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We all know the guys in Jars of Clay can be pretty intense sometimes, but they also have great senses of humor. And ... unfortunatley we can't ALL be at ALL the shows, so your fellow fans have been sharing some of the witticisms and jocularity they've witnessed for themselves. We hope you like reading their accounts and that you will consider submitting some stories of your own.
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(Many thanks to Marlo Holguin for helping with the research for this page!)



At the Rockford Concert on 11/28 [2003], they talked about turning 10. Dan said when you turn 10, you get legos and star wars figurines. Steve said in music, aging is in dog years, so they are 70. When you turn 70, you get stuff like adult diapers. Steve said that he is probably the first person to say "adult diapers" on the altar of this church. Dan said they should put a plaque up saying so, maybe in the bathrooms, but it isn't needed in there. They also talked about how "Goodbye, Goodnight" is dedicated to those who stocked up on ammunition and pork and beans before the year 2000.
Kristina
(From the Friday, November 14th [2003] show in Irvine, CA) Dan was sharing with the crowd about Jars of Clay celebrating their 10-year anniversary this month (November, 2003)...just as Dan was engaging the crowd with stories about the journey the band has been on these past years, Steve stole everyone's attention when he began to frantically pound on his microphone (in order to lower it), to which Dan then continued, "...for some of us, it has made us more violent..." ---Maria
Friday, Febuary 28, 2003 (Anderson, IN)
The show was absolutely marvelous, just marvelous... Dan first came out with a great opening... "Mr. Rogers Neighboorhood" which was in fact a great recognition to the late Fred Rogers... and as Dan was singing Steve came out and started strumming on his guitar... and as the two were creating beautiful sounds Matt comes out... sits... takes one shoe off, puts on a slipper... takes another shoe off, puts on the other slipper... and ends the song with his part of the guitar! IT WAS GREAT! And it was so funny seeing Matt's expressions as he did "his thing."

Then as Dan was talking to us about the new CD they are going to come out with he explained how they were like rabbits... they just keep shooting off CD after CD... then he was joking around that Furthermore was made just so that everyone would hate their remixes... when the crowd went silent for a minute... he said... "OOOOKAYYY! JOKING" so Dan goes on to telling us about this new song that is going to be on the CD and says he'll let us hear it...

Dan: You ready guys?
Matt, Steve, Charlie: UH-HUH!>br> Dan: Okay... start us off Matt!
Matt: (plays the wrong chord) oh sorry about that...
Dan: Let's try that again!
Matt: (plays the wrong chord again) i'm really sorry... let's try this again
Dan: Okay... now let's do this... or do we know the song?
Crowd: laughing and applauding Matt's job done well.
Matt: (finally gets the right chord) ah! I GOT IT!

The show was halarious... one of the best event I've been to! -- Tasha B.
About the "since 1974!" thing... that was a joke from the concert... Dan had kept on saying that songs were written from arbitrary dates... (Boy on a string in '76, I think), and the earliest one I remembered was "World's Apart" was supposedly written in 1974 to "commemorate Steve's birth." Of course, Steve then piped in that it was a year before his birth, to which Dan replied they were expecting his coming... --Gregory
I remember going to the 3 O'Clock Parade tour in Chicago (11/9/2000). Steve was doing the band member intros. When it was time for Aaron Sands' intro, he said something like, "from Bloomington, IL.....which is as close to Normal as you're gonna get." Now for those who aren't familiar to the midwest, Normal is the city next to Bloomington. It sounds lame on paper.....I think you just had to be there because everyone got a pretty good chuckle out of it. --Geeves
I remember at the November [2002] show in Hattiesburg, MS that in the middle of "girls just wanna have fun" that Dan says, "You know you may have to ... mow the lawn, .... or wax the car, or...... paint the fence, or..... sand the deck, or....clip the small bonsai trees, or........shave the chickens." --Wes
In Atlanta on March 7, 2003, at one point the lights went out, and Steve (or at least I think it was Steve) said, "Everybody say boo." And everyone said "boo" and then someone else (I think Dan) said (not word for word, but something like this) "This is scary for two reasons, first that sounded scary, and second we just got a crowd to boo us on stage. That wouldn't be the first time" --Catherine
APRIL 2003 (Ichthus Festival)
They did play Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and the J-lo song at the end of Blind which kinda threw me off (funny, funny!). Steve toilet papered himself after someone threw a roll on stage but then said "I can't play like this!" and put the TP on his guitar and mic stand. --Rue
APRIL 2003
Judy and I were seated on the couch behind Charlie (there was another couch of four folks on the other side of the stage), and he would periodically turn around to "check up" on us. At one point, I was sitting back with my legs all stretched out in front of me, and Charlie jokingly asked if I'd like a footstool. Then he suggested that maybe I'd also like a backrub. Hee hee! --Lynn
APRIL 2003
At one point early on, some guy yelled something and everyone (including the guys) looked around like, "What?" Dan said, "Wipeout?" So Steve, Matt and Aaron fooled around with "Wipeout" and Joe did a little of the drum solo. Everybody cheered.

