, and they sing the song together.
4/20/01 The Crocodile Cafe. Seattle, WA (45 min)
Supporting: The Makers
Supported By: Bangs
Set: On Your Arrival, Look Back, The Weasel's in the Barn, Great Down Here, Love is a Spider, Black Plastic Tarp, Levitation, I'm Blown, In the Days of the Five
Notes: When they hit the stage, Tim announces that they'll be playing two new songs, and On Your Arrival and Black Plastic Tarp are premiered. Tim dedicates Levitation to "Craig. He's from Texas and this song's from Texas."
5/27/01 "GarageShock 2001". Emo's. Austin, TX
Supported By: Sugar Shack, The Immortal Lee County Killers, The Soledad Brothers, The Fatal Flying Guillotines, The Wednesdays
Set: Bring on the Judgement Day, Levitation, I'm Blown, Thirteen Nights, Love is a Spider, Black Plastic Tarp, (unknown), (unknown), (unknown), Cherry Red (set out of order except for the first and last songs)
Notes: Based on the performances of the supporting bands, The Monkeywrench have their work cut out for them: the singer/bassist for the Wednesdays hung upside down from the ceiling while still playing, the Fatal Flying Guillotines with their human pinball of a singer played in the audeince, Chet from The Immortal Lee County Killers crawled on the floor through the crowd on his stomach, Sugar Shack put on a blitstering set, and Tim's Lord High Fixers reuinited to play a song. The guys are all in good spirits for a show in Tim's home town and rise to the occasion. The new Black Plastic Tarp - introduced by Mark with, "This is a new song about a black plastic tarp. It's called Black Plastic Tarp" - as well as at least three other new songs are performed. At some point during I'm Blown, Mark falls on his ass for no apparent reason. Mark prefaces Love is a Spider by telling the crowd, "I've seen a lot of things these last couple days, and all I have to say is that you don't need jelly if the peanut butter's chunky" (the night before, Marcus, the singer for Zen Guerrilla, kept saing "You got to spread the peanut butter think to make the jelly taste good."). During Cherry Red, Sammy from Fireballs of Freedom takes it upon himself to grab a guitar and join in. That the guitar isn't plugged into anything didn't deter him. After a few seconds of this, an angry Mark rips the guitar from his hands and throws it
down, sending Sammy tumbling. Mark then gets pulled into the crowd and lands on his face. He gets back onstage followed by 20 audience members and the set ends with an extended jam where everyone is dancing and having a good time. When it's finally over, Mark tries to say goodbye, but there's no microphone to be found so he waves while exiting.
12/31/01 The Crocodile Cafe. Seattle, WA (75 min)
Attendance: 250
Supported By: The Evaporators, The Gun Street Girls, DJs Spencer Moody and Cherry Canoe
Set: Low On Air, Look Back, The Weasel's in the Barn, Black Plastic Tarp, Great Down Here, Bottle Up & Go, Bring on the Judgement Day, (Revenge), The Day Trader Shuffle, Flashy New Dance Step, Sugar Man, Sunnyland, Levitation, I'm Blown, Cherry Red
Encore: The Pusher, Notes & Chords Mean Nothing To Me
Notes: Low On Air, Flashy New Dance Step and Sunnyland are premiered in a fun, lively show. The guys hit the stage a minute or so before midnight. Tim tells the crowd that if he holds up his right arm a lot tonight, it's not some fancy rock move, it's because he's supposed to elevate his wrist (which he broke skateboarding this Summer). He then promptly disappears into the crowd. The other guys stand around trying to sort things out until Tom steps to the mic and says, "So...anyone have a watch?" It turns out that Steve does. Tom and Steve then start two countdowns at once: "Ten," "Four," "Nine," "Three," until they get on the same page and start over from ten, accompanied by a drum-roll from Martin. Martin comes out to kiss his wife and Mark jumps into the crowd to kiss his. When he and Tim make it back onstage, Mark comments, "Hey, I just made out with some random woman!" After Bring on the Judgement Day, Steve teases the intro to The Kinks' Revenge. Mark introduces Fancy New Dance Step by telling the crowd that he wants to see their dance steps and then shows off a foot-swiveling dance of his own during the beginning of the song. After Levitation Tim thanks The Evaporators for tuning his guitars during the set. Mark then thanks them for "bringing their fine Canadian asses down." The Gun St. Girls and DJs Spencer Moody and Cherry Canoe are summarily thanked in the same way, except they're not Canadian, unlike The Evaporators. In the middle of Cherry Red, Tim runs across the stage and starts letting the audience play the guitar with him, not realizing until afterwards that his guitar became unplugged on the way over. A few meatheads in the crowd are sporadically shouting out for Mudhoney and Green River songs. When the guys come out for the encore, one of them shouts for Hate the Police, and Tom turns to Steve and, with a smile on his face, sarcastically says, "Yeah, let's do Hate the Police." At the end of Notes & Chords, Tim leans his guitar on his amp to produce constant feedback and does a stage dive. While this is going on, Mark does an extended head stand until Steve decides to gently kick him over. Tim makes it back onstage just in time to see all the other guys finish the song and wave goodnight.
