December 14 2006: The Hold Steady, Catfish Haven, the Scientific Maps - Valentine's Upstairs, Albany NY
My ears hurt.
In related news, I was feeling like I probably ought to be as excessive as possible in the live music/travel/alcohol department while I still can, what with school scheduled to start in less than three weeks. And I'd never been to Albany, and I'd never seen the Hold Steady, and I didn't have anything I had to do, and I had a car with a sleeping bag in the trunk and a few spare bucks, so I went for it.
Albany's an interesting town. I wouldn't necessarily call it a shit town, but it comes close. Same goes for the bar. But I had a feeling that such circumstances might lend themselves to a real good time.
Which they did. The Hold Steady started with "Stuck Between Stations," and halfway through not only were my feet leaving the floor but I just couldn't stand to not be getting as much decibel level as possible. So I took out the earplugs. By the fifth song ("Party Pit") I had to put them back in. But by "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" (tenth) they were out again. Back in by the twelfth ("Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night"), and out for good at the start of the encore ("First Night"). Somewhere in there Tad sat down on the side of the stage during a guitar lull to pull off a bottle of Jim Beam. Then he passed it to the girl on my right. She passed it to me. It was that kind of night.
Highlights were probably "The Swish" (played second) and "Killer Parties," which was the last song, and during which Tad holds his hand out to me like he wants to shake hands. So I put my hand out but instead of shaking he pulls me up on the stage, then pulls up pretty much everybody else in his immediate vicinity, and soon the whole stage is covered by fifteen people jumping the hell around. Craig climbed up on the kick drum and held onto the ceiling while singing the last verse, having given his guitar to one of the people on stage.
And then the show was over and I went to the car to eat a sandwich and sleep shit off and count the minutes until the next night.
In related news, I was feeling like I probably ought to be as excessive as possible in the live music/travel/alcohol department while I still can, what with school scheduled to start in less than three weeks. And I'd never been to Albany, and I'd never seen the Hold Steady, and I didn't have anything I had to do, and I had a car with a sleeping bag in the trunk and a few spare bucks, so I went for it.
Albany's an interesting town. I wouldn't necessarily call it a shit town, but it comes close. Same goes for the bar. But I had a feeling that such circumstances might lend themselves to a real good time.
Which they did. The Hold Steady started with "Stuck Between Stations," and halfway through not only were my feet leaving the floor but I just couldn't stand to not be getting as much decibel level as possible. So I took out the earplugs. By the fifth song ("Party Pit") I had to put them back in. But by "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" (tenth) they were out again. Back in by the twelfth ("Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night"), and out for good at the start of the encore ("First Night"). Somewhere in there Tad sat down on the side of the stage during a guitar lull to pull off a bottle of Jim Beam. Then he passed it to the girl on my right. She passed it to me. It was that kind of night.
Highlights were probably "The Swish" (played second) and "Killer Parties," which was the last song, and during which Tad holds his hand out to me like he wants to shake hands. So I put my hand out but instead of shaking he pulls me up on the stage, then pulls up pretty much everybody else in his immediate vicinity, and soon the whole stage is covered by fifteen people jumping the hell around. Craig climbed up on the kick drum and held onto the ceiling while singing the last verse, having given his guitar to one of the people on stage.
And then the show was over and I went to the car to eat a sandwich and sleep shit off and count the minutes until the next night.
posted by Peter Sohriakoff | 11:00 AM
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