Review: David Poe / Jeff Tweedy / Kraig Johnson & The Program - 8/8/03 - 400 Bar - Mpls, MN

As if in a dream... (part 2)

Here are some more reports from the trenches, filed early Saturday morning after the second night in a row of great music and good times at the 2003 Golden Smog extravaganza. Great to see so many familiar faces at the event of the season.

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Here are some details while there still fresh. Very shortly I'm going to begin what is hopefully a very long sleep so i want to try and get as much out as i can. Apologies in advance for any errors; i'm runnin' on fumes right now.

Night 2 of the Golden Smog extravaganza at the 400 bar. Lot of the same players, a few new ones, but quite a different vibe. Things started out with some "mini sets"-- quiet and acoustic, sometimes solo. Later in the evening, things picked up significantly when the considerable power of "The Program" was unleashed, featuring songs by Kraig Johnson, David Poe, Neil Young, David Bowie, and, yes, Jeff Tweedy, too. Combine that with sterling sets earlier from Tweedy and Leona Ness, and a surprise bit of history in the making smack in the middle of the main "Program" set, and you've got one you'll be telling your grandkids about. And that's not even taking into consideration the festivities of the previous evening, a night that by itself was pretty much off the hook.

ROUGH SYNOPSIS

* - opening David Poe acoustic set. solo at first, then slowly joined by Program members and Jessy Greene. Half dozen songs, including last year's best big-hit-that-never-was, "The Drifter."

* - Kraig Johnson acoustic set. First two songs with Jim Boquist and David Poe; last two with the rest of the Program and Jessy Greene. 3 superb new songs ("California," "Outta Town," and "Each and Every Day" for those keeping score), capped off with Neil Young's "Lotta Love," which he's been performing all summer.

* - Leona Ness set. Several songs with her drummer and keyboardist, who also happens to be in David Poe's NYC band. Very nice stuff.

* - Jeff Tweedy solo set. 7 songs, a bit over 25 minutes. Breathtakingly good. Very intense and deliberate, nailing everything, almost completely muting the normally always very loud crowd noise in the 400. This guy projects in a small club like a big huge lighthouse beacon. Just amazing. Opened with a solo version of "Late Greats" - a truly great brand new song debuted a month ago in Detroit - that started things out on a high point, where they remained the whole set. Joined on 3 songs by Jessy Green who, BTW, was one of many "secret weapons" of the two night stand. I thought her contributions almost always greatly improved the songs she played on. One of the songs Jessy played on was an extremely rare live performance of "Rhythm" that Jeff introduced by saying "here's a song that didn't make the last record." On the last 5 songs Jeff played a 12 string acoustic that sounded _very_ good.

SETLIST

1. Late Greats
2. I'm the Man Who Loves You
3. Rhythm (aka Cars Can't Escape)
4. Box Full of Letters (major crowd singalong)
5. Be Not So Fearful (Bill Fay cover)
6. Pecan Pie (with Kraig Johnson and Dan Murphy helping out)
7. The Lonely 1 (Jessy faithfully reprising her beautiful "Being There" performance)


* - The Program set. One 90 minute wild train ride. Several Kraig songs, 4 David Poe songs, and 2 "surprise" guests, with the added bonus of Poe's / Ness' keyboardist Fil Krohnengold helping out on piano, guitar and vocals. First bombshell -- and probably the biggest "special moment" of the whole 2 nights -- was Tweedy popping up smack in the middle of the Program set to play an awesome, spirited, emotional version of "New Madrid" with The Program backing and Jim Boquist picking up the Jay harmony part. What a historic moment -- overheard: "wow, man, it's Wilco meets Son Volt!!!" -- one that took a few minutes to sink in. When I heard Jimmy kick in with the harmony vocals I almost had an out of body experience. Unbeknownst to many, Boquist and Tweedy go way back together, predating the point a few years ago when the were simultaneously members of supposedly "rival" bands. Afterwards, Jeff and Jim hugged and Jeff said, with his biggest smile of the night, "I haven't played with Jim since Uncle Tupelo!" It's hard to describe just how cool it was to witness this wonderful performance of such a classic song.

The second bombshell was at the end of the main Program set when Jeff came back up for the Program showstopper, "Freight Train," an obscure cover (Sister Double Happiness - SST - 1988) that Kraig has totally made his own in the years since it first showed up in the Run Westy Run repertoire. Things were rocking so hard at this point that on-stage spontaneous combustion seemed possible. Jeff played an amazing lead on a song he had likely just learned 2 days before, and traded some vocal licks too. Oh yeah, Kraig's booty shaking was off the scale for this ride on the freight train, much to the delight of the ladies in the house. The patented "Kraigy wiggle" was in full M-Fin' effect! Danny Murphy joined the gang for the encore during which the Program ripped through Neil Young's "Time Fades Away" and Bowie's "Five Years" (a classic Golden Smog cover during the 1996 heyday), which featured Dan on lead vocals.
I think that's most of the major highlights. What a fun, insane 2 nights of great music, and (mostly) great people, too. Definitely should make this some kind of annual event!

