Pitchfork: Guided by Voices Final Show Coming to DVD in November

Guided by Voices Final Show Coming to DVD in November

On December 31, 2004, Guided by Voices fans celebrated the end of two eras. The first was fairly obvious and not all that upsetting, unless you had some sort of emotional attachment to the first half of this decade. The second, however, was significantly more bittersweet: that night marked the end of Guided by Voices' two-decade run, culminating in an epic performance at Chicago's Metro.

You fit into one of two groups. Either A) You want to relive the big night or B) You're kicking yourself for missing out on history. Or you could give a shit about Guided by Voices, in which case you're a pansy mouth-breather. Well, we know who has the upper hand here, but both As and Bs will be happy to hear that Plexifilm will release Guided by Voices' entire New Year's Eve 2004 bash on DVD on November 15, under the appropriate title of The Electrifying Conclusion (that was also the name of their final tour, for those of you playing along at home). A week earlier, on November 9, former GBV bassist Jim Greer�s book Guided by Voices: A Brief History: Twenty-One Years of Hunting Accidents in the Forests of Rock and Roll will be published by Grove/Atlantic. So it�s shaping up to be a very GBVriffic November.

The Electrifying Conclusion will feature all of the 60+ songs performed that night in addition to a bit of bonus material! Oh boy! Viewers will be able to witness the handful of past GBV-mates that joined the band on stage (guitarist Tobin Sprout, bassists Greer and Greg Demos, drummers Don Thrasher and Jim MacPherson), some guests stars (Matt Sweeney of Chavez/Zwan/Superwolf, Jon Wurster of Superchunk/Marah, Pollard's brother Jim), the MC/dancer favorite Beatle Bob, and of course, the onstage bar, tended throughout the show by Pollard's buddy Trader Vic. A trailer of the DVD is available on the Plexifilm website.

The setlist for that fateful show was as follows, according to the authoritative online Guided By Voices Database (and a little help from our friends over at Plexifilm!):

1. Over The Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox
2. Watch Me Jumpstart
3. Pimple Zoo
4. Everybody Thinks I'm A Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)
5. Fair Touching
6. Things I Will Keep
7. Glow Boy Butlers
8. Lethargy
9. The Best Of Jill Hives
10. Red Ink Superman
11. 14 Cheerleader Coldfront
12. Girls Of Wild Strawberries
13. Back To The Lake
14. Demons Are Real
15. Do The Earth
16. Tropical Robots
17. Beg For A Wheelbarrow
18. My Kind Of Soldier
19. "Wished I Was A Giant"
20. Bright Paper Werewolves
21. Lord Of Overstock
22. Window Of My World
23. Navigating Flood Regions
24. The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory
25. Tractor Rape Chain
26. I Am A Tree
27. Drinker's Peace
28. Chief Barrel Belly
29. Game Of Pricks
30. Pink Gun
31. Matter Eater Lad
32. Redmen And Their Wives
33. Gonna Never Have To Die
34. I Drove A Tank
35. Shocker In Gloomtown
36. Secret Star
37. If We Wait
38. Huffman Prairie Flying Field
39. Sad If I Lost It
40. Cut-Out Witch
41. Buzzards And Dreadful Crows
42. Alone, Stinking And Unafraid
43. Unleashed! The Large-Hearted Boy
44. Glad Girls
45. Johnny Appleseed
46. Heavy Metal Country
47. Murder Charge
Encore #1
48. My Impression Now
49. My Valuable Hunting Knife
50. Queen Of Cans And Jars
51. Hot Freaks
52. Motor Away
53. I Am A Scientist
54. Teenage FBI
55. Echos Myron
56. Smothered In Hugs
Encore #2
57. A Salty Salute
58. Postal Blowfish
59. Pendulum
60. Dayton, Ohio-19 Something And 5
61. He's The Uncle
62. Exit Flagger
63. Don't Stop Now

DVD Extras include footage of Pollard recording demos for "Girls of Wild Strawberries" and "Window of My World", GBV performing "Break Even", "Some Drilling Implied", "Cruise", and "White Whale" at The Atenna in Memphis, TN (Jan. 14, 1994), and a booklet with liner notes by WFMU-NJ DJ Tom Scharpling. Oh, by the way, the booklet doubles as a foldout poster of the show, including the set list mentioned above. Sweet!

In other Pollard news, everybody's favorite drunken uncle recorded the entire soundtrack for Oscar-winner/GBV book forward author Steven Soderbergh's upcoming film, Bubble (hitting festivals this fall). Six of these tracks, produced (and in some cases, accompanied) by Todd Tobias, will be released as Fading Captain Series #36 - Robert Pollard - Music For "Bubble". The EP will be available in stores September 27, 2005, but those who order through Pollard's website will have their copies shipped the first week of the month. It will be available on vinyl (7") and on CD in digipak form. Which is great, because digipaks take up less space on your shelf than jewel cases.

* Pitchfork Review: Guided by Voices: Half-Smiles of the Decomposed