Mixed Emotions Regarding Wild Flag In Northampton Today
Love that Wild Flag album. Saw the band play three times last year, and enjoyed each show quite a bit.
But: bought a copy of the Get Up 45 online and it came in the mail today. Listening to that thing makes me sad. Cause Wild Flag seems to be a Fully Functioning Rock And Roll Machine that intends to do things like play the northeast three times per year and record more records and rarely take time off, etc. Which I figure puts the odds of future one-off Sleater-Kinney (with Hazel opening, in my fantasy world) shows pretty low.
So: mixed emotions happening here in Northampton today.
Was in New York over the weekend to see some music. Friday night was at the City Winery, mostly cause Darnielle and Finn were sharing the bill. Couple of my favorite singers on the same stage is generally enough to get me out of the house.
The unannounced addition to the bill was Rosanne Cash. She opened with "Girl From the North Country" which I guess is full-enough circle for most folks. But she closed with a song I'd forgotten about, "Seven Year Ache." Today I looked it up on the wikipedia and find it hit #1 in May 1981. And was followed, after a single week at the top, by the Oak Ridge Boys' "Elvira." AKA what was probably my first favorite song. And AKA what was definitely the first song on the first album ("Fancy Free") I paid my own cash money for. Picked it up at the now-defunct Tower Records at the Beaverton Mall. 4th or 5th grade. First of much cash money to be spent at that Tower Records before figuring out that better deals were to be had across whatever street that was at the Everyday Music.
Years and years later I remember going through the 50-cent bin of used LPs at that Everyday Music and coming across a copy of "Fancy Free." Guess I didn't think it was worth that kind of money at the time. Maybe I wanted it but didn't have the balls to bring it up to the counter. Maybe I was there with a girl (doubtful but it did happen occasionally) and figured I'd do better to make haste to the Sleater-Kinney rack. Kind of wish I'd picked it up now.
Went over to Hugo's earlier tonight to watch the baseball game. I like Hugo's for baseball watching cause during baseball game hours the place is mostly just me and the bartender and a few local drunks.
But tonight: people came in around 9pm and played pool. And they put their quarters in the jukebox. And the first song they played was Climbing Up The Walls and I was 100% transported back 10 years to a time when OK Computer couldn't go a day without getting put in the CD player. To the year 2001 aka the first time I saw Radiohead play live, at the Gorge Amphitheatre out in Middle Of Nowhere WA. And as I recall after a fucking BLISTERING set they came back for an encore with Climbing Up The Walls.
I don't have conscious memory of the very first time I heard the recorded take of Climbing Up The Walls. But I sure as shit remember the first and only time I've heard it live. God damn. If there was a place and time to be, it was at the Gorge in June of 2001. And I remember it that clearly. I know the year. I know the month. I'm pretty sure it was in the latter half of the month.
Is there anything better than the Amnesiac tour at age 20? After a night of quite literally zero sleep but of many many Mirror Pond Pale Ales? And how about if they play the bulk of OK Computer? And if the 2nd encore is comprised of The Bends followed by Street Spirit? With a third encore of Motion Picture Soundtrack?
I've seen an awful lot of live music. But man, for a time and place, that Radiohead show probably can't be beat.
I sent cash in the direction of the Decemberists. Never did that before, I don't think. I know I've never bought a record. And though I've seen 'em probably 10 times or so, I think it was always for free in either record stores or at things like NXNW. Pretty sure I've never paid admission, mostly cause I've never much been into them enough to pay cash money to see them play. But they've always had a few songs that I've enjoyed.
And today I heard that new number, Down By The Water, on the radio again and man I like that song. I first heard it when Meloy was playing prior to Darnielle at CMJ a few months ago (again: free show) and was impressed with it then, and WRSI's been playing it semiregularly since then.
So today after I heard it again I figured I'd get it off the Itunes. But it was free!
So then I figured I'd go ahead and download 16 Military Wives cause I hadn't heard it in awhile and recalled it fondly. And then while I was at it I got California One, for exactly the same reasons. But those cost actual money. But, I figured, what the hell. It's about time.
So, Colin Meloy and John Moen and whatever the rest of your names are: you've got me to thank for that $1.98 minus whatever cut Itunes and then Kill Rock Stars and Hush take.
If I Were Still In High School I'd Be Calling Myself A Homophobic Slur
I'm selling a couple things on ebay. Dumb things like a couple Japanese-made Boss pedals form the 80s (that CE-2's going for $150! No shit!), like my old Whatever And Ever Amen LP (attn: investment bankers. You guys should have gotten in on the Ben Folds Five thing early, cause now it's paying off).
But even after I saw that my double-gatefold 2xLP copy of Smashing Pumpkins' last album, Machina the Machines of God, is going for outrageous prices, I didn't have the heart to sell it. When will I ever listen to that thing again?! But it's big, it's got an alternate track listing (ends with Blue Skies! has the b-side Speed Kills in there!) and I ended the auction minutes after I started it.
And then I ended the auctions for the Cherub Rock 12" single (Pissant and French Movie Theme on the b-side) and the Pisces Iscariot LP (translucent yellow vinyl!) too.
It's bad news when you go out for a nice meal with the wife but the dinner music is a couple dudes on guitar and bongos.
Even worse when they do Stairway. They must think, to themselves, Wow we're gonna blow them out of the old water with our killer acoustic/bongo rendition. And they are not entirely incorrect.
I wonder how much cash the Ticket Master makes selling email addresses to music venues. I get pretty regular emails from places all over the place. Some from places I've been to exactly once (North Star in Philadelphia, Black Cat in DC). Some from places I used to go to pretty regularly but now live far far away from (Neumo's in Seattle, Berbati's in Portland). Some from places in countries I haven't stepped foot one into in something like five years (Lee's Palace in Toronto, Bush Hall in London). Etc. Venues all over the world are, I presume, paying the Ticket Master for my email address, which the Ticket Master has cause once I bought a ticket online for a show at the Black Cat, or wherever.
Anyway: for no other reason than in 2001 I went up to the Tacoma Dome, up in beautiful/quasi-mythical Tacoma WA, cause all anybody wanted to do in 2001 as I recall was head up good old Interstate #5 to see AC/DC the T. Dome - for no other reason than I trekked up I-5 for AC/DC and made the mistake of buying that ticket online, today I am informed that should I wish to repeat that trek on July 8 I can catch the New Kids On The Block, with the Back Street Boys in the opening slot.
Rough day at work yesterday until I finally made it to the cafeteria just before 2pm. "Bizarre Love Triangle" was playing real loud on the radio and all the kitchen workers were getting down. I got the mashed potatoes and bok choy and a yogurt. Things were right in the world.
Dear Record Stores: I don't want you to go out of business so please stock the records I want to buy and then I can happily buy them from you. Everybody wins.
I bring this up because the new Hold Steady and the new Josh Ritter albums were both issued on the same day a couple weeks ago. I walked down to Turn It Up that morning but they had neither on vinyl. So I drove to Amherst the next day and tried the Newbury Comics, who were out of both CDs and had no Ritter vinyl and wanted $20 for the Hold Steady vinyl. So I went home and ordered both from Amazon and they showed up at my door two days later, $23 including shipping.
Also: you should get together with Ritter and maybe have a heart-to-heart regarding songs about mummies and murder ballads and songs in which girls repeat "black hole black hole" over and over and over again. Might be a difficult conversation but it seems like a great way to sell more records. As I say, win-win.
Listened to the baseball game on the radio the other day and they like to play a song when coming out of commercials. Somebody put "Silence Kit" into the space between the local Subaru dealership's ad and the bottom of the 5th. And here I thought the only way to hear that song was to put it on when I take a shower. If there were a hit parade for when I'm in the shower the first few songs on "Crooked Rain" would be at the top of the charts.
March 7 2009: The Lonesome Brothers - Brass Cat, Easthampton MA
Drew called and asked if I'd like to arrange to get the night off in order to play in Easthampton with the Lonesome Brothers. I thought that sounded like a pretty good idea. Nothing says good times like Brass Cat, free booze and a Lonesome Brothers show.
They played two sets but I was tired and left halfway through the second. They opened with "Fins on a Cadillac" and somewhere in there did "Galaxy." Plus a bunch of other great great tunes. Looking forward to seeing them again.
March 9 2009: Lucinda Williams, Buick 6 - Calvin Theatre, Northampton MA
Me and Caitlin got fourth row seats the day before and went to see one of our collectively favorite musicians play.
The openers were fucking horrendous, though the crowd was pretty into them. Imagine all the worst parts of Pink Floyd, whoever your least-favorite band is, and a jackhammer. Now combine all three. That's them. Spot on, talented musicians playing instrumental music to kill yourself to. Fucking awful.
Fortunately the openers pulled it together long enough to be Lucinda's backing band, and to do it quite well. She opened with some old tunes I didn't know, and closed with pretty much the same string of songs she closed with when I saw her in September, and it was great. "I Lost It" and "Metal Firecracker" were both highlights. The new stuff was great, especially "Real Love" and "Little Rock Star," both played back to back. And "Little Rock Star" didn't have that awful backing vocal line during the chorus which allowed the chords to ring through and turns out to be the only thing holding back the recorded take. I loved that song when I heard it live first, and couldn't figure out why I would have loved something like that once I heard the record. Now I know.
The closing few numbers included "Essence," "Joy," "Honey Bee," "Come On" and "Righteously." Nothing wrong with that.
And the encore was all covers, including Skip James' "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues," which it turns out is waaaaaay better when an actual blues band plays it than when Built to Spill plays it. And "Long Way to the Top," which is just plain fun to hear Lucinda play.
February 21 2009: Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - Orpheum Theatre, Boston MA
I was supposed to work this night. It was my weekend on. But I got it off, and Drew had tickets to see the Cardinals play and I'd never been to the Orpheum so I figured that figured for a good time.
Drove in with Caitlin and dropped her off in Dorchester to see Smita's new baby before heading downtown to commence drinking our way through the evening. The Cardinals opened with "I See Monsters" and it was great. They did "Let it Ride" and "Easy Plateau" and "Wonderwall" and "Come Pick Me Up" before closing the first set with a Neil Casall number.
Between sets I tried to procure us another two $10 24oz Harpoons but failed. Not saying why.
