On Saturday, Mike Doughty started things off at the The Triple Door on a light note, complimenting the crowd for looking fantastic and jumping into the second track from 2005's Haughty Melodic, "Unsignable Name". Unlike previous performances from the singer-songwriter, there was no backing band this time around. No "Scrap" Livingston on the bass, or John Kirby on the Keyboards. No this time there was only an acoustic guitar, a wooden bar stool, and a sold out crowd listening intently to every syllable. You could even say it was very "VH1 storytellers" if you wanted to acknowledge your age.

The setlist for the night focused mostly on music from 2004's skittish/rockity roll and the aforementioned Haughty Melodic. Songs that were written in solitary with the confessional sensibility of a daily journal ("Sunkeyed Girl", "Madeline" and the ever so popular "Gray Ghost"). Before most of these songs, and sometimes during them, Doughty would tell a humorous story explaining the inspiration that lead to the song in question. Tales of failure with OKCupid and SNL skits about Adele songs kept the mood light the laughs coming.

After 3 or 4 songs, Doughty would put down the guitar and pick up his memoir The Book of Drugs. He would then read a segment to the crowd that detailed everything from this breakup with Soul Coughing to hitting rock bottom with his heroin addiction  The music might have been the reason people came to the show, but the candid look into his personal life was worth the price of admission. One of the best stories of night involved being dog piled by a group of 15 year old DMB fans while rolling on ecstasy at Madison Square Garden.

Sprinkled within these readings were clues into the break-up of Soul Coughing. I won't go into detail but most of these stories included cocky drummers, uncooperative bass players and being bullied into splitting credit for all the song he wrote. Because of this, Doughty explained that he can not longer listen to any his older material. At one point he even compared listening to Soul Coughing records to listening to Nickleback (ouch). Whether or not this criticism is justified is beside the point. If he didn't hit rock bottom, he wouldn't be the man he is today, and that's something I think he can live with.

When the concert came to the a conclusion, Doughty made one last unconventional statement on a night full of them. Instead of leaving the stage for the encore, Doughty just turned his back to the crowd while the lights dimmed for a few seconds. He then turned back around to complete the show with the crowd favorite "27 Jennifers". It was the perfect example of a song he wouldn't have written if he was still unhappy touring with a bunch of musicians he didn't like doped out on heroin.