A set list

Okay – it’s now 9pm and dinner hasn’t been served outside, but the band has started and it’s even more bizarre than can be imagined – the kick off song is a Maltese, mu-zac instrumental version of “The Age of Aquarius!” hahahahahahahahah

And now it’s Maria – I just met a girl named Maria…

Maybe I’ll do a set list of the songs I recognize…next is a song I don’t recognize but it sounded like “as long as there’s the two of us...and when the world is through with us…”

And in the background between songs is the sound of the football game being broadcast from the café across the way – b/c of course they’d refuse to shut down for a special event such as this.

Okay here’s a song with lyrics…“one of us is lying,
one of us is crying
in this lonely bed
staring at the ceiling,
wishing she was somewhere else instead…”
Oh man I thought she was going to say “wishing she were dead! Hahahaha.

Now CCR!!! And I wanna know….have you ever seen the rain?
Followed, of course, by Rock around the Clock
Then Shake, rattle and roll
Instrumental of some Streisand song – SOMEWHERE…SOMEWHERE! All of me – why don’t you take all of me…
10pm and dinner still hasn’t been served!

During the set break they are playing a cd of some of their own music which includes such instrumental Beatles favorites as “Hey Jude’ and “She’s got a ticket to ride” “never my love” “lucy in the sky with diamonds” “ – I wonder if there is copyright infringement in Malta….

Now they are going again – and we hear Hava Nagila

Followed by something that I swear is a jingle for a soap commercial….or the theme for Laugh-in or something.

Oh man – and the guy plays cowbell. Now, as a socio cultural person I probably shouldn’t laugh but this guy – you’ve got to understand, he reminds me of the guy in Office Space with the stapler…and he’s the “lead” of this band. His pictures are all over the posters, posing with his sax.

Have I told you lately that I love you…
It’s started raining and they started (of course) Singing in the rain….and straight into when the saints go marching in.
And then quando quando quando…
You don’t know what it’s like – to love somebody the way I love you…
I can’t get no satisfaction…
Get back to where you once belonged….

It’s 11pm – ppl still in line for food but at least they are serving. And most ppl don’t seem to be bothered by the rain.
Honky Tonk Blues
Segue right into Pretty Woman
Hard Days Night
Ticket to ride
Jazzed up version of Oh Suzanna
Abba montage – I think they must be playing all of their songs….they even called up a special singer…

A second set break –
NY NY – dedicated to someone named “Johnny”

They finished off the night with more local stuff sung in Maltese and other hava-nagila type instrumental dance stuff. By this point the crowd is jumping! Lots of dancing. At some point during the third set the drizzle stopped. Not that it mattered because everyone danced on anyway. It was intriguing watching so many men dancing while their respective partners sat on the sidelines. The men were practically begging them to join them. They eventually did but there were two guys who probably danced a whole set by themselves before they convinced their ladies to get out there. Until the end of the night it was strictly couples dancing, or twos and threes of men dancing together. Not the groups of women you usually see huddled together at dances in the U.S. At one point I looked down at the long tables of people eating and the dancing and couldn’t help but think of Danny Devito scurrying under the tables in Romancing the Stone while Kirk Douglas and Kathleen Turner danced nearby….