Second set started with "Shakedown on 9th Street" into "Rescue Blues." And they did "Oh My Sweet Carolina," aka the first Ryan Adams tune I ever saw live and as such the first Ryan Adams tune I'd ever heard. It was great to hear it again, and almost as good as it was in 2002. And they closed with another cover. Amuse yourself here, please, and try to guess what they played before continuing to read. Alright: I'll bet you a million bucks you didn't guess "Down in a Hole." You know, the Alice in Chains song. And yes, it was pretty amusing.
Show ended and Drew and I went down the street to wait for Caitlin to come pick us up and drive us home. Got some pizza in Somerville on the way out of town. I ate mine. Drew passed out face first in his. It was that kind of night.
January 31 2009: Adam Sweeney, Katie Sawicki - Conor Byrne Pub, Seattle WA
Was in Portland with Caitlin anyway, and Sweeney tells me he's playing a show in Ballard and that we should come. And who are we to say no to Sweeney? So Ryan/Heather got called up, and they in turn called up Keith/Robin and every other Montana expat in Seattle, and we had ourselves a good old time.
Got into town a little late after making a stop for a couple beers with Alicia at the Red Lion in Kelso, but we still beat the Montanans. Got some Green Lakes and promptly ran into Behr (drumming w/ Sweeney these days), Fuller (providing percussion via egg shaker these days), Greene (who was nice enough to give us an advance of the new Pureka EP) and Allison Terry (hadn't seen her in at least 4 years!). And soon enough Sweeney himself, and soon after the Montanans. And Sweeney played but I hardly noticed cause I was too busy getting bought shots of the house's finest cheapest whiskey and then returning the favor.
November 23 2008: Rusty Belle - Black Moon, Belchertown MA
We agreed to play this Southern Rock Tribute Night in Belchertown in exchange for a real gig there later on down the road. Which meant we drove to Belchertown, drank a few free beers at this really suprisingly nice place, played our most southern rock sounding tunes, and then sat down with more free beers to watch Rusty Belle play. They did covers like they/we were supposed to. Pretty good ones too. "Tuesday's Gone" and "Up On Cripple Creek" were the highlights. And I feel like they did something by the Stones but I can't recall what it was.
November 15 2008: Iron & Wine, Blitzen Trapper - Pearl Street Ballroom, Northampton MA
Went solo to this show, after working eight hours and with 12 more to look forward to starting 7am the next day. But I hadn't seen Iron + Wine as a full band ever, and only once otherwise, and Blitzen Trapper were opening. So I was looking forward to things.
Ran into Sasha and Sara and stuck with them on the right side of the stage through the Blitzen Trapper set, most of which I didn't know but much of which I enjoyed. They closed with "Wild Mountain Nation" and it was probably their best tune of the night. Also the only tune of theirs I listen to with any semblance of regularity (read: probably once every three to 5 months). Draw conclusions as you care to.
Folks were flocking a little too heavily to where Sasha/Sara were, as they often seem to do, so I headed over to the left side for the Iron/Wine set. The Iron/Wine main mude and a backing lady opened as a duo with "He Lays In The Reins," which was quite nice. And they went into "Upward Over the Mountain," one of my favorite tunes but with a tambourine keeping the beat, and with the beat being just a hair too quick for how I feel the song ought to be played, it lacked that certain something.
A few more tunes were played minimalist-style, mostly new ones I don't know. They did do "Sea and the Rhythm" though, fucking perfectly. Shame they couldn't have hit all their songs like that one though, cause after the acoustic numbers out came a fucking reggae band. Reggae for "Woman King," which kind of worked but mostly didn't. Reggae for new songs which just served to bore me. And reggae for "Sodom South Georgia," which didn't work to the extent that I wonder if a better song as ever been played so wrongly.
Show ended, and I walked home wondering why I'd lost sleep just to watch Hampshire kids get down instead of leaving the second "Sea and the Rhythm" finished.
November 8 2008: The Mountain Goats, Kaki King, Larkin Grimm - Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY
Rolled into New York in the early afternoon and spent the early afternoon taking it easy and reading and drinking coffee. Picked up a $6 half-pint of Jim Beam to ward off any temptation to buy multiple $9 drinks again, got a veggie burger and a salad and a beer at a Mugs on Bedford Ave, and made it to the Music Hall a few minutes after 8. Just in time to enjoy a couple $3 happy-hour-till-9pm Sierras. Which, if you're doing math and figuring in those 200ml of Beam like I wasn't, might start to make you nervous. You might be right to start to get nervous.
Got a great spot on the left side of the mezzanine, with a chair and a little table and a railing to lean on. The Music Hall seems way smaller when you're not on the floor, apparently.
The first act was competent but nothing to write home about. And Kaki King was better than she was the night before. But the Mountain Goats were fucking on. From what I could tell, anyway. Cause after Kaki King finished her set I poured my pint of Beam into my empty beer glass and started in. For some reason I was operating on the idea that 200ml of booze is two shots. I'm not sure why. But I'm here to tell you that it's definitely not. So the first half of the show is much more clear in my memory than the second. Opened with "Have to Explode" and "Heretic Pride" again, and it's not a bad way to start the show. "Pigs That Ran Straightaway Into the Water" was next. What a great fucking tune. I've always wondered why that one was never a staple of the live set. It works so well. Then "Moon Over Goldsboro," again amazing, into "Quito" which is always nice to hear, into "How To Embrace a Swamp Creature," which was great to hear again.
Then things started to get a bit fuzzy. John played "The Recognition Scene" and "Thank You Mario" solo, and the same tunes with Kaki as in Philly. It was great to have the view from the mezzanine for Kaki's lap steel part on "Supergenesis," which again kicked much ass. Probably the best song of the night, but a pretty convincing arguement could be made for "Moon Over Goldsboro" too.
After "Supergenesis" they did "Sept 15 1983," "No Children," "This Year." And that's when things got really really fuzzy. In fact, that's where I kind of passed out for minutes at a time on that rail I'd been leaning against. That's the sort of thing that happens when you drink 200ml of 80-proof liquor and then give it 45 minutes to really kick in. I recall the encore consisting of "The Mess Inside" and "Palmcorder Yajna." Appparently "Dance Music" and "Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod" got played too. At least nothing happened that I hadn't seen happen before, but I'm sad I wasn't able to enjoy the show like I might have otherwise. But what can you. Oh, that's right: you can not drink a half-pint of cheap bourbon. That's exactly what you can do.
November 7 2008: The Mountain Goats, Kaki King - Theater of the Living Arts, Philadelphia PA
Got up early and drove my ass to Philadelphia. Not much traffic, $2.20 gas, weekend off, Mountain Goats relatively nearby and free tickets offered. Not a hard decision to make.
Got into town and drank a couple half-price happy hour beers and ate the best tempeh sandwich of my young life at the Royal Tavern, aka a place I had suspected but can now confirm to be my favorite place to eat/drink in Philly. Found another place down the street from the venue that was pretty quiet and drank another not-even-close-to-half-price beer and read a bit, waiting for the doors to open. I could see the kids queuing up down the block, but I guess I just can't get into that shit anymore. Give me an overpriced Yuengling and Larry McMurtry's 1999 memoir over chilly air and excited kids any day of the week.
Once the line cleared I walked down only to be turned away at the door by the security guy who objected to the pens I had in my bag. "No ink pens my man. I'll have to take those," he said. What the fuck. And it's not like I'm going to give him my pens. I told him I'd leave them in the car and be right back. I walked around the corner, put them in my shoe, came back. He let me in after groping me all over looking for, presumably, more pens. What the fuck.
Inside, it was easily the largest place I've ever seen the Mountain Goats play. I believe the capacity to the place is 810. That's a lot of people. I said hi to Brandon and set up shop in the bar to the left side of the stage, which wasn't a bad place to set up shop at all. Elevated so that I could see over the crowd and pretty close and with a waitress who came by every 20 or so minutes to sell me $9 drinks. I bought a few, figuring I hadn't paid admission so what the hell.
And why hadn't I paid admission? Because about six months ago Christen Greene emailed me asking for Darnielle's email address. She was doing publicity work for Kaki King and I guess Darnielle had left Ms. King a message in a green room somewhere and she saw it and wanted to get in touch with him, asked Christen if she knew anyone who knew him, Christen emailed me, and everything worked out. And then everything really worked out when they recorded an EP together and did a tour. To which Christen offered me guestlist spots for my services.
Kaki was awful. Easily the most technically proficient guitarist I've ever seen play. But awful, boring, etc. Didn't help that it seemed like she played for an hour and a half.
But the Mountain Goats! Here to save the day, opening with "Have to Explode" and "Heretic Pride." "Have to Explode" was great with a full band, definitely better than how John was playing it solo earlier this year, and it was great to hear "Heretic Pride" again. Not one of their very best songs, but definitely not one of their worst and a solid lots-of-energy-for-the-beginning-of-the-set jam.
Third tune was "The Mess Inside," one of my very favorite Mountain Goats tunes, and one that I've seen bring down the fucking house. Or rather, that I've seen bring down the fucking college coffee shop and the fucking barn. But with the full band it was slowed down slightly and the drums kept things a bit too steady. The give-and-take of the rhythm guitar in the recording, and in the solo performances I've seen, got sacrificed for a steady beat with no nuance. And it lessened the song in the same way that the full band lessened "Twin Human Highway Flares" when I saw them play it in Springfield last year. I definitely like most of the full-band arrangements the Mountain Goats have going these days, but some songs just don't work like that, and "The Mess Inside" definitely seems to be one of them. Which is too bad, cause what a great fucking song.
"New Zion" and "Moon Over Goldsboro" were next. Both were great. And "Moon Over Goldsboro" was beyond great. I don't think I'd heard it live since the 2006 tour immediately after "Get Lonely" was issued, and at that time it hadn't really entered my consciousness as a Great Tune. So I was glad to get the chance to hear it again.
John played some solo tunes in the middle of the set, just like he was doing earlier this year. They were, in order: "Source Decay" (great as always, and I don't think I'd seen him do this one without Peter), "Attention All Pickpockets" (great) and "Sinaloon Milk Snake Song" (never figured I'd hear it live and lots of fun). And then he did "Black Pear Tree." Just went right into it, playing the piano chords on the guitar. It was amazing. Easily my favorite song since that EP arrived in my mailbox last week. He sang the first verse and Kaki King came out in time to sing the harmony on "I suspect it's going to have to be." Then Kaki sang the rest of it just like she does on the record. It was fantastic.
