Saturday night's show at the 8x10 in Baltimore was no exception. Unfortunately, I missed the beginning of the show. For whatever reason, the venue did not have its air conditioning on and the place got extremely hot. It would have been much worse if the place was packed. So during the set change from Ebo to Mary (I missed the first two bands, Ebo was ok. nothing objectionable), I stepped out. After checking the score to the Devils/Stars game on my Internet-ready NeoPoint 1000 wireless phone, I saw the game was chugging along into its second overtime. With a deadlocked 1-1 tie in game 6, I had to check out some of the action. I wandered over to the bar next door because they had something the 8x10 did not -- a TV. I jumped in to see the Jason Arnott score the deciding goal, Scott Stevens get awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy and the Devils take Lord Stanley's Cup back to the swamps of New Jersey for the second time in six years. Congrats!
Satisfied with the Devils win, I headed back to the 8x10 ready to rock with Mary. Unfortunately, my love for hockey caused me to miss the opening few songs. I did catch the rest of the set, though.
I wasn't taking notes on what order things were played in, but it seemed to be a pretty standard Mary set list. No real surprises. Rousing versions of "Breakfast," Mata Hari," Mac & Cheese," and "Punk Rock Heaven" delighted the crowd. It was cool to hear the audience singing along with the same conviction as Mary during "Mercyfuck" (the song, shouted for by those in attendance after each song until it was finally played). Mary encored solo, with a song called Stars. I was not familiar with the tune (she introduced it as something new). It was a decent sounding tune. Unfortunately, I did not get much of the lyrics.
Overall, it was what I have come to expect from a Mary Prankster performance: high energy fun. I don't get the impression that anyone left the venue disappointed. However, after seeing 4 or 5 shows since the 9:30 show in February, I think Mary should take a little time off from touring to put together a new album. Having less than 45 minutes of released music is a definite hinderance to a Mary regular like myself, because the shows become really repetitive. That being said, I would still recommend checking her out. She is someone who really needs to be seen live to be really appreciated.
- Greg T.