live sound by Matthew Kettle

mixed and mastered by Bill Skibbe at Third Man Mastering

Even though they had been on the road for nearly 5 months, energized by their travels to so many new places, there really is no place like home.  Brimming with energy from the start, the band’s return to the Masonic Temple Theatre delivers in all the ways a homecoming should. Unlike the first performances in 2003, where it was enough of a milestone that they had made it to the venue at all, the 2005 return demonstrates that this was where they deserved to be. If they didn’t belong there, nobody did. As with all three nights, the show includes a setlist that goes all the way back to the first album through to the new songs. Instead of the standard band introduction, Jack addresses Meg instead “Well, where are we tonight Meg?  North of Taylor, South of Birmingham!” The familiarity extends to the crowd, as he recognizes members of the audience throughout the show.  This show is a perfect start to the run, kicking off their final ever shows in Detroit.  "Black Math" features an energetic stop/start section after the guitar solo, and listen for the off-mic delivery of Blind Willie Johnson’s "Lord, I Just Can’t Keep From Crying" before "Death Letter." There are also some confessional moments in the show, as if confiding to the audience of friends and family, with Jack ad-libbing “Good lord, what have I done!” during "Cannon", followed by a version of "The Big Three Killed My Baby" featuring the lines “It was good when it started girl, and it was good when it started boy, it was good while it lasted now…it was good when it came to me”. But no doubt it’s the warmth that shines through on this opening night, with Jack guiding the clapping crowd before "The Hardest Button to Button" with instructions of “A little slower, like this…boom, boom, boom”, and asking them during "Red Rain", “Hey, you don’t mind if I play a little bit longer in this encore, do you? I got nowhere to go!”.  "Seven Nation Army" features an adlib of “I’m going to Saginaw!”, and during "Boll Weevil" he gets everyone to join in by saying “I want everybody in this room, from the back of the balcony to the right in front of me...brother, sister, coworker, former grade school classmate....I mean, I expect all of you to sing, because I know half of you!”, before closing the show with a farewell of “See you tomorrow!”.