Wormwood Live

Wormwood Live is a tour by The Residents, based on their 1998 concept album of the same name. It began life as a follow up to the Disfigured Night show of 1997, but evolved into a full touring show. The show featured dramatic retellings of gruesome biblical era stories.
== History ==
In 1997, The Residents played at The Fillmore on Halloween. The concert was hugely successful, and so, the manager asked the group to play again, next Halloween. Between then and the show, The Residents had recorded and released the perfect album for this, Wormwood. Wormwood featured brutally honest retellings of biblical stories, and was more than perfect for a live show.
For this show The Residents sought the help of players on the album, Carla Fabrizio, Molly Harvey, Nolan Cook and Toby Dammit, to play on the tour. These would become the regular players with the group until the 2005 Way We Were tour. 
The show was more of a spectacle than the group's previous shows, with large cardboard props, a full band, and the Gamelan Sekar Jaya during the second act was well as an extensive encore of classic 1974 - 1980 songs. The show was another huge success, causing the group to begin planning of a touring adaptation of the show. 
Five months later the touring show was ready to go, starting in The Copley Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. The US tour ran throughout April, and concluded at The Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana, California. The first Copley Theatre show opened with a seven minute instrumental overture titled "Nober", however, the audience's lack of reaction caused the track to be pulled from the set list from the remainder of the tour. 
During the American tour the group experimented with live broadcasting their concerts, and as such, the April 25th show at the House of Blues in Chicago was broadcast live on the internet.
The European tour began in June, with each show recorded being by The Residents. On the third stop of the European leg, at the Lycabettus Theater in Athens, Greece, guitarist Nolan Cook was hit in the head by a rock thrown by a member of the audience near the end of the show."It is true that Nolan got hit in the head with a rock but it was not at the Mylos Club in Thessaloniki, it was in Athens at the Lycabettus open air theatre on June 16, 1999." Christopher Kellas, comment in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, June 15th 2024 Cook was injured and forced to leave the stage; his life was likely saved by the eyeball mask he was wearing."They’re built on these sort of welder’s helmet frames. Best thing those things have been invented for!" Homer Flynn, quoted by Jeff Economy in a comment in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, May 18th 2018 Often thought to have been an act of religious protest against the show's concept, Homer Flynn of The Cryptic Corporation later explained that the thrown rock was more likely a result of anti-American sentiment in the region at the time."There was a conflict between the Bosnian Serbs but I think it was more of an anti-American thing than an anti-Residents thing. The Resident reached inside and felt all this blood and thought a light had fallen on him or something." Homer Flynn, quoted by Jeff Economy in a comment in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, May 18th 2018 
The Residents wanted to preserve the sound of the tour in a way other than just through live recordings, and so, in July, they visited Haus Des Rundfunks on July 13th to record studio versions of the live arrangements. However, by the time the group left Germany, they did not have enough material recorded to make up an album, and had to return in February and March 2000 to finish it. 
The July 19th show at Museumsmeile in Bonn, Germany was filmed and released on DVD in 2005 as The Residents Play Wormwood. Later in the year, a compilation of recordings from across the European tour was released by Ralph America as Wormwood Live 1999.