Then they did "Bring Our Curses Home," my othe favorite song on that EP, with John singing and Kaki playing. Then "Mosquito Repellent," during which the band came back. Then a Morrissey tune I didn't know and then "Supergenesis," which I didn't much care for before but it was maybe the sonic highlight of the night. It sounded nothing like the record. John on electric, Kaki on fuzzboxed lap steel, Peter and Wurster playing what they play. The lap steel was AMAZING. My only regret was that I couldn't see how she was doing it cause she was sitting on the stage with it in her lap. I could listen to this song like they played it at every show and be happy.
After "Supergenesis" Kaki left and the band did "Sept 15 1983," which I think is one of their best songs ever, Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back In Town," "No Children" and "This Year." The kids up front got excited for those last two. So did the grown men acting like kids next to me in the bar. What can you do.
Encore was "Pigs that Ran Straightaway Into The Water," which was lots of fun with the full band and only the second time I'd seen it played at all, followed by "Palmcorder Yajna." Second encore was "Houseguest." Yawn.
And I went to get some pretzles from that place Caitlin and I stumbled onto on Washington Ave that opens at midnight the last time we were here. Good fucking times.
October 20 2008: Mirah, No Kids - Iron Horse, Northampton MA
I like it when musicians I used to see on a regular basis in Portland make it out to Northampton and I'm able to see them again. Mirah especially. Caitlin and I got some food first and made it to the Iron Horse just in time to get the last table upstairs. No Kids, who are from Vancouver BC, played first and sounded like they're from Vancouver.
And then Mirah came out by herself and opened with "We're Both So Sorry." Really nicely.
The bulk of her set was "C'mon Miracle" and "Advisory Committee" tunes. There were a couple that I didn't know, but I'm not sure if they're new tunes or tunes from that album about bugs she recently did. They certainly didn't sound like songs about bugs, but I guess they maybe could have been. I wouldn't know, cause I listened to that album once and then never bothered with it again. One of those new/maybe-not-new songs was the one that repeats "We'll Never Change" at the end that I think she's played the last three times I've seen her.
"Monument" and "Jeruselem" and "The Sun" and especially "Mt. St. Helens" were the highlights, along with "We're Both So Sorry." The encore was started out with "Cold Cold Water," which I really really tried to get into like I used to but I think I'm too used to it these days. It used to move the fuck out of me. Now it's just another comfortable song with some nice lines. Other song in the encore was "The Garden," which never does it for me live.
Always great to see Mirah though. Shame that Calvin Johnson can't be there singing along every time though.
September 27 2008: Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - Auditorium Theatre, Rochester NY
So Drew had the hookup for free Ryan Adams tickets and was offering to drive and I had the weekend off and we pricelined a decent room downtown for $60 so off we headed to Rochester. Of course, I don't really know much of Ryan Adams' catalog. I'm pretty familiar with "Heartbreaker" and really really like that Whiskeytown tune "Jacksonville Skyline" that Caitlin's always playing. Other than that, it's a couple tunes on "Gold," a handful on "Cold Roses," and that's pretty much it. But a free show is a free show, and I'm always up for trips out of town to see music and drink beer.
Drew's seats were dead center, ten rows from the stage, in one of the more ornate theatres I've been in. Not too shabby. Things that were shabby: no beer options aside from Coors Light after the people in front of us bought the last Heinekin in the house. But no worries: if there are two guys too good for Coors Light out of a can at a Ryan Adams show, they are not me and definitely not Drew.
The band played two sets with no opener. In the first set I knew two songs: "Come Pick Me Up," which they did second and which I really really enjoyed, and a pretty good cover of Oasis' "Wonderwall" that they crowd went crazy for, but I've seen Oasis do it better. Second set the only tune I knew was "Let it Ride." But they closed with a great number that Drew said was on "Life is Hell." Maybe I'll have to give that album a listen. I was hoping to hear "Magnolia Mountain" or "Oh My Sweet Carolina," which he opened with to great effect the only other time I'd seen him, but no dice. Good show though. Just a shame he was too cool to play an acoustic guitar.
And after the show we had ourselves a good time at this bar that we happend to walk past and that I recognized as a place I'd spent time in with Ryan and Heather the only other time I'd been in Rochester, and then we made it to another bar that Peter Hughes had reccomended to us and where we both ordered the $3 pabst-and-shot special. Not a bad night at all.
September 18 2008: Built to Spill, the Meat Puppets - Pearl Street Ballroom, Northampton MA
Me and Jared Jost went to see Built to Spill in an upstairs space billing itself as a ballroom! Just like old times! We didn't drive to the show in a big-ass van with a tape deck, but things change. Instead he drove in from Boston after work and met me at Sierra and we drank great beer and ate great food before the show. Give me food and beer over a van any day.
The Meat Puppets opened. They were mostly awful. And the only songs they played that anyone in the audience seemed to know were "Plateau," somewhere in the middle, and "Lake of Fire," which they closed with. Frankly, Nirvana did them better. They also did that Jimmy Driftwood tune "Tennessee Stud."
But Built to Spill! Martsch, Nelson, Netson, Roth, Plouf, plus some dude on cello! And they played straight through "Perfect From Now On." Which was great on one hand, cause that's a pretty good bunch of songs. But I didn't really enjoy knowing exactly what was coming next. However, I'd never seen them play "Kicked it in the Sun" before, and hadn't seen songs like "Untrustable" or "Out of Site" in quite a while. And to hear them with the cellist was lots of fun.
After they finished those eight "Perfect From Now On" tunes they went right into "Goin' Against Your Mind," which I really like but always wish they'd play like they played it in 2006 before they recorded it. That opening guitar line that they do these days just plaes in comparison to what it used to be. And for the encore it was "Big Dipper" followed by "Car." Fun to hear those tunes again too.
And fun to hear Built to Spill songs with Jared and then retire to my porch after the show and watch the cars drive by and drink cheap beer and finish off Jared's pack of Parliments. Just like we used to do.
September 13 2008: Sarah Levecque - The Basement, Northampton MA
The nice thing about playing your own show is getting to invite Sarah Levecque out to open and then getting to see she and Pete (I guess they fired the band) play while drinking free BBC pales.
The basement stunk, olfactorally, but what else is new? And Sarah/Pete were, as is also not new, fantastic. And good enough to hold their own without the band. They played most if not all of their new record, which I've been playing on repeat recently, and it was just plain nice to see them again.
September 11 2008: The Fawns, This Frontier Needs Heros - Sierra Grille, Northampton MA
Went to see the Fawns at Sierra!
This Frontier Needs Heros, from New York I think, opened and were pretty good. Some pleasant songs but I don't remember any of them now.
And the Fawns played like they usually play: well. Opened with "Any Day," finished with "Would You Stop?," and in the middle played a bunch of other tunes. Including "Snow Day" with Philip Price sharing Henning's mic for backup vocals.
Good times, especially for $2 and with ready access to O'Haras.
September 4 2008: Silver Jews, Mike Flood - Iron Horse, Northampton MA
The Silver Jews! In my town!
Caitlin and I got there just as Mike Flood (an old-time local who according to Silberstein was once in Sebadoh) was starting and headed to the bar where we ran into Shoshana! Who invited us to her/Luke's table upstairs, which was way better than dealing with the kids downstairs.
The Jews opened with "Trains Across the Sea," which pretty much made my night right there, and then into "San Francisco B.C.," which continues to grow on me and was pretty good live. Behrman wasn't on guitar though, aside from one tune in the encore, but was just sort of hanging out and singing into the mic. And though his big goofy glasses earned him some style points, he wasn't a particularly effective front man in the guitar-less tradition. Whatever, cause who needs to be a particularly effective front man when you play a songs like "Random Rules" (including some local on trumpet) and "Horseleg Swastikas." "K-Hole" reminded me what a great song that is, and "Aloysius, Bluegrass Drummer" was fabulous. And "Smith and Jones Forever" too. Not a bad set at all. I was enjoying myself. Caitlin appeared to be enjoying herself. Shoshana/Luke looked pretty happy and it turns out it was their 19th wedding aniversary that night.
The encore was where it was really at, though: "Pretty Eyes" (never listened to it seriously before aside from apreciating the delivery on the "That's not what I'd call a life" line, but it was great through and through live) into "The Wild Kindness" (with full-on keyboards and perfect. One of my favorite songs ever probably) into "Tennessee" (one of my favorite Jews songs) into "Punks in the Beerlight" (which the kids starting jumping up and down for, and which really is a great song).
No "Candy Jail" or "Party Barge," but we went home happy and filled with BBC porter. And did I mention they did "The Wild Kindness"?!?!?? Yay!
August 30 2008: Beck, Nada Surf, Band of Horses, the Round, Lucinda Williams - Bumbershoot Music Festival, Seattle Center, Seattle WA
Bumbershoot!, I thought to myself, Shit yeah I'll fly out to the NW on a rediculously cheap ticket and see some family/friends and then go to Bumbershoot for the first time since 2005 and partake in that rediculously great lineup they've got going on this year! Shit yeah! Smooth sailing! Shit yeah!
But the sailing was not all that smooth. I woke up at Sweeney's new place out on NE 69th at at ridiculous hour. I think it was in the neighborhood of 7am. The idea was to walk to the 60th Ave. Max station, take it downtown, walk to the bus station, and get my ass on the 845 greyhound to Seattle in order to catch most if not all of Neko Case's set and most definitely be able to catch 100% of Lucinda Williams' set. This plan was going swimmingly up until the point at which the greyhound ticket seller informed me that the 845 bus was sold out. I went across the street to the train station, but the 830 train was also sold out. I went and got breakfast and tried to get unhungover and called people on craigslist who had advertised rides. No success, aside from getting breakfast. But if I'm going to be stuck somewhere for a couple hours and in need of breakfast, I'd rather be in Portland than maybe just about anywhere.
So anyway: I got on a bus at 1015, and it rolled into Seattle at 215. Ideally, Ryan/Heather would have been there to pick me up, we would have made speed a priority en route to the Seattle Center, and would have caught all of Lucinda. But they were not there, and were still 20m out of town. So I stashed my backpack in a locker and looked around for a cab. The line at the cabstand was three or four parties deep and no cabs were in sight. What was in sight was the Space Needle, and I figured I could hoof it the half-mile or so and save myself a couple bucks and probably get there by 235 at the latest. But I should have waited for a cab, cause it turns out the walk was really more like a full mile than half of one, and I didn't get into the stadium, where Lucinda was playing, until just before 3, aka 15 minutes after she'd started. Oh well.
