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Plays: 0[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
The Features
“Circus”
Live @ Cannery Ballroom
January 13th, 2007Yeah, there’s a minute of crowd-noise before “Circus” starts rocking your eardrums. Whatever, it accurately recreates the anticipation you feel before a Features show! This is an experience, okay? Yeah!
A VERSION APPEARS ON:
Exhibit A, album release (2004) -
Plays: 10[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
The Features
“Circus”
Live @ Tucker Theater
January 20th, 2006A VERSION APPEARS ON:
Exhibit A, album release (2004) -
Plays: 10[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
The Features
“Circus”
Live
September 18th, 1999A little rough quality-wise, but hey, it was 1999. Still interesting to note how long “Circus” has been around and not been changed. Don’t mess with perfection.
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Plays: 80[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
The Features
“Circus”
Live @ Bingham’s
February 1st, 2003
A VERSION APPEARS ON:
Exhibit A, album release (2004)
OTHER VERSIONS:
Rawlings Sessions (1999)
Live @ 12th & Porter (August 24th, 2002)
Live @ The Red Rose (February 28th, 2003) -
Plays: 50[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
The Features
“Circus”
Rawlings Sessions (1999)
Brian Snyder had this to say on the Features message board about this recording:“As to the Circus demo, I’m almost positive it was a Rawlings session recording, because I remember everyone being amused because Rollum absolutely insisted on beating on a cookie sheet on the recordings’ percussion. They weren’t really sessions per se. It was just a little thing at this guys’ house with a microphone hanging from a hole in the ceiling. Above the room with the mike, the Rawlings guy had a little attic room with a soundboard. That was the entire setup. It was mostly a handful of people sitting on a couch in the next room drinking beers, while one of the Features would be in the front room laying down a track.”
The other notable thing about this recording is that it was the only song from the Rawlings sessions to be released in any way. The song was given out at concerts in 2001 on a CD-R. The Mahaffey produced “33 1/3” also got this treatment at the same time.
A VERSION APPEARS ON:
Exhibit A, album release (2004)
OTHER VERSIONS:
Live @ 12th & Porter (August 24th, 2002)
Live @ The Red Rose (February 28th, 2003) -
Plays: 7[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
The Features
“Circus”
Live @ 12th & Porter
August 24th, 2002
This fine version is notable because you can actually hear Roger’s backing vocal on the chorus. “Circus” was first wrote about on July 8th.
A VERSION APPEARS ON:
Exhibit A, album release (2004)
OTHER VERSIONS:
Live @ The Red Rose (February 28th, 2003) -
Plays: 23[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
The Features
“Circus”
Live @ The Red Rose
February 28th, 2003
Like a devilish wind-up toy, once this song gets going it spins, whirls, bounces and mesmerizes for the entirety of its duration. The opening tightly churning guitar is usually how the band opens shows. It’s an odd noise that gives way to the loud rush of the Features’ sound as it speeds ahead into the listener’s brain. The song is a great riff on the classic Pixies’ LOUDquietLOUD routine, just done with more jazzy verses and sinister choruses. The guitar solo is a joy to behold live, since it usually forces Matt to his knees as he summons all his guitar-playing might to produce the caterwauling solo. This song is a sonic battle cry, or a rallying cry. It captivates and demonstrates everything the Features are to an unsuspecting audience, and prepares them for what is to come. “Circus” is one of the quintessential Features songs.
And for a while, it was one of the lost Features songs.
“Circus” was demoed with Brent Rawlings during the Rawlings Sessions of 1999 and was played somewhat regularly when Rollum joined the band that year. The song seems to have disappeared for the most part until it was resurrected in December 2001. It was then that the song started climbing its way back into regular rotation and it would eventually go on to become one of the most played Features songs. According to my database, it was played at every show from November 15th, 2002 to April 9th, 2004, a (probably) record 37 times in a row. “Circus” is still played today, usually as the opener.
The lyrics to the second verse of “Circus” were also a debated topic on the old message board. No one can figure out what Matt’s saying at the end of the verse, but “hot tub lid” and “hand job clear” are good candidates.
A VERSION APPEARS ON:
Exhibit A, album release (2004)
THE MUSIC OF THE FEATURES
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Send song requests
The Features are a Nashville, Tennessee based rock band. The purpose of this Tumblr is to provide a comprehensive and interactive database
of the Features' music. The blog is named after the Features song "The Damage Is Done."
If you would like any of the unreleased songs featured on this site, you can download them yourself or email me for copies. I am not able to send every Features song I own in one go, mainly because I don't have a way of hosting all the files, and I also gotta keep some song tricks up my blog sleeve. Specific song requests are the easiest ones to fulfill. It might take a little while to respond but I will try my best. I will not send songs that have been officially released in any capacity, so buy their albums.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
BRETT WHITE is a New York City-based comedian who has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman and written for Wizard Magazine. He is currently a writer on the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch team Thunder Gulch. He performs improv comedy with the groups Iron Ruckus and Daddy. He is also the author of the web comic Tales To Diminish and contributes to the nerd-humor site Topless Robot.
His obsession with the Features began when he first saw them on October 18th, 2001. His college years were spent posting on the Features message board under the name DigsySlattery. He has seen the Features over 50 times in concert and never makes a mix CD without including at least one Features song.
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