They also pointed out a guy who had helped out with the concert, who was wearing a yellow vest. Steve said something about the guy having a sleeveless vest, and the band gave him [grief] because all vests are sleeveless. :)

Steve and [Cliff] from CC were singing goofy (think something along the lines of the "quartet" on "Goodbye Goodnight"). They were cracking up. It was great. One time during the show a member of CC dressed up as a nerd or something (those plastic buck teeth, black glasses with really thick lenses, and a cropped little t-shirt). He came out in the Jars set to hand Steve a guitar, and you could tell none of the guys knew this was going to happen. Steve and Joe were laughing so hard. At the end when the bands were together, the "nerd" guy came out and played his little piece. It was great! --Melissa
APRIL 1, 2003
Then was Goodbye, Goodnight. They said they wrote it when they were storing up beans and our computers were going to kill us (Y2K) and made reference to the Titanic.

While Dan had people picking out of the hat, Steve joked that Matt was running for governor of Texas on two platforms: demolishing the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport and air conditioning the whole state.

They talked even more than on most shows it seemed. They even kept joking about that. They kept saying how they'd been a band for 30-some years and that this was their Farewell Tour. Then, when they came back on for the encore, they said it was an April Fool's joke. --Steve
MARCH 2003
They really got into the concert and they were so funny! Things like Dan saying "The hat is our master." and someone saying something that sounded like "Wipeout" and then them busting out into PLAYING "Wipeout" even with the cackle done by Dan "Ha HAHAHAHHH wipeout!" Bunch of wackos! :)--KJM
MARCH 2003 (Houston, TX)
They referred to this as "Caedmons Call Country," and proposed that one of them was going to run for Texas governor so they could air condition the state of Texas...enough that Texans could cross country ski in July.

They also played "Liquid" (the Furthermore version), and commented on how it's the artists' way to record a song, then go and screw it up and make a remix. "Most people hate remixes, but really, we dont want y'all to hate it," explained Dan.--Brandon
MARCH 2003
During Caedmon’s Call’s set they asked for a Coke to be brought out for a birthday boy. They had heard how rare Cokes are on this campus- just a few months ago they switched to Pepsi here, to the despair of the Coke-faithful. “We’re dedicating this entire concert to Coca-Cola Classic.” They asked if we knew that Jars had done a Coke commercial. The people around me were clueless. I told them that it was in fact true. Oh yeah, the band just rocked... they are quite talented =+) After they played “Like a Child” and “I Need You” a few of us in the audience shouted for the Coke commercial. They said they were aware of the Coke problem, and then wondered aloud if they even knew the commercial anymore. Steve said he was 14 when they recorded that, but while they were insisting they couldn’t remember it Steve and Matt were messing around on their guitars. I noticed that it did sound similar, and Dan tentatively started singing. I shouted out a word or two to try to help out. They got far less than all of it, but it was awesome to hear them remember the bits and pieces. Steve sang some harmony; they had most of the guitar parts figured out, and Dan had scraps of lyrics. I loved it. --Schenley
March 2003
Quotes of the show:
"Less talk, more rock"-consistently phrased in the show. however not followed :D
"After 30 years of making music"--also said throughout the show. excuses, excuses:D
"We're from Nashville and we're embarrassed about the Dixie Chicks"-Dan
"I heard that if you put the cd in the turkey, it comes out nice and juicy"
"MMM..gravy"-Dan
Steve:"You don't know it, but there are other people here that we talk to that you can't see"
Dan:(stares up) "Hello!?"
--Jacky
MARCH 2003
The guy who got up on stage was building on the entire "strength" thing. It all started when Steve picked up the box of Band-Aids and said, "Look what Cliff brought out. You know why he brought these Band-Aids out? Because we're CUT! You know, like using tape cause we're ripped? Matt has this thing that he's always doing, like all the time, backstage, and... Matt do that thing... tell them the joke..."
Matt: "Huh?"
Steve: "You aren't paying attention to me."
So he goes (motions with left arm), "This is thunder." (motions with right arm) "This is lightning." (does a little flex kinda thing) "Don't get caught in the storm."