Lucinda was great though, even if I did miss the first fifteen minutes. Walked in on a tune I didn't know, but next was "Out of Touch." The following tune, a new one called "Little Rock Star," was way way way better than its title might suggest. The highlights were definitely "Essence" and "Joy." An encore was some blues tune by a blues singer she cited but whom I'd never heard of and as such promptly forgot the name of, followed by a Fats Domino tune I'd never heard but which was called "I Live My Life" and was fucking great, followed by "a great blues number:" AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top." Not a bad set at all.
After Lucinda's set I met up with Ryan/Heather and Keith/Robin and we, after convincing Ryan that really no we definitely do want to see Damien Jurado and not play Dance Dance Revolution, headed to that stage they have set up behind the Key Arena to watch something called the Round. Important fact about the Round: two of its members are Damien Jurado and Jen Wood. And when they played Jurado tunes, they played the hits: "Ohio" (maybe the best I've ever heard it, with pedal steel accompaniment), "Lose My Head," "Letters and Drawings" (never seen it since the first time I saw him play, back before I knew the song, in 2002 I think. Goddamn was it nice to hear), and a new one that I vaguely recognized. Good to drink Mirror Ponds with all those folks and listen to songs like "Letters and Drawings." Goddamn is that kind of what I live for.
Interesting fact about history: when I first went to Bumbershoot, in 1999 because Pavement had sold out in Portland, one day's admission was $14. Another fact: in 2005, I got a two-day pass for $45. Last fact: this year's Saturday-only ticket put me back $40.
After dinner and a brief viewing of Band of Horses, who Robin wanted to see, Ryan/Heather and I split from Keith/Robin to head to the Mural Amphitheatre to watch Nada Surf. They were fantastic, but their bassist was sick and unable to play and the replacement didn't have dreads or sing backup, and they didn't do my favorite from the new album, "Are You Lightning." But they did open with "Hi-Speed Soul" and play most of my other favorites. Highlights: "Whose Authority," "Killians Red," "80 Windows," "Do it Again," "See These Bones," "Hyperspace," and the entire encore: "Blizzard of '77" into "Blonde on Blonde" into "Always Love" into "Blankest Year." No "Stalemate/Love Will Tear Us Apart" though.
And to finish off the night we went over to catch the rest of the Beck set with Keith/Robin. We were told we missed "Loser," which would just be amusing as hell to see played live after singing along with it so much at age 13. But he did play "Where it's At," which was amusing as hell to see played live after singing along with it so much at age 15.
August 23 2008: The Amity Front, the Sarah Levecque Band - Red Fire Farm, Granby MA
We got onto this tomato festival bill, which paid in produce (I'll take my own personal big box of tomatos/watermelon/peaches/broccoli/the best garlic I've ever tasted in my admittatly young live/etc over $75 split four ways any day of the week) and which afforded us the immeasurable pleasure of sitting around a farm on a stunningly beautiful saturday afternoon, sipping cold beers and eating some really good tomato-topped pizza and listening to a couple of my favorite bands.
The Amity Front played right after we did. They played well. I hadn't seen them in a while, and they're still good. And Sarah Levecque played after them. Rest assured, they're also still good. And rest assured that there's absolutely nowhere else I'd have rather been that afternoon. It was perfect.
August 14 2008: The Hold Steady, the Loved Ones - 9:30 Club, Washington DC
Last night of the little mini-vacation, in Anna's town! We got some okay food before the show at some place on 14th St. and went over to the show just before the openers came on. They played about the same as they have for the last week - competent but definitely not inspiring. Ran into this guy Mike whom I've run into on a few recent Mountain Goats tours, which was unexpected and nice.
The 9:30 club is bigger than I remember it being. And it was sold out and the audience wasn't too big on being polite, but Anna and I found a spot where we could both see and have easy bar access about halfway back from the stage. "You Gotta Dance With Who You Came With" got played again, along with "Curves and Nerves" and "Girls Like Status." I really like that "Girls Like Status" tune and had never heard it before. Heard "Chillout Tent" for the first time since 2006, and they played it better this time. Franz and Tad sang the main chorus lines together, and then Craig would follow up with the "They gave us oranges and cigarettes" line. I do like that song,
And there were horns! I don't remember on which songs, but they'd come out and play and then go hide somewhere until they were needed again. Too bad they were way to low in the mix.
And the people demanded a second encore after the first one ended with "Killer Parties," so we got "How a Resurrection Really Feels," which I believe was one of the horn songs. Pretty fun. Anna'd never heard of the Hold Steady and luckily had earplugs. And good sport that she is, when I jokingly offered to buy finest/cheapest shots afterwards she, despite having to be at work the next morning, said, "OK, but I think I can only do two."
All vacations should involve multiple cities and loud music, I think.
August 12 2008: The Hold Steady, the Loved Ones - Cat's Cradle, Carrboro NC
It was good to be back in Durham/Chapel Hill/Carrboro again. Rolled into Durham via the overnight Greyhound from Nashville in the early AM and spent my morning downtown. Walked around, ate a kale sandwich that I've since been recreating in my own personal kitchen on a roughly daily basis, checked email at the library, etc.
Showed up at the Cat's Cradle a half-hour after doors opened and soon found myself drinking a beer with Mr. Perry Wright, newly moved from Durham to Raleigh but no worse for the wear. Which is to say that he still drinks beer like Sweeney does. But at least Mr. John Darnielle, who soon arrived, can drink a good local IPA at a reasonable rate. It was good to see both those guys. Yay Durham/Chapel Hill/Carrboro!
And yay Cat's Cradle! I used to have a VHS tape of Ben Folds Five playing a show there the month their first record came out. Goddamn was that a great tape. I believe they opened that set with "Best Imitation of Myself," a song which pretty much ruled my teenage years. So it felt good and full-circle to see the Hold Steady at the Cradle, with John and Perry in the audience with me.
The Hold Steady opened with "Ask Her For Adderall" and segued it right into "Constructive Summer." And then into "Yeah Sapphire," which I finally understood. That "I was a skeptic at first but these miracles work" line really is pretty great. "Cheyanne Sunrise" got played (introduced as "a cowboy song that goes out to all the cowgirls"), and it was nice to hear it live. I mean, if you follow a band around, after the first couple shows you're really just hoping to hear the b-sides. Ran to the bathroom to take a piss during "Navy Sheets." It's nice that they played it in the middle of the set to allow us discerning listeners a justifiable bathroom break.
The last two songs of the set: "How a Resurrection Really Feels" (never heard live before and it was fucking great) and "Slapped Actress" (in the back of the club there were fewer frat boys with backwards baseball caps to fuck it up). Not too shabby.The encore was "Both Crosses" (only song on the new record I hadn't seen live, and definitely the best tune on the record) (with Franz was on banjo and Tad on acoustic) into "Stay Positive" (what a great live song) into "Most People Are DJs" into "Killer Parties." Really, really, really hard to beat an encore like that.
August 9 2008: The Hold Steady, the Loved Ones - 40 Watt Club, Athens GA
So one of the factors that pushed me over the edge of following the Hold Steady around for a few dates was that one of the dates would be in Athens, where I'd never been before but had heard was real nice. And it was. Enjoyed some good local beer and a reasonably-priced dinner a few doors down from the 40 Watt, and found UGA to be a pretty place. But Athens doesn't hold a candle to Oxford I'm here to say.
The show, however was maybe a million times better.
For starters, 24oz cans of PBR sold for under $4. And as if things couldn't get any better, the Hold Steady opened with "Constructive Summer" into "The Swish" into "Hot Soft Lights" into "Chips Ahoy" into "Sequestered in Memphis" into "212 Margarita" into "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" into "Hot Fries." Goddamn, where do I start? How about with "212 Fucking Margarita," which has arguably been my favorite song for the past six months. A song I figured I'd never see live. And it was great. Goddamn.
"Barfruit Blues" was played, which I hadn't seen since I saw them play it in Brooklyn last year, and "Ask Her For Adderall," which I saw them play at Wesleyan earlier in the year but didn't know at the time.
But the real hightlight, again, happened after the set finished up. First encore: "Citrus" into "First Night" into "Stuck Between Stations" into "Most People are DJs." Have I said "godamn" enough yet? Goddamn.
Second encore: a new tune called "Ballad of the Midnight Hauler" into "Killer Parties." "Midnight Hauler" is about a DJ who does a show for truckers. Great fucking tune, especially going into "Killer Parties." Best three lines of the night: "Hey why don't you play some music / You know your music so I'll let you choose it / Hey why don't you play some music now."
And as the show ended the bars throughout Athens called for last call and I exited the club into a sea of 19-year-old drunks with fake IDs. Rock and/or roll.
August 8 2008: The Hold Steady, the Loved Ones - Proud Larry's, Oxford MS
Circa 5pm: rolled into Oxford MS, roughly pretty much in-between Memphis and Jackson, in a rental car with the windows down and the cicadas audibly electric and a complete fucking stranger named Corey in the passenger seat. How did this come to be? The answer: too complicated to really get into. But goddamn. Oxford MS. Oxford happens to be maybe one of the flat-out best places I've ever had the pleasure to visit. A few blocks of downtown centered around a square which is built around the old county courthouse. A college town in the summer without college students. Nice bars, good food, pleasant weather despite being in both the deep south and the month of august.
I was in town was to see the Hold Steady play at his place called Proud Larry's, which is right off the square and has a capacity of 295 patrons. But I do not for one goddamn second believe that the fire marshal would have been too pleased regarding the number of patrons at Proud Larry's. But the beer was good and local and reasonably priced and the Hold Steady were loud. And amongst those over-capacity patrons was this girl named Stephanie whom I've now run into four different times over the past four years, each time at a concert in a different city. How about that.
The Hold Steady opened with "Constructive Summer" and then went right into "Multitude of Casualties" and "Chips Ahoy." Not a bad way to open a set. "Two Handed Handshake" and "You Gotta Dance With Who You Came To The Dance With" (that "they powered up and proceded to jam, man" line was probably the best-delivered of the night") came in pretty quick. "Joke About Jamaica" was great to see after finally comprehending its finer qualities, and "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" provided catharsis after 60 hours of travel. The set ended with "Slapped Actress," which the assholes in the backwards baseball caps sang along with.