poster
4/21/16 The Crocodile Cafe. Seattle, WA (70 min)
Attendance: 300
Supported By: The Gallow Swings, Sir Coyler & His Asthmatic Band
Set: Great Down Here, The Weasel's in the Barn, Look Back, Solar Revelations, Black Plastic Tarp, Flashy New Dance Steps, Call My Body Home, Bottle Up & Go, Pray 'Til You Sweat, Open Your Arms, Low on Air, I'm Blown, In the Days of the Five (w/Notes & Chords Mean Nothing to Me), Notes & Chords Mean Nothing to Me
Encore: Bring on the Judgment Day, One Step Closer (w/Dave Crider)
Notes They perform 'Pray Til You Sweat' and 'Open Your Arms' for the first time, and 'Call My Body Home' for
the first time since 5/21/91. And, to be thorough, this is the second known time they play
Poison 13's 'One Step Closer,' but the first time Mark sings it (he handed mic over to Poison 13's Mike Carroll the
first time). This is the Monkeywrench's first show since 12/31/01. The show is advertised as "Crocshock" - a nod
to some of the Garageshock events that the Monkeywrench previously played. The show also coincides with The
Crocodile Cafe's 25th anniversary. Originally, this was a warmup gig for the two British ATP shows. Then, those
shows got cancelled, so this gig is the entire reunion. Portions of this show were released on the 2017 LP, Goes Round Comes Round. In fitting with the "Monkeywrench vibe," they all come out
in some variation of suits and ties. Steve then takes his suit coat off before the first song. It was hot in
there for Seattle. After 'Open Your Arms,' the other guys huddle up, so Tom starts telling a joke: "So these two
whales are sitting in a bar..." and then the other guys are ready so the audience is left waiting for the
punchline. Near the end of 'In the Days of the Five,' Mark starts playing Tim's guitar with his wine bottle, and
declares it a "Reisling solo." Then during the ending cacophony of the song, he speaks the opening lines of 'Notes
& Chords.' They come back out for the encore and Tim needs to get in tune, so they've got time to kill and Tom
continues with his whale joke: "...And one whale says, (Tom makes extended whale sounds). And the other whale
says, 'Dude, you're fucked up.'" Then they've got some more time to kill while guitars are tuned after the next
song, so Mark, seeing a Faith No More shirt in the audience, jokes that they're going to play a Faith No More song.
Then they trade jokes, with Mark riffing on whales, Tom providing a joke about radios, and Tim bringing a librarian
joke to the table. Dave Crider (of Estrus Records, which released the Electric Children record) comes on
stage and sings a bit of the chorus of 'One Step Closer' into Tim's mic. They planned to close the song with 'On
Your Arrival,' but due to his guitar issues, Tim was playing a guitar borrowed from opener Sir Coyler at this
point, and he didn't want to smash it at the end of the song as was planned. Apparently, you can't play that song
without smashing a guitar. As they leave the stage, Mark says, "Thank you so much. We'll be back in 15 years." A
slightly edited version of this show is released as the 'Goes Round Comes Round' LP.