Then the dude from the crowd said [something] and Dan called him up on stage. (You really had to see him doing the motions to get the entire humor of it, but I'll explain as best I can.)
"Have you seen my beach ball?" (flexing with both arms above head) "It's about THIS big." (uses one arm and points while flexing) "I think I saw it over THERE." (turns hand towards head and scratches while still making muscle) "Hmmm..." (using other arm to flex now) "But maybe it's over there." (pulling one arm under to flex and looking at wrist) "Look at the time." (bending down and flexing with both arms) "Oh, my shoe is untied!"
--Aaron
MARCH 2003
I saw them in Monroe, La, and they were hilarious. I think one of the funniest things they said was, "Let's see if ya'll remember this song ---- let's see if WE remember this song!" It was hilarious.

Dan said, "Please have your pets spayed or neutered." --Karla
MARCH 2003
As far as the fans sitting on the couch...I don't know if this is correct or not, but Dan said, "We went out back and found the biggest John Goodman fans we could." That's what he said in Atlanta. --Catherine
FEBRUARY 2003 (Chili's - Knoxville, TN)
Steve also went on a tangent about Elton John's song about Tony Danza instead of Tiny Dancer. The whole band got in on it and all I could do was sit there and shake my head. Again, Steve really is as crazy as everyone thinks. I asked Charlie if he ever got tired of him and he said, "No. I just block him out." --Rue
FEBRUARY 2003
At a concert in Bristol in 98 (Bubblemaker's Dream Tour), Dan went on a kick about the "Bristol Chicken" (don't ask me!) and then said, "Speaking of chickens," and led into "Five Candles." Don't know where that one came from! --Rue
NOVEMBER 2002
At that time Steve came up with his acoustic guitar. He explained the lights that stay in front of them and shine brightly on them. He said that they call them the "Waaahaaaahaaahaaa Lights." He said, "Let me show you." They turned off the light, but a purple spotlight still shined on him. He told the guy at the light, " um… shhhh. Yeah! You….. no, you…..yeah……shhhhhhh." Then Dan said, " Steve, you're shushing the light!" At that time the spotlight went off, then the wahaha light came on and Steve said, "Waaaahahahaha." --Wes
MARCH 2002
The Widowing Field's intro was funny because Dan was talking about how they wrote a song for the movie about Vietnam.
Dan: Yeah, it's this movie with this really hot guy in it.
Steve: HE'S SO DREAMY!
Dan: Yeah, that Mel Gibson!

Steve realized that there was a balcony and said, "HEY! There's people in a box up there!" --Morgan
DECEMBER 2000 (Urbana, IL)
[Below are a couple excerpts from the Urbana review, but be sure to read the entire review; it's practically ALL "Band Banter!"]

The inevitable request of "Freebird" followed, to which Dan said he had just purchased Lynrd Skynrd's Greatest Hits. Dan jokingly said he was going to go out to the tour bus and play all 12-minutes of the song and force us to listen to it if we kept requesting "Freebird"! ... As "Art in Me" ended, the crowd cheered and "Freebird" faded in over the sound system! Dan had made good on his threat. Apparently, somebody ran out to the tour bus and got his Lynrd Skynrd CD for him. Fortunately, only the very beginning of the song played before the soundman faded it out. Matt commented, "that's probably the first time that's ever happened in a church before."

Steve took a turn at storytelling, talking about a show they played for Vibe magazine in Los Angeles. They were able to get on the set of The Price Is Right (apparently they're big fans of the show) and they all spun the big wheel. Dan then told a drawn-out story about how someone they met in Decorah, Iowa who actually won the showcase showdown. Dan's story kind of bombed, but then self-deprecation is one of the Jars favorite brands of humor so they didn't really mind. --Chris
OCTOBER 2000
Matt: I'm doing good, I'm Matt (we shake hands), what's your name?
Me: Isaac, although you could have assumed I knew your name already.
Matt: Well, maybe not.
Steve: Yeah, he's actually Freddie Mercury. --Zak
SEPTEMBER 2000
But after Collide, they started the same ol' "We need your help" with the clapping over the head, and Steve and Dan started cracking jokes about how it takes a couple hours to get warmed up, but they were thinking that, for such an incredible crowd, we would only need to do it 'till midnight. --Morgan
MARCH 2000
Dan mentioned that Cher had performed on the same stage in Champaign a couple months ago, and then he proceeded to sing a couple of lines of falsetto of "Believe;" it was hilarious. Steve promised that they wouldn't do as many costume-changes as Cher in their show, and Dan said, "Yeah, because this is all we've got."

Aaron was wearing his FBI shirt again, so Steve said that Aaron was a former employee of the FBI and still a big supporter, and he also said "don't feed the bass player." --Chris
[There is] a part on the "Jars Interactive" CD-rom, during the radio station interview . . . one of the callers is a home schooler, and the DJ asks him what his mom does for PE, and the young man answers that they play basketball. Dan asks him if his mother beats him--at basketball, that is--and then one of the other Jars (probably Steve) pipes in and asks if his mother beats him with a stick! --Lynn

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