Encore started with "Certain Songs," which I'd never heard live before probably could have lived the rest of my life happy without hearing live. But the third and final tune of the encore was "Most People Are DJs," which fucking made my night. Goddamn do I love that song. And hearing it played live remained the night's highlight right up until the moment when I, an hour or so later, sat at William Faulkner's grave and drank a Wild Turkey straight-from-the-bottle toast to him, to Oxford, to the Hold Steady, to good fucking times. Goddamn.
August 2 2008: Josh Ritter, Erin McKeown, the Infamous Stringdusters - Shangri-La Music Festival, Blue Hill Fairgrounds, Blue Hill ME
Drove up with Caitlin cause we had the weekend free and cause Josh Ritter in Middle Of Nowhere Maine sounded like a pretty good time. After eightish hours, when we finally rolled into Middle Of Nowhere, the weather was crisp and cool, the sky was low-overcast, and I changed into jeans and a sweatshirt. First time I'd been in jeans/sweatshirt in what felt like months. Goddamn it felt good. And the nice lady selling tickets was open to negotiation, giving us two admissions and one night of camping for pretty much half-price. To you, lady!
We set up the tent and went to watch the end of the Infamous Stringdusters' set. It was pretty good. I was mostly really really enjoying being at that exact physical location. Maybe 500 people, half in camping-type portable chairs, all surrounding a stage built in front of the county fairgrounds grandstand. After seeing Ritter play in the past few months to a packed Symphony Hall in Boston and a more-densely packed rock club in Brooklyn, this seemed like the perfect place to be.
Erin McKeown came on next. She was backed by Dave Hower and some bassist I didn't recognize. She was infinitely better with the band than she was by herself last month in Greenfield. I thought so. Caitlin thought so. And both of us were pretty sure it wasn't just that tasty Maine beer thinking for us.
And Josh Ritter! He opened with "Mind's Eye," played through a pretty standard setlist with the exception of "Bright Smile," which was really nice to hear. And Caitlin had never heard "Me & Jiggs," so I was glad for her (and for me) that he played that. "Kathleen" had the stupid interlude shit that he's been doing lately, but I didn't mind it so much. Ran over to the bushes to take a leak during "Murder On My Mind." And it was great to hear "Next to the Last Romantic" again. Shit, it was great to hear all those songs again.
What it comes down to is that it was just really really really nice to see Ritter play on a stage in the middle of Maine with only a few hundered other people in the immediate area. It was, pretty much, a perfect evening.
July 31 2008: The Long Winters - Castle Clinton, New York NY
Drove down for the day to see the Long Winters. Hadn't seen them play a full set in almost two years, which happened the last time I saw them in New York. Livingston and I met up downtown to made a quick pre-show liquor run (me: Wild Turkey; he: apricot brandy. Sorry Josh, this is supposed to be impartial reporting and we can't just gloss over the facts), and found some folding chairs in the back of the free afternoon show. The back of which was pretty close to the front. As the initially-humid day turned into a pretty comfortable late afternoon we poured our liquor into cups that were otherwise being used to provide patrons with $10 servings of wine (note: these servings did not look to represent what, in my mind, $10 worth of wine looks like), and the time at which the Long Winters would take the stage approached. Good times loudly proclaimed their imminent arrival.
The band opened with "Give Me a Moment," which I hadn't heard live since Sean McCormick and I personally requested it from Roderick outside the Tonic Lounge in 2003. Unfortunately it's not the best song to open a daylight/outside/no-opener show with. But I still enjoyed it.
Aside from that first song, nothing much notable about the setlist. Old and new standards like "Scared Straight," "Carparts," "Fire Island," "The Commander Thinks Aloud," "Ultimatum," etc, all played well. I don't think I'd learned to really appreciate "Teaspoon" until about a year ago, so it was nice to hear it played live again. Fun set, but I think the Long Winters are much more a late-night/dark-bar kind of band, and the afternoon sun and the folding chairs didn't work much in their favor. But it was, I feel, an excellent use of my afternoon/evening. And afterwards Livingston and I enjoyed some tall boy High Lifes in that park across from the New York County Courthouse before I had to head for home. Good times!
July 28 2008: Aimee Mann, Ashley Pond - Washington Park Lakehouse, Albany NY
Caitlin and I found out about this free show in a park a couple days ago. So we figured we should go. And it was fun, even though I didn't know most of the tunes that were played. I didn't even know she had a new album until yesterday. And listening to it in the car on the way to the show wasn't exactly the level of listening that seems to be required to uncover the quiet brilliance of her albums.
She opened with a few new tunes, followed by "Save Me," "Wise Up" and "Calling it Quits." It was pretty good playing, but the bass was pretty high in the mix. And there was no lead guitar player, just two keyboard players. Which was too bad - I feel like a good lead player is pretty important to her songs, and the keyboardists weren't able to do the same thing. But who cares - it was free and Caitlin and I were eating tomato/spinach/mozzarella sandwiches and drinking Widmers. A couple older tunes followed (including "4th of July," which I think she's played every time I've seen her and I don't understand why), then few new ones, and finally a set-closer of "How am I Different," which I'd never seen played before. So that was lots of fun. It was always one of my favorite of her tunes.
Somewhere in the middle there she said the show was being paid for with money that Elliott Spitzer got by suing record labels for payola when he was Attorney General. So, uh, go Elliott Spitzer.
The encore was "Today's the Day" and "Deathly." Two pretty great tunes. I think she's closed with "Deathly" every time I've seen her. Probably for good reason. But the keyboard-only arrangement of "Today's the Day" left out the guitar solo breakdown, which I always thought was the best part of the song.
I was slightly disappointed to hear nothing from "The Forgotten Arm," which I really really really like, and only one tune from "Lost in Space," which is a pretty fucking brilliant and only seems more so with time. But now I guess it's time to listen seriously to that new record and in six months kick myself for not appreciating the new tunes as much as I should have.
July 17 2008: Richard Shindell, Caroline Herring - Energy Park, Greenfield MA
Caitlin and I drove up for dinner at the Pint to be followed by a free Richard Shindell gig. The skies were blue and not too hazy and there was a hot air balloon floating around. Hard to beat an evening like that. Caitlin had never seen Shindell before, and I'd never seen him with a band. It was fun. He opened with "The Last Fare of the Day," which was the best tune of the evening, did that Jeffrey Foucault tune that he does, and a few of those painfully sincere tunes that he likes to do.
Drew found us about halfway through the set, dressed up like he'd come straight from work. Which he had. People who work sure are interesting. Always having to be places.
The Encore was Dylan's "She Belongs to Me" with Caroline Herring (whose set we caught the last couple tunes of) and Mark Erelli (whose set we missed entirely due to getting that second round at the Pint) on a verse apiece. Good times.
July 6 2008: Erin McKeown - Energy Park, Greenfield MA
Drove up with Drew/Lisa/Lisa's girlfriend to see Erin McKeown in Greenfield cause it was free. I'd never heard her play before. And I'm not tempted to hear her again. But her cover of that jazz tune "Rhode Island is Famous For You" was great. At least it was a nice day weather-wise.
June 27 2008: Josh Ritter and the Boston Pops - Symphony Hall, Boston MA
Caitlin and I went to see Ritter play with the Boston Pops backing him up. It was unbelievable.
We got some floor seats the day of the show for relatively cheap and showed up at Symphony Hall to find that the seats included a table and drink/dessert service. In a place that's pretty unbelievably good-looking. I was expecting something in vein of the Schnitzer. Instead, it was a big room with a level floor, with all these people sitting in folding chairs and drinking their drinks and eating their desserts. There were two short balconies, and the place was surprisingly small. Someone who spends their free time writing wikipedia entries says that Symphony Hall is "widely considered to be one of the two or three finest concert halls in the world." I can't speak to that, but when we walked in and I saw what I saw, I got pretty excited.
And Ritter came out, with the regular band plus the orchestra, to open with "Idaho," mostly solo/acoustic, but with piano, french horn and what was either the kick drum or some fancy orchestral drum at the very end. It was almost perfect. Or I thought almost perfect until the next tune, "Best For the Best," which included the full orchestra for the entirety of the tune. The orchestra played a mostly backing role until the third verse, when they really swelled up, and then in the fourth verse they REALLY swelled up. I was pretty much beside myself. And the crowd was polite as could be. They didn't talk, they didn't yell, they just sat there and listened and then clapped after the song ended. How much better? How much better? Could my life get?
The answer to that question was answered during the third tune: "Other Side," which I'm pretty sure I've never seen played before. It was inarguably the highlight of the night. Started out with just acoustic guitar for the first half of the first verse, and the band and orchestra came in for the second verse, and then REALLY came in between the second and third verses, the break between which got extended to probably a full minute. Josh was singing some "oh no no"s, the orchestra was going at full power, and then everything dropped off entirely with nothing but acoustic guitar for the "So at night I sit and watch for stars" line. Some more "oh no no"s during the outro. Goddamn. Godmotherfuckingdamn. THAT, my friends, was perfect. I get chills just listening to the tape.
"Rumors," "Girl in the War," "Wolves," "Bone of Song," "Right Moves," "The Temptation of Adam," etc. These were all pretty good, but they had nothing on those first three tunes. The orchestra just lends itself to the slow tunes. Slow tunes like "Monster Ballads," which was particularly nice to hear. And "Thin Blue Flame," which was performed by just Josh and a violinist. Caitlin (and apparently most of the crowd) thought this was flat-out mindbendingly amazing. I thought it was pretty great, but not standing ovation great. The violinist came in during the third verse and stayed with him through the end of the tune, and was good enough to follow Ritter through his last verse fuckup/restart without missing a beat. You think of classical musicians as working off of sheet music (which this guy was) and unable to accommodate improvisation. But this guy didn't miss a beat, and I was listening for it. My hat is off.
Towards the end of the set Robert Pinsky came out to read a couple poems to the tune of "Edge of the World." Which was fun and interesting. I hope the old lady behind us in the line to get in was satisfied. "Who is this Ritter character," she asked. "Is it kid music or adult music? I'm just here to see Robert Pinsky read."
My only real compliant is that the arrangements often had the orchestra playing second fiddle (ha!) to a guitar or piano solo - everyone in the band seemed to play their standard lines with little accommodation made for the fact that they had all these backing players at their disposal. Particularly the "Right Moves" and "Empty Hearts" solos - they could have been so much better had violins played them instead. But maybe no one pays me to arrange their orchestra's music for a reason. Who knows. The set closed with "Kathleen." It was great. Not much going on orchestrally, but still great. The encore was "Wildfires" (amazing - now that's the way to start an encore) and "Empty Hearts." I was happy. Caitlin was happy. We drove to Revere and ate cheap onion rings on the beach. What else can you do after you see Josh Ritter backed by an orchestra?
