A huge part of the attraction to Eric's Trip, for me and for many other fans, was the willingness of Rick, Julie and Chris to be so open with their feelings through their incredibly personal lyrics. It was fascinating, in the case of Rick and Julie, to see a former couple dissect everything that went wrong between them over the course of several albums. An intimate musical diary of sorts, one that made you feel less a voyeur than someone realizing that no, you're not the only one who wrecks relationships and hurts good friends and feels so terribly alone.
It's pretty cool, all these years later, to watch the four of them have fun, on their own and with each other. Julie yells at Rick (in a nice way) on stage, Rick gently teases Julie about being Julie, Chris jumps all over the place like a guy half his age would.
A couple of years ago when there was (of course) a gear malfunction at the first Sappy Fest Eric's Trip show, Julie entertained the crowd by doing a couple of headstands on stage. Much different than the years when she could barely stand to face the audience.
This past Saturday night, it was sweet to see Rick give Julie a supportive squeeze as she struggled to regain her voice on stage.
