One of the best live shows I've seen was the Old 97s at the Gypsy Tea Room in Dallas. This was right before the 2001 release of Satellite Rides, and the band seemed happy to be performing new material like "Rollerskate Skinny" and "Book of Poems". Plus, they were playing a run of hometown shows after a long absence, so the crowd was excited to have their local heroes back for a few nights. Packed into the Tea Room shoulder to shoulder, fans sang along with every word of "Busted Afternoon" and "Big Brown Eyes", and at least attempted singing along to "Doreen". They fed off the band's excitement, and in turn the Old 97s fed off the crowd's rambunctious energy. Ken Bethea deployed his perfectly compact solos, Rhett Miller did some of those mini-Pete Townsend windmills on his guitar, and Murry Hammond stepped up for awkwardly graceful versions of "West Texas Teardrops" and "Valentine".