June 26 2008: The Hold Steady, Aberdeen City - Paradise, Boston MA
So a couple days ago I looked at the Hold Steady's website to see if they were playing any shows anytime soon. And there it was, a free show in Boston on thursday. I love not working!
I dragged Sweeney out of the house by promising to buy him a beer and to help him pack stuff up the next day, and times were good. I'd never been to the Paradise before and was pretty pleased with the layout. We got ourselves a spot to stand upstairs just across from the stage, high above the craziness that we figured was going to ensue.
The first band was pretty rough. Rarely does one see the lead guitarist play with his teeth. Probably because it makes the guy look like a fucking douche. Maybe this guy was doing it to keep people from noticing that all his band's songs were bad Radiohead ripoffs. Who knows. What I do know is that Sweeney and I were definitely paying more attention to our High Life consuption than we were to the openers. Thank goodness for earplugs.
And then the Hold Steady came on stage and opened with "Constructive Summer," a tune I've been playing pretty regularly around the house as of late. Great fucking tune. And from that into "Sequestered in Memphis," "The Swish" and "The Cattle and the Creeping Things." Not a bad way to start a show. And those earplugs? I couldn't bear to keep them in.
Most of the new record got played. Everything, I think, except for "Both Crosses," which is a shame cause I think that's probably one of the best tunes on it. They played "Knuckles," which I'd never heard before, and closed the set with "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" into "Slapped Actress." The encore finished up with "Southtown Girls," which I honestly don't dislike anymore. I really like the riff. And the structure doesn't annoy me as much anymore. But they opened the encore with "One For the Cutters," arguably one of the worst songs I've ever heard. Seriously. Why do bands do stuff like that? I do not know.
But you just can't beat a free show sponsored by Miller in which the lead guitar player feels the need to prophylacticly cover his pedals with cellophane. That's my kind of show.
June 19 2008: Carrie Rodriguez, Adam Sweeney - Iron Horse, Northampton MA
Went down to the Iron Horse to see Sweeney's last east coast gig before he moves back to Portland. It was pretty good times. He played a few new tunes that I hadn't heard and played the old ones as well as he usually does. Drew and Lisa and Caitlin and Mariah were there, and so was everybody's best friend BBC porter. And so was some lady who kept glaring at me and Caitlin while we were whispering things to each other during the music. I couldn't even hear Caitlin was saying sometimes, I just sat there nodding and then whispering appropriate responses like "that's crazy!" and "uh huh" back to her. But apparently this lady could hear everything. It was impressive.
Carrie Rodriguez and her band played after Sweeney finished. They were alright. It was hard to tell what with all those goddamn people whispering to each other.
June 13 2008: REM, Modest Mouse, the National - Comcast Center, Mansfield MA
It was a idyllic fucking day. The sky was blue, Cait and I were in Boston anyway, and we got what were otherwise $40 lawn seats for $15 each at the last minute. We got picnic supplies from the Foodmaster: bread, tomatoes, mozzarella, chips, tonic water and a lime. We went home and made sandwiches and cut the limes up and put them in a tupperware. Picked up some Tanqueray nips on the way out of town.
Made it out of town with relatively little traffic and were soon walking around with our shoes off on soft green grass and eating tasty sandwiches and enjoying gin & tonics. There were cute little kids running around. It was 70 degrees and there was no humidity and they sky was blue with little white wispy clouds. Oh yes.
The National played first. They seemed alright. We were sad when they stopped playing because we were getting a kick watching some teenagers across the lawn try to dance. And Modest Mouse! I hadn't seen them in three years, I think. Definitely not since their newer album, which Ben played around the house quite a bit and had a song on it, "Dashboard," that I really like. They played it. They didn't play much else that I knew. But that was ok. There were some more kids dancing and they were fun to watch too.
And REM! Whom I hadn't seen in five years. They were better then. But they were pretty good here too. Opened with the first song from the new record and then into "Begin the Begin" and "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" I liked this. I like the new record, am always glad to hear "Begin the Begin," and had never seen "Kenneth" played live. It was a great way to star the set.
"Circus Envy" was played fourth, and I'd never seen it before and always liked the song. Reminds me of the couple months I spent driving clients around in a van with the "Monster" tape and not much else. They did "Man -Sized Wreath" and "Departure" and "Hollow Man," none of which I'd heard before and all of which were great. "Houston" was played, but the keyboards and bass were way too low and so it lost so much of what makes the recorded take great. "Electrolyte" was fun to hear again and reminded me of driving around San Francisco in 2002. And near the end of the set, the band huddled on a corner of the stage and got out acoustic guitars to play "I've Been High" followed by "Let Me In." Jesus, did I wish I was in a club. Those songs were amazing up on the grass and I can't imagine how much better they would have been with the band right in front of me. And "Let Me In"!!!!! They played that one the first time I saw them play, when I went up to Seattle with Ryan in 2001 and I didn't even know the song. It's since become one of my very very favorites and I always figured that seeing some tune from the second half of everyone's least-favorite REM record could never happen twice. And wow was it worth the wait.
The set finished up with "Orange Crush" and "I'm Gonna DJ." The encore was the new single followed by a half-assed "Losing My Religion," then "Rockville," "Fall On Me," "Pretty Persuasion," and "Man in the Moon." Johnny Marr joined them on those last three. The encore highlight was definitely "Fall On Me," not for them playing it fantastically or anything, but just because the other tunes were pretty sub-par. Which was too bad. I've seen "Losing My Religion" and "Man on the Moon" be fucking showstoppers. Oh Well.
And! Nothing from "Up"! Which I kept holding out for. I was disappointed. But we still had a great time, and for pretty cheap. And for the record: for the second time in his life, Adam Sweeney passed up a $15 REM show. Dude needs to get his priorities straight.
June 3 2008: Justin Townes Earle - Iron Horse, Northampton MA
So this Justin Townes Earle character happens to be Steve Earle's kid. And we got thrown onto the bill and were given free booze so I stuck around to watch him play. Lots of pretty good old-style country tunes, and a few great ones thrown in every now and then, performed by two guys dressed like they're old dudes in Nashville. Good times.
May 25 2008: The Benders - Middle Earth Music Hall, Bradford VT
Caitlin and I had planned to see this show on June 1. But then we figured out that it was happening the weekend prior, aka the weekend my folks and sister would be in town. So after a little thought we just decided to pack Mom, Dad and Anna into the car and head north.
It was the last show to take place at Middle Earth, and for their last hurrah the owners flew various Benders members in. The guy on slide came from Taiwan. Bassist from Flagstaff. Guitarist from Nashville. And Bow (banjo) and the mandolin player were already around, presumably with nothing better to do.
It was a great show. The Benders are Caitlin's favorite group, and she used to see them all the time in Boston before they scattered. And they were fabulous live. Played all the hits, and a bunch of tunes I didn't know but really really really enjoyed. Bow was great to hear sing and play, and bassist's songs were nearly as good as Bow's. Amazing slide and mandolin playing. Dad said afterwards that he'll probably never see any group so talented play again.
And, um, the second encore was started up with "Stairway to Heaven." I'm not shitting. And yeah, it sounded about as rough as you'd imagine it would. Shame they hadn't just stopped after one encore, which ended perfectly with "Can't Wait." And man was it fun to hear "Can't Wait" live.
Finally hit the road at 1230am, and rolled back into Northampton a few minutes before three. Caitlin and I in the front with gas station coffees, the lion's share of my immediate family asleep in the back. Good times.
May 7 2008: The Hold Steady - Andrus Field, Wesleyan University, Middletown CT
The Hold Steady! They played! A free show at Wesleyan University to celebrate the end of the semester! Afternoon rock and roll! Yeah! And the place just was crawling with drunk kids. Amongst them, three guys shotgunning bud lights. One of whom, the one without a shirt but with FUCK SCHOOL written across his chest, vomited it all back thirty seconds later. High fives ensued. Oh yeah!
And it was a pretty great show. I arrived about twenty minutes before they started playing and there were a bunch of folks on a hill facing the stage, getting all fucked up. Maybe fifty folks were standing at the stage. I went and found the table where they gave me a green wristband so that I could drink the beers I'd brought without getting hassled by the cops, headed for the stage, opened my first one, and pretty soon the band came out and started with a new tune called "Constructuve Summer," which segued right into "Hot Soft Lights." Then "Stuck Between Stations," then "The Swish."
As I say, it was pretty great. I took my shoes off and felt the grass between my toes. The band played a couple other new tunes, none of which I'd heard before, and some old tunes but nothing I hadn't heard before. The new one "Stay Positive" sounded pretty good. And "Stevie Nix" into "Multitude of Casualties" into "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" in the middle was lots of fun. Craig, to my amusement, had to chuckle his way through the "You don't have to go to the right kind of school" line in "You Can Make Him Like You." And the show ended after an hour with "Chips Ahoy" into "Killer Parties." Some folks yelled for another song, but most of the crowd just took another sip of whatever they were drinking (and they sure were drinking some awful stuff - until today I hadn't seen anyone with an OE forty since, uh, college), and that was that. I headed back to the car and was home by five. I can't imagine a better way to have spent the afternoon.
April 28 2008: Josh Ritter - Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY
Caitlin and I went down to New York to see some friends and Josh Ritter. Who was pretty good. Show started out really well with "Naked as a Window" and "Mind's Eye," and he did "Come and Find Me" about halfway through, which I don't think I'd ever seen live before, and it was pretty good. "Here at the Right Time" was great, as usual, and it went right into "Wings," which I don't think I've heard live since the first time I saw him and which was hands down the best tune of the night. The lights were all the way off and you could just barely make out Ritter's form on stage, singing about little towns in Idaho and eastern Washington. I used to adore that song. Then I didn't listen to it very much. I'm going to start listening to it again.
