I didn't attend the 7:30 show, but they let us in and sat us for the 10:00 show
at like 9:35.  We went to the merchandise table and while we were in
line, a group of decked out fans started talking to the guy running the
booth.  Apparently the members of this group were close personal friends
of the band.  The booth guy was suprised to see them.  He said they had
about 150 people fly in from Texas, but they only got to give out 15
tickets for each show.  So a bunch of the bands buddies got turned
away.  Sad but true.  The first thing I noticed on stage was Jimbo's
flaming bass.  It was resurrected from the dead!  It was damaged a while
back when he didn't catch it after throwing it into the air.  You could
see the scars and battle wounds on it.  Anyway, the opening band, The
Sugardadies, hit the stage at about 10:10PM.  They were cool except for
they ripped off the patented "reverend standing on jimbo's bass" thing.
Oh well.  The Rev hit the stage at about 11:30.  This dude who looked
like Spike Lee introduced them.  You could tell they were pumped and
having a good time.  They played all new songs, the best of which is
titled, "The Jimbo Song."  Think of that song "Bingo" and add the
psychobilly edge and a chorus that goes, "J-I-M-B-O."  It was funny as
hell to see Jimbo spelling out his own name on his own song.  My guess
for the title of another song is "The Tunnel of Love," mainly because of
the fact that the chorus contains the lyrics, "this ain't the tunnel of
love."  The new album is going to be released March 24th 1998.... that's
straight from the Reverend's mouth.  Anyway, at around two minutes till
midnight, the Rev goes, "well, we have about 8 minutes left!" and Jimbo
and the roadie (he's new, not the same they've had before) yelled "we
only have a minute left!"  So the roadie gave the Rev his pager and the
Rev goes (paraphrasing), "we've got a f**king pager up here.  you don't
have one of those real watch things?"  Anyway, the countdown commenced,
and the Rev took on the role of Dick Clark.  After the stroke of
midnight, everyone kissed and threw confetti and all that crap.  The Rev
said, "Ok, we can't smoke any more, the law just went into effect."
(There's a new law in California where you can't smoke at bars or clubs
or anything.)  A bunch of cigarettes were flung on stage and everyone
lit up, including the Reverend.  In case you didn't know, the Rev quit
smoking a while back after losing a loved one to a cigarette related
death.  Anyway, he took a few drags, then made this ugly face and began
to sarcastically choke and hack.  What a great actor he is.  Right after
that, the band played "Auld Lang Syne," you know, that song that
everyone sings at New Years.  After the song everyone cheered, but the
Rev goes, "WAIT! There's one more verse and it's about me!"  So he
commences with the same song but his own lyrics, which were something
like this:  "Now it's against the law to smoke in bars, so be like me,
and smoke a joint in your car."  Then, appropriately, they played "It's
Martini Time."  Then they continued to play old stuff with a few new
songs thrown in here and there.  After jamming a while,  they stopped to
give their New Years Resolutions.  Jimbo's was "to get the charge
changed from voluntary manslaughter to involuntary manslaughter."
Scott's was "to work on his tan."  And the Reverend had many.  The
usual, loose a few pounds, etc., then a couple weird ones.  "I've always
wanted to rule the world, now I'm really gonna do it.  But I will be a
benevolent dictator."  And then, "I want to be cast as the next hunk on
Baywatch."  Then he flexed for us all.  Then they closed with
"Psychobilly Freakout."  They came out for an encore, played a few
songs, and closed with "That's Showbiz."  'Twas a great show.  Another
interesting note: it appeared that the Rev was wearing a wedding ring!
Perhaps he has tied the knot!