4/24/16 "All Tomorrow's Parties 2.0". Victoria Warehouse. Manchester, England (CANCELLED)
Also on Bill: Drive Like Jehu, The Gories, King Khan and the Shrines, Soulside, Mission of Burma, The El Vez Punk Rock Revue, The King Khan & BBQ Show, The Blind Shake, Betunizer
Notes: This show was cancelled on April 18 after festival organizers discovered that organizing a festival requires money. This festival was originally scheduled for Pontins
Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park in Prestatyn, Wales. It was moved due to ATP organizers not being great about paying the prior venue. The festival was curated by Drive Like Jehu. "What a drag. Sorry I won't see so many friends. They still hadn't purchased our flights as of Friday, I was ready to back out even if it happened."
4/26/16 ATP Pop-Up Venue. London, England (CANCELLED)
Supported By: The Gories
Notes: This ATP-related show was cancelled on April 18 after festival organizers discovered that organizing a festival requires money.
9/23/16 The Star Theater. Portland, OR (65 min)
Attendance: 150
Supported By: Audios Amigos, DRC3
Set: Great Down Here, The Weasel's in the Barn, Look Back, Solar Revelations, Black Plastic Tarp, Call My Body Home, Bottle Up & Go, Pray 'Till You Sweat, Open Your Arms, Low on Air, I'm
Blown, In the Days of the Five, Notes & Chords Mean Nothing to Me
Encore: Bring on the Judgment Day, One Step Closer
Notes: They wanted to do 'Flashy New Dance Step' for these gigs, but Tim's flight in got delayed so they didn't have enough time to rehearse it properly. They make so many mistakes during the show that they joke afterward that it was more like a practice than a gig. Coming out of the first instrumental section of 'Solar Revelations,' Mark is blanking on his line to sing and stalling for time. The song eventually collapses and stops, and Mark wants to take it back up while Tom is moving on to the next song. Mark asks the crowd, which collectively yells out an incoherent response, so they restart the song.
9/24/16 Jazzbones. Tacoma, WA (65 min)
Attendance: 200
Supported By: The Fucking Eagles, Radio On, Ex Hex
Set: Look Back, The Weasel's in the Barn, Call My Body Home, Solar Revelations, Black Plastic Tarp, Great Down Here, Bottle Up & Go, Pray 'Till You Sweat, Open Your Arms, Low on Air, I'm Blown, In the Days of the Five, Notes & Chords Mean Nothing to Me
Encore: Bring on the Judgment Day, One Step Closer
Notes: Before 'Open Your Arms,' Tim is doing one of his many tuning breaks, so Tom tells another Dad Joke: "What do you call a vampire whose car breaks down two miles from the blood bank? A cab." Then Tim says it's one of his favorite songs to do because it came about from Tom having a song, and Tim having a song, so they put them together to see what it was. They come out for the encore, and Tim needs a guitar tuned again, so he's got Tom's Les Paul. But the other guys visibly think this is a bad idea, given how hard Tim is on his guitars. So, Steve is stuck by the length of his guitar cable and can't get far enough over to grab Tim's guitar and have it tuned. This goes on for about 30 seconds as Tim gets ever closer to playing Tom's guitar until Steve can finally get someone's attention and disaster is averted. During the encore, Steve kicks the mic out of Martin's bass drum without noticing. Early Nirvana drummer Aaron Burkhard is in the crowd, and gets Steve's attention to remedy the situation. Tim pulls a couple of guys out of the crowd to sing the chorus of 'One Step Closer,' and afterwards asks the crowd collectively why they're not all in bands if they aren't already.
11/6/16 "Sound on Sound Fest". Sherwood Forest. McDade, TX (30 min)
Set: Look Back, The Weasel's in the Barn, Levitation, Black Plastic Tarp, Great Down Here, Open Your Arms, I'm Blown, One Step Closer
Notes: The Monkeywrench play on the third day of this three-day festival (the renamed Fun Fun Fun Fest), which is located on the grounds of a Renaisance Faire outside of Austin. Mark:
We cut the slide songs (Bottle Up & Go, Pray 'till You Sweat) as well as Low On Air and Days of the Five. There was a crazy rain / thunder storm that almost cancelled our day. The place got
evacuated and then the show started again around 6pm. The band before us (the Cherubs) played 3 songs before getting dumped on and they shut the power off because of electrocution fears. The rain let
up a bit, but the stage and power outlets were soaked so the production crew had to remove the soaked power cords and rewire the stage during our slot. We ended up playing a 30 minute set on an
improvised stage between bands around 11pm. We just had a vocal PA and there was no barrier. That was cool, but Tom had to double dose his meds because he had taken them thinking that we would be on
at 7:00. It was really really hard on him.