Really, the whole show was great. But I'm left with a bad taste in my mouth cause three out of the last four songs he played just frustrated the shit out of me. "Empty Heart" is one of my favorite songs ever, but Ritter thought it might be fun/amusing/endearing to stop the song halfway through and discuss how nice the guy running the sound is. And that's fine. The sound guy can be nice. He can be an upstanding citizen. He can be a fucking pillar of society. But I don't need "Empty Heart" to be stopped halfway through to hear about it. And I especially don't need to be encouraged to dance to a little waltzy tune that Ritter's decided would be fun to play in the middle of "Kathleen." Instead, I need brilliant songs to be taken seriously and for "Kathleen" to be played like it ought to be played. I could go to the comedy club open mic if I wanted to hear stupid jokes about sound guys and even stupider jokes about dancing. I don't go to Ritter shows for comedy. I go to hear brilliant songs. And I especially don't go to watch a juggling routine in the middle of "Lillian, Egypt." I'd go to the fucking circus for that. I just want to hear brilliant songs played seriously.
So yeah. Great show, spoiled at the end by that sort of stuff. Which, to Ritter's credit, the crowd loved. Big cheers, big smiles on everyone's faces, etc. But I'd appreciate it if he didn't go for so many cheap laughs at the expense of the songs.
April 20 2008: Lou Reed, Thurston Moore - Calvin Theatre, Northampton MA
I guess maybe Emma was supposed to go to this show, cause Drew had two tickets and no one to go with. So I offered to buy beer if he wanted to take me.
Thurston Moore was up first and played three songs. The first an acoustic number I didn't know with a woman on violin. The second was Cohen's "Hallelujah" with Thurston on acoustic, violin woman on violin, and some other guy on vocals. And the third was ten minutes of noise with thurston on electric, violin woman on violin, some other guy on bass, and about a million different fuzz pedals. If it had been a bunch of kids at the Elevens playing it I would have walked right out, but I was willing to give Thurston the benefit of the doubt. And if nothing else it was pretty amusing to watch everyone in the Calvin try to figure out what the fuck was happening. When it ended there was probably a 60:40 claps-to-boos ratio.
Lou played about half songs I knew, half ones I didn't, and played them all pretty well. "Sweet Jane" was second in the set, and thought it was good I've heard it better. "Ecstasy" was really good, as were the two songs from his Edgar Allan Poe album. He did "I'm Set Free," which I didn't expect at all and which was really fun to hear. And a new song, presumably called "Power of the Heart," which was slow and maybe the best thing I'd heard in a month. Drew agrees. It was incredible.
And for the encore, he did "Pale Blue Eyes." Never thought I'd see that live in all my life. It was good. Not great, but really really good.
For a couple beers thrown Drew's way, the night was well worth it.
April 19 2008: Oneside - WWII Club, Northampton MA
We were playing with this group Oneside, who are from Boston. They played some pretty good songs, with a really tight rhythm section. But, frankly, I was more interested in drinking free booze with Caitlin.
April 12 2008: Shawn Mullins, Tyler Ramsey, the Winterpills, Dar Williams - Northampton Box Office, Northampton MA
Free show!
Met Adam and Sairi and Caitlin there. It was sunny and warm. Things were good. Dar played a couple of songs. Then the Winterpills did a couple. Then the other guys did a tune each. Then we went and got ice cream at the chocolate emporium. It was tasty.
April 5 2008: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, John Vanderslice - Mass MoCA Hunter Center, North Adams MA
Caitlin and I headed up to North Adams to see Malkmus and his Jicks play in an airplane hangar. Or what seemed like one. I wonder what they used to manufacture in that space.
Vanderslice played first, mostly songs from his new album, mostly uneventfully. And he did throw "Time Travel is Lonely" in there near the end, but even that lacked any real captivating qualities. Too bad, that's such a great song. He's got a violin/bassist now who wears skinny jeans, instead of Broecker, so that made for some interesting arrangements. And for their last song the band got off stage with acoustic instruments and played "Nikki Oh Nikki" in the middle of the crowd with a lot of floor tom and harmony vocals. Which I thought was pretty great. Always did like that song.
The Jicks were pretty good, but pretty boring sometimes, and pretty full of stupid guitar solos. I used to adore the way Malkmus plays guitar. And I think he's the one who's changed here. Lots of boring wanking. And lots of the songs were long and dull. None of those atonal lines that always blew my mind. It occurrs to me that this is the only time I've seen Malkmus outside of Portland or Seattle, and maybe he just really makes a point to not play boring solos for minutes at a time in the Northwest. Maybe.
On the plus side, I hadn't heard "Dark Wave" in a while, and "It Kills" was lots of fun, with the backing vocals getting sung like they were before the album came out, and I hadn't heard "Vanessa from Queens" in a really long time. And Janet Weiss was playing drums, after all. Really can't complain about things when you've got Janet on drums.
March 29 2008: Kathleen Edwards - Pearl Street Ballroom, Northampton MA
My plan was to head to the Brass Cat to see the Fawns play. Either that or go to the Amity Front's CD release show. But then Lisa called and said she and Drew were outside the Kathleen Edwards gig and some lady had given her an extra ticket for free, and I was third or fourth on the list but no one else was answering their phone on a Saturday night. And I'd been talking with Sweeney about Kathleen Edwards just yesterday, and he said I'd really like her, so I hopped on the bike and headed downtown.
She was great. Great songs, great band, great to look at. What more do you want from an act you've never heard before? My favorite song of the night was one that she played in the encore by herself on an electric mandolin. I have no idea what it was called. But man, was it good. I need to borrow some of her albums from someone.
March 27 2008: Fancy Trash, Barn Burning - Sierra Grille, Northampton MA
We were playing, and so was this band from Providence (Barn Burning) and the Trash. It was fun, not the least because we got free food and all we could drink. Shame I had to be at work at 7am.
Fancy Trash played a bunch of new tunes that I enjoyed. And they were a bit more rocking than usual, cause Josh broke a string on his double bass and borrowed my Jazz for the show. It was a good time.
March 22 2008: The Mountain Goats, the Moaners - Black Cat Mainstage, Washington DC
Washington DC! Anna was there, Ryan and Heather came up for a couple nights, Anna brought a friend who went to George Fox and apparently had a class with me, and we all got there early to grab eight barstools and start the night right with eight shots of the finest cheapest whiskey in the house. And, though those who know me might suspect the following statement to be a lie, I honestly didn't mean to order Heather one. Cause, you know, I'm her friend and I know she doesn't particularly enjoy finest cheapest whiskeys in the same way that some of us do. But it got ordered, and then that was that, and she downed it like a champ. Shit yes. It was that kind of night.
Ryan and I went pretty quick to PBR, cause sometimes you just can't beat $3 pints in plastic cups. And cause that helped Ryan's booze allowance (as dictated by the half of his marriage that brings home a paycheck) slide further than it might have otherwise, and cause I didn't feel the need to get all highbrow when my buddy's drinking Pabst. I forget what Caitlin was drinking, but let's just say she went for PBR too. An all-for-one night it certainly was.
And man, it was fun. Show started with a really great "Michael Myers Resplendent," into "Heretic Pride," into "Quito," on which I'd forgotten how great Peter's backing vocals sound and wow maybe that was the best performance of "Quito" I've ever seen excepting maybe that one time in Chicago, into a great great "Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident," definitely the best of the tour, into "Wild Sage," which I'd call the best of the tour but that song is always so fucking great it's just too hard to tell. Man. Man do I love "Wild Sage."
The acoustic set was four songs long, including a song sung in Spanish that I'd never heard before and for which John had to ask someone in the crowd for help with the words. And the third song was "Elijah," which I'd never heard, and which has generally been and continues to remain one of my all-time favorite Mountain Goats tunes. And he just went right into it, just like that. Not even a second thought. Goddamn. And Caitlin was nice enough to go refill my PBR for me. I'll say it again, Goddamn.
After the acoustic songs, six tunes rounded out the set: "In the Craters on the Moon," "Song for Dennis Brown," "Dilaudid," "Love, Love, Love," "Sept 15 1983," "See America Right." And they were all fabulous, but I think "See America Right" was probably the best I've ever seen it. And I've seen it a lot, and seen it played pretty fucking nicely. Better than that time at Dartmouth? Better than that time in Northampton? Chicago? I think so.
Encore started with "Lovecraft in Brooklyn," loud and fast. Followed by "So Desperate," which I'd not really enjoyed all that much in past sets, but which finally made sense to me. For whatever reason, I'm not sure. Maybe it was just all that cheap beer floating around inside me. Followed by "This Year," which the kids dug. Gotta keep those kids happy.
Second encore was "Palmcorder Yajna" into "California Song." And man, I'll follow a tour any day of the week just to hear them play "California Song" as the last song on the last night. I got joy joy joy in my soul tonight.
And we ordered another round of whiskeys before leaving, and once again we ordered eight, and well, what are you gonna do. You're gonna give the eighth one to Heather and apologize and toast to rock and roll.
March 20 2008: The Mountain Goats, the Moaners - First Unitarian Church Basement, Philadelphia PA
Caitlin and I, after taking the New York Mountain Goats shows off for reasons of schedule but not feeling too bad about it due to an unshakable feeling that they just might be huge rooms of kids unapologetically singing along, hit the road and pointed ourselves in the direction of Philadelphia. A town where I've never seen a bad Mountain Goats show, and where they're generally pretty fucking top notch. And I'd never before spent a night in Philadelphia that didn't involve seeing a Mountain Goats concert, so getting there a day early was fun. We stayed at Caitlin's friend Julie's place, who lives a mile or so south of downtown, where I'd never spent any time, and enjoyed ourselves pretty well at the Royal Tavern a block down.
The next day, day of the show, we showed up at the church at seven, cause our tickets said the show was at eight and we made an assumption regarding door time. Our assumption, however reasonable, was not as reasonable as it could have been. It was windy and really really cold and we stood there, nine-tenths sober, until 815. At which point we walked in. As yet another assumption regarding the show was revealed for the mere assumption that it was: instead of the show happening in the really pretty main hall, the one with pews and stained-glass and chandeliers that's advertised on the church's website, we followed a snake of people into the basement. Where there was a stage set up, and punk-ass kids surrounding it, and big ominous-looking speakers pointed right at us. I totally thought this was going to be a nice sit-down MFA-style gig. I was wrong. Caitlin and I glanced at each other. She worried the kids were only going to get more punk-assier. I turned to Maker's. We were seriously worried there, and the huge crowd growing denser around us every minute didn't help.
