"i didn't think they were gonna do 'jingle bell rock', but then bam!, second encore!"

our buddy biondi's little sister was able to get her hands on a bunch of tickets to the hall & oates "home for the holidays" concert this past friday night, so a group of us decided it was in our best interest to attend...fully aware that the bulk of the concert was going to be material from the duo's very uninspired 2006 christmas album (& also aware that the uic pavilion was a collegiate arena that didn't serve alcohol), we spent the majority of the show in a bar down the street & timed our arrival almost perfectly, with the band exiting the stage for their encore break just as we were walking in...the house was half empty, which actually suited the crowd, who were about as uninterested as i've ever seen a collected group, & we headed for the only recognizable signs of life, near the front of the stage...the fellas came out & delivered an array of selected hits (read: not enough) for the next 45 minutes that ranged from funky to smooth, highlighted by a bass & sax jam in the middle of "sara smile" that was out of control...in all actuality, if holland oates were to jam out for an entire set like they did a few times during friday night's encore, preferably in a club as opposed to an athletic facility, they'd probably put on a hell of a show...but as it was, the concert we saw was more surreal than anything else, with as much laughing as dancing, & half-kidding observations that "we should've eaten mushrooms" ringing pretty true (although oates' ridiculously miniature stature would have surely caused me to loose my shit)...regardless, here are a couple tracks from their 1972 debut that didn't make the cut friday night.

download: hall & oates - i'm sorry
download: hall & oates - fall in philadelphia

related: after leaving the show, buying a couple $3 concert t's on the sidewalk & listening to biondi say "i didn't think they were gonna do 'jingle bell rock', but then bam!, second encore!" about a half dozen times, dg & i made our way across town to the abbey pub where we were able to finagle our way inside (thanks pat), catch peanut butter wolf's dj set & kick ourselves for missing madlib, percee p & guilty simpson in favor of hall & oates...what the fuck were we thinking...anyways, the set was fantastic, with a very cool video hook up synced to the audio & a couple christmas-centric clips thrown in for good measure...by the way, if you haven't heard about badd santa: a stones throw records xmas, look into it...definitely hotter than anything you'll find on the leather canary xmas mixes.