'Bottle Up & Go' and 'Pray 'Till You Sweat' were originally slotted after 'Great Down Here;' 'Low on Air' was slotted after 'Open Your Arms;' and 'In the Days of the Five' was slotted after 'I'm Blown.'
11/17/16 Crown & Anchor. Adelaide, Australia
Supported By: St. Morris Sinners, Colonised
Set: Look Back, Open Your Arms, Solar Revelations, Black Plastic Tarp, Low on Air, Great Down Here, Bottle Up & Go, Pray 'Till You Sweat, The Day Trader Shuffle, Levitation, Sunnyland, I'm Blown, In the Days of the Five, Notes & Chords...
Encore: Bring on the Judgment Day, One Step Closer
Notes: This tour originated from the cancelled All Tomorrow's Party gigs in April. When that happened, Tim said that he'd never been to Australia, Martin said that he'd always wanted to play Australia one last time before he died, and they were off and planning.
11/18/16 The Tote Hotel. Melbourne, Australia
Set: Call My Body Home, Open Your Arms, Solar Revelations, Black Plastic Tarp, Low on Air, Great Down Here, Bottle Up & Go, Pray 'Till You Sweat, The Day Trader Shuffle, Levitation, The Weasel's in the Barn, Sunnyland, I'm Blown, In the Days of the Five, Notes & Chords...
Encore: Bring on the Judgment Day, One Step Closer
11/19/16 "River Rocks Festival". Barwon Club. Geelong, Australia
Set: Look Back, Open Your Arms, Solar Revelations, Black Plastic Tarp, Great Down Here, Bottle Up & Go, Pray 'Till You Sweat, The Weasel's in the Barn, The Day Trader Shuffle, Levitation, I'm Blown, In the Days of the Five, Notes & Chords...
Encore: Bring on the Judgment Day, One Step Closer
11/20/16 Cherry Bar. Melbourne, Australia
Supported By: Warped
Set: Bring on the Judgment Day, Low on Air, The Day Trader Shuffle, The Weasel's in the Barn, Great Down Here, Bottle Up & Go, Pray 'Till You Sweat, Open Your Arms, Solar Revelations, Sunnyland, Levitation, In the Days of the Five, Notes & Chords...
Encore: One Step Closer, I'm Blown
Notes: This show was announced after the first Melbourne show at The Tote Hotel sold out.
11/23/16 The Brisbane Hotel. Hobart, Australia
Supported By: The Roobs, The Dregs
Set: Look Back, Open Your Arms, Solar Revelations, Black Plastic Tarp, Low on Air, Great Down Here, Bottle Up & Go, Pray 'Till You Sweat, The Weasel's in the Barn, The Day Trader Shuffle,
Levitation, Sunnyland, I'm Blown, In the Days of the Five, Notes & Chords...
Encore: Bring on the Judgment Day, L.I.E.S., One Step Closer
11/24/16 The Basement. Belconnen, Australia
Supported By: Grinding Eyes, The Dunhill Blues
Set: Look Back, Open Your Arms, Solar Revelations, Black Plastic Tarp, Low on Air, Great Down Here, Bottle Up & Go, Pray 'Till You Sweat, The Weasel's in the Barn, The Day Trader Shuffle,
Levitation, Sunnyland, I'm Blown, In the Days of the Five, Notes & Chords...
Encore: L.I.E.S., One Step Closer
11/25/16 Newtown Social Club. Newtown, Australia
Supported By: Grinding Eyes, The Holy Soul
Set: Look Back, Open Your Arms, Solar Revelations, Black Plastic Tarp, Low on Air, Great Down Here, Bottle Up & Go, Pray 'Till You Sweat, The Weasel's in the Barn, The Day Trader Shuffle,
Levitation, Sunnyland, I'm Blown, In the Days of the Five, Notes & Chords...
Encore: Bring on the Judgment Day, L.I.E.S., One Step Closer
11/26/16 Beetle Bar. Brisbane, Australia (CANCELLED)
Notes: This show got cancelled because the Beetle Bar closed.