However! Show starts and no one pushes us around, and no one starts a mosh pit, and John walks to the microphone and says, "Hi. We're the Mountain Goats." And then he plays "Abide With Me." No Peter, No Wurster. No stupid Led Zeppelin intro music. Just John playing old songs. Songs mostly too old for people to sing along with, half of which I'd never heard before. "Abide With Me" went into "Blueberry Frost," into "Going to Reykjavik," into "Jeff Davis County Blues" (maybe better than the MFA? maybe? goddamn was it nice), into "Blues in Dallas," into "Duke Ellington," into "Song for Dennis Brown," into "Have to Explode." It was a great eight songs. It felt like old times. Hell of a way to start a set.
And then Peter and Wurster came out and they closed with five full-band tunes, finishing the set with "Sept 15, 1983" and "Lovecraft in Brooklyn," which was relatively mellow, vocals wise. I was digging it though. And the encore was a low-key "Babylon Burning," which I wasn't expecting at all and was lots of fun, into "Dance Music," kind of the way they played it in the fall, but slower. Way slower.
The people screamed for a second encore, but they didn't get one. And then we got into a cab, it drove slowly and evenly back to Julie's, and I dreamt about home.
March 15 2008: The Mountain Goats, the Moaners - Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge MA
This was, like I was telling Caitlin as we were eating falafel for dinner, definitely the first time this little round of Mountain Goats that I felt actively excited for the show. So I followed that falafel and excitement up with quite a few Harpoons and enjoyed the hell out of the show. We were able to show up relatively late in the evening (an hour after doors, but still an hour until the Moaners started) and still get ourselves a nice spot with a stair to sit on while we waited and upon which to drink beer, and Peter found us as we were walking in and I was happy to be able to introduce him and Caitlin.
The Moaners, whose full set I finally caught, were great. Caitlin thought so too.
And the Mountain Goats started out the set with "Michael Myers Resplendent" and "Heretic Pride," just like they did in Northampton, but in Northampton they seemed tired and not excited to be playing, and seemed the opposite tonight. Even "Autoclave," which is definitely not my favorite song, sounded great. And the sound at the Middle East was bar none better than at any Mountain Goats show I've been to in the last year. Even that fucking slut who insisted on singing along couldn't ruin things. True story: I ask her if she wouldn't mind to please not sing quite so loudly, asking totally politely, totally thinking to myself, "ok Sohriakoff, don't come on too strong here cause this bitch is liable to insist on screaming in your ear if you sound too much like her dad, whom she most likely lives with cause she's clearly 17." And she looks at me like I'm some creep who's just felt her up on the subway or something, and informs me that she would very much indeed mind, and then leans over to her boyfriend to relate what has just happened. And then the boyfriend, in a tone nowhere near as polite as mine had been, feels the need to note that there is a whole room full of places to stand if I've got a problem with his slut of a girlfriend expressing her beautiful self. Caitlin, referring to this girl after the show, utilized a slang term for vagina that I'm not sure I'd ever heard her use in anger before - and not just once, but at least ten times. She didn't even stop singing after John prefaced "Love, Love, Love" by saying, "Not to tell anybody what to do, but this is another one of those quiet songs. Just so you know, if you paid to get in, that this song is quiet. That's really all I can tell you." But anyway - even that bitch couldn't ruin things. Plus she didn't know the old songs. Slut.
"Wild Sage" was fabulous, the best it's been all tour, and it led into "Sax Rohmer," which I hadn't seen live yet. Which led into the acoustic set, which was started with "Have to Explode," another song I'd never seen before. And "Jeff Davis County Blues" happened again. Man do I love that song.
And the set finished up with the following tunes: "In the Craters on the Moon," "Love, Love, Love," "Sept 15 1983," "Lion's Teeth," "Lovecraft in Brooklyn." It was fantastic. "Craters" and "Sept 15" were the best of the tour, maybe ever. "Lion's Teeth" was fucking ON, and "Lovecraft in Brooklyn" was maybe even as good as that time last year I saw it in St. Louis. Maybe even better. It was fucking nuts.
"Going to Georgia" opened the first encore, full band, and sounded good. I guess I prefer it solo acoustic, but it was fun to hear it with the band. And after "This Year" finished up and the monitor guy started to take microphones down and the lights and house music went up, the people refused to stop clapping and after a few minutes the band came back to do "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton." Good fucking times.
March 14 2008: The Mountain Goats, the Moaners - Remis Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA
Big story of the night, far as I'm concerned, was "Jeff Davis County Blues," solo acoustic, halfway through the set. Hadn't seen it live since New York in '06, when some asshole was singing along in my ear. Tonight, though! Tonight! The MFA crowd was as polite as they could be. And like John was just daring them to be assholes, he goes into "Jeff Davis County Blues" to start out the solo set that's apparently SOP these days. And he starts playing the song, and it's ridiculously quiet, and there's not one fucking peep until the final chords are fading away. I couldn't believe it. Not if I saw it with my own eyes. And that was all followed up with "Sign of the Crow," which I really like and had forgotten about, and a cover of a Rodney Crowell tune called "I Ain't Living Long Like This." What a great little string of songs.
"Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident" opened the show, but it definitely lost something with the drums. "New Zion" into "Wild Sage" was really nice, and, as I said to Caitlin afterwards, "that's about the best performance of 'Love, Love, Love' you're most likely ever gonna see." "Lion's Teeth" led into "Sept 15 1983" to close the set, and I was happy.
Caitlin's friend Matt had come out with us, and it was fun to hang out with him and he said he really enjoyed it. And we had these Front of House tickets, which guaranteed us seating in the first three rows of an otherwise GA show, so we were able to watch from right in front of John's face.
And the show was over by 1030 so we finished the night with BBCs at some awful Somerville bar with songs like "Don't Cry" playing as loud as the show had been, watching people play the big game hunting video game. Good times.
March 13 2008: The Mountain Goats, the Moaners - Pearl Street Ballroom, Northampton MA
So the big news for this show, as far as I was concerned, was not so much that the Mountain Goats were playing half a mile from my house, but that the Mountain Goats were playing half a mile from my house and my band was opening. And amongst the perks of opening a show, aside from free booze and putting your friends on the list, is getting to watch the soundcheck. Which is definitely pretty dull unless you're really fucking into the band that's checking sound and know that, historically speaking, Mountain Goats soundchecks are where all the old and seldom-heard songs get played. And tonight was no exception. Songs that were checked included, in order, "Going to Utrecht," "The Alphonse Mambo," "San Bernardino," "Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident," and "Lovecraft in Brooklyn." Of those, only "Lovecraft" was in the set.
Unfortnately, I didn't catch much of the Moaners due to drinking the afore-mentioned free Harpoons and Heinekens backstage with Drew. But the Mountain Goats came out opening with "Michael Myers Resplendent," which song I really dig. "Heretic Pride" sounded good, and so did "Hast Though Considered the Tetrapod" and "Wild Sage." They didn't sound necessarily great, but they sounded good.
And after about a half-hour the band left the stage and John stuck around to sing some solo tunes, which were pretty appreciated by me after what seemed like a mostly loud-for-loud's-sake set. Amongst others, he did "Ghosts" and "Billy the Kid's Dream of the Magic Shoes," a song which I never really cared much for before but it felt pretty good tonight. And "It Froze Me," which I hadn't seen in a while. I can't remember when I last saw it, but I suspect it was Boston in 2006, when the crowd drowned out John's vocals with their own. It was real nice to hear it listened to and not sung-along to. Yay Northampton!
And after the acoustic interlude, the set finished up with four tunes: "Love, Love, Love," which was nice and subtle and nicely complemented by the drums;"In the Craters on the Moon" and "Lovecraft in Brooklyn," both of which kind of need the drums; and "This Year," which was just a huge singalong and made me wish they'd played something else. I guess I should be glad that the kids want to sing along to "This Year" and not "Sept 15 1983." Cause if anyone had been singing on that one, which opened the encore, I would have lost my shit. That song was amazing. And it was great to hear it now that I know how it sounds on the record. "See America Right" finished up the show. I traded smiles with Adam and was glad he got to hear it again.
And then the show was over and I packed up my shit and went home and had a beer. Not a great Mountain Goats show, but a great night all around.
February 28 2008: Steve Earle, Allison Moorer - Calvin Theatre, Northampton MA
I cut out of internship a few hours early so Caitlin and I could get dinner and then a drink with Alicia and Rob and then see Steve Earle. He played the first half-hour solo acoustic, opening with "Steve's Last Ramble" and "Devil's Right Hand," the latter of which was really fun to hear. But like the show in general, it didn't hold up to the memory of the last (and only other) time I'd seem him play. "Someday" was pretty good, and "Tom Ames' Prayer" was pretty fabulous, and "Billy Austin" was undeniably fabulous. Never heard that song before, and man did it blow me away.
But for the last hour of the set he played his new album. I'm not sure if he played every last song, but he played the ones I like ("Jericho Road," "Oxycontin Blues" and "Red is the Color") and a bunch that I recognized from, but didn't paid much mind to, that one or two times I played the whole record through. And it went on for quite some time so I figure even if he didn't play the whole thing, he may as well have. The effect was the same either way: bunch of pretty good songs with a DJ spinning the rhythm tracks. Guess that's what happens when you start giving a guy Grammys.
But for the encores he played old tunes again, and finished up the show with "Copperhead Road" and "Christmas in Washington." Christ did the old hippies in front of me shit themselves over "Christmas in Washington."
And all in all was a pretty great show, especially those first 30 minutes. Man did those first 30 minutes have some great songs.
Febuary 2 2008: Adam Sweeney, Sarah Levecque Band - the Basement, Northampton MA
Everyone likes free shows at the Basement, especially when it's people you're friends with plus people you've never heard of before and blow you away.
Sarah Levecque and her band played first, and it was pretty much like it must have been for people when they would see Lucinda Williams play small places like this. Amazing. She played mostly acoustic guitar and sang, and the rest of the band just played standard country. But her vocal phrasing and melodies were both just about perfect. She switched over to an electric guitar for a few of the later tunes, but the acoustic tunes were the best.
And Adam played next. He had those two dudes that I don't really know on double bass and fiddle, and Ben on drums. Ben got dragged to the show by John, who I guess told him that he could either spend the evening playing that board game Risk or come out to the show. So Ben barely makes it out of the house, and then he's got half a beer in him when Adam says, "Hey Ben! Wanna sit in?" And Ben figures he's got his cymbals in the car anyway, and free beer never hurts, so what the hell.
And it was a good show, expecially considering that no one on stage had played with the others in at least six months. "Albuquerque" sounded real nice, like it always does, and the Pureka's "Porch Songs" was a great way to end the set.