== Set list ==
=== 1999 tour ===
*Nober (Performed once on April 1st 1999)
*In the Beginning
*Welcome to Wormwood (God's Business) 
*How to Get a Head
*Mr. Misery
*Tent Peg in the Temple
*God's Magic Finger
*Dinah and the Unclean Skin
*Cain and Abel
*Burn Baby Burn
*Fire Fall
*King of Kings
*Skull Prayer (Un-American Band)
*Abraham
*Kill Him
*Bridegroom of Blood
*David's Dick
*Bathsheba Bathes
*Attitude Is Everything
*Hanging By His Hair
*Judas Saves
*King of Kings
*Jesus Loves Me
*Revellation
*Old Time Religion
*Epilogue
*Jesus Loves Me (Exit Music)
=== 1998 performances ===
*In the Beginning
*Kill Him 
*How to Get a Head
*Mr. Misery
*Tent Peg in the Temple
*God's Magic Finger
*Dinah and the Unclean Skin
*Cain and Abel
*Burn Baby Burn
*Fire Fall
*The Seven Ugly Crows
*Melancholy Lumps
*Bethesda Bathes
*Bridegroom of Blood
*They Are The Meat
*I Hate Heaven
*Judas Saves
*Revelation
*Jesus Loves Me
*Smelly Tongues
*Moisture
*Picnic Boy
*Walter Westinghouse
== Dates ==
=== Fillmore '98 (October 1998) ===
* October 25th 1998 - The Fillmore, San Francisco, California
* October 26th 1998 - The Fillmore, San Francisco, California
* October 27th 1998 - The Fillmore, San Francisco, California
* October 28th 1998 - The Fillmore, San Francisco, California
* October 29th 1998 - The Fillmore, San Francisco, California
* October 30th 1998 - The Fillmore, San Francisco, California
* October 31st 1998 - The Fillmore, San Francisco, California
=== First leg (US, April 1999) ===
* April 1st 1999 - Copley Theater, Boston, Massachusetts
* April 2nd 1999 - Copley Theater, Boston, Massachusetts
* April 3rd 1999 - Copley Theater, Boston, Massachusetts
* April 4th 1999 - Pearl Street, Northampton, Massachusetts
* April 5th 1999 - Irving Plaza, New York City, New York
* April 6th 1999 - Irving Plaza, New York City, New York
* April 7th 1999 - Irving Plaza, New York City, New York
* April 9th 1999 - 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C.
* April 12th 1999 - 1st Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota
* April 13th 1999 - House of Blues, Chicago, Illinois
*April 14th 1999 - House of Blues, Chicago, Illinois
* April 17th 1999 - La Luna, Portland, Oregon
* April 18th 1999 - Showbox, Seattle, Washington
* April 22nd 1999 - House of Blues, Las Vegas, Nevada
* April 23rd 1999 - House of Blues, West Hollywood, California
*April 24th 1999 - House of Blues, West Hollywood, California
* April 25th 1999 - House of Blues, West Hollywood, California
* April 27th 1999 - Galaxy Concert Theatre, Santa Ana, California
=== Second leg (Europe, June-July 1999) ===
* June 13th 1999 - Kampnagel K6, Hamburg, Germany
* June 15th 1999 - Mylos Club, Thessaloniki, Greece
* June 16th 1999 - Lycabettus Theater, Athens, Greece
* June 18th 1999 - Stadsschouwburg, Amsterdam, Netherlands
* June 19th 1999 - Archa Theater, Prague, Czech Republic
* June 20th 1999 - Archa Theater, Prague, Czech Republic
* June 21st 1999 - Archa Theater, Prague, Czech Republic
* June 24th 1999 - Elysée Montmartre, Paris, France
* June 25th 1999 - Kulturwerkstatt Kaserne, Basel, Switzerland
* June 26th 1999 - La Feta Du Transbordeur, Lyon, France
* June 29th 1999 - Tivoli Theatre, Barcelona, Spain
* July 1st 1999 - Arezzo Wave Festival, Arezzo, Italy
* July 3rd 1999 - Green Stage, Roskilde, Denmark
* July 6th 1999 - Muffathalle, Munich, Germany
* July 8th 1999 - Volkspark, Mainz, Germany
* July 10th 1999 - Musiktheater Bad, Hannover, Germany
* July 11th 1999 - Dour Festival, Dour, Belgium
* July 13th 1999 - Sendesaal, Berlin, Germany
* July 16th 1999 - Museumsmeile, Bonn, Germany
* July 17th 1999 - Theatervorplatz, Jena, Germany
* July 19th 1999 - Forum, London, England
=== Cancelled dates ===
*April 20th 1999 - Zellerbach Auditorium, UC Berkeley, Californiahttps://web.archive.org/web/19990218144209/http://www.residents.com:80/https://web.archive.org/web/19990420135436/http://www.residents.com:80/
*April 21st 1999 - The Crest Theatre, Sacramento, California
== Related releases ==
* Wormwood At The Fillmore [Oct 31 1998]
** Disc 4 -5 of Wormwood Box
* The Residents Play Wormwood [July 16 1999]
* Wormwood Live 1999 [June 13 - July 19 1999]
== See also ==
* Wormwood
* Disfigured Night
== External links and references ==
Category:Wormwood
Category:Roadworms
Category:1998
Category:1999
Category:Live tours