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KJJ & The Program
8/8/03 - 400 Bar - Mpls


Kraig Johnson - David Poe - Ed Ackerson - Peter Anderson - Jim Boquist
w/ Fil Krohnengold on keyboards

SETLIST
1. Song For Everyone
2. Play On
3. Soul Parade (with Jessy Green on violin and vocals)
4. [David Poe] Gun For a Mouth
5. [David Poe] Stick With the Kid
6. Green Love
7. [Jeff Tweedy] New Madrid (Johnson = bass / Boquist = elec gtr, harmony vox)
8. So Silently (Ackerson = organ)
9. [David Poe] Soft Core Porn Star (Fil Krohnengold = gtr)
10. [David Poe] Beatles Blues (Fil Krohnengold = gtr, vox)
11. Take Me Home
12. Freight Train (Tweedy = lead gtr, vox)

ENCORE
13. Time Fades Away (Dan Murphy = gtr)
14. Five Years (Dan Murphy = gtr, lead vox)

All of the Program sets over the two nights were first rate and the final set was no different, a smokin' hot blast from start to finish. They rocked as hard as I've ever heard them and, frankly, clearly stunned a bunch of the audience members, many of whom had no idea what the Program was, so to speak (I talked to a few people who were convinced The Program was some nom de plume for Golden Smog). I think the boys picked up more converts than at any time in their glorious 16 month public history. I know I had several people come up to me at merch table asking variations of who the &*$# are these guys / why haven't I ever heard about 'em? / do they have a record out / etc.

Poe's stuff in particular was killer and it is very much to Kraig's credit that he allowed his good friend so much spotlight time on a 2 night stand with the eyes of the world watching. "Soft Core Porn Star" is my new fave rave of the moment, easily one of the best songs of the year, and this was one of the best performances of any song I've heard this year by anyone ("be someone else's / be someone else's / be someone else's, soft core, porn star"). His "Late Album" from last year is a true lost gem - it hasn't been out of the play pile in our house since David gave a freebie to my wife after the legendary Clown Lounge gig last August -- Poe's first appearance on stage with The Program -- on a magical night when the festivities got suddenly moved into the basement of the Turf Club after rain cancelled a Cap City Days gig in St. Paul. Thus began our friendship with this extremely talented musician, all around sweetheart, and the pride of Dayton, Ohio (and, no, I don't mean Robert Pollard or Kim Deal!).

The addition of Fil Krohnengold, Jessy Green and Tweedy all made for a truly special, momentous Program set. As fun and cool as the Golden Smog set was, the Friday Program set was, as Poe would say, "the bomb."

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...Which reminds me of a delicious moment last night: After a particularly tortuous reading of "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" (one of Gary's worst ever covers IMO, right down there with "All By Myself" - I mean, f***ing GAG ME!), Gary said "that's the last time I'm ever gonna play that. If I ever play that again, somebody please shoot me." Of course at that point the band started the song up again and some people in the audience pointed their "finger guns" at Gary and pretended to shoot him as Mr. Perfectionist shook his head. Classic Golden Smog moment #687. Heh heh...

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The "mystery cover" in the Smog set last nite was "Never Marry a Railroad Man," a way obscure cover of a Shocking Blue song, the 70s Dutch group best known for "Venus," as well as being the source of Nirvana's first single ("Love Buzz"). This song was often performed in the very early days of Golden Smog and hasn't made a live appearance that i'm aware of since early 1996. Oh yeah, the New Pornographers also cover a Shocking Blue song, "Send Me a Postcard." Who woulda thunk that such a quintessential one-hit wonder band would have such a robust afterlife in the rock underground?

All in all, last nite was a truly magnificent evening. Tonight promises to be even more exciting with likely solo sets from Leona Ness, Dan Murphy and some guy from Chicago named Jeff, another David Poe & The Program set (he was simply amazing last night), as well as a full Kraig Johnson & The Program set featuring a cast of thousands and special guests galore.

Oh yeah, the reason Gary and Mark had to leave today was for a private corporate gig in Seattle. In a way, i'm almost glad they're not gonna be there tonight as i'm not sure my already weakened constitution could take the excitement of another "full" Golden Smog show.