Here's a mini-review of The Program show last Saturday.
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The Program played their first show after their Spanish tour in St. Cloud, MN last Saturday. The absence of David Poe (who will be at the upcoming Mpls and Chicago shows) and the requirement of two 1 hour sets provided the necessary ingredients / inspiration for an experiment that prodded the boys dangerously close to “jam band” territory. Not that there’s anything wrong with that...
The Program's first show as a "power quartet" turned out to be truly enjoyable and memorable, with some positively sterling instrumental work from Mssrs. Anderson and Ackerson. About half of the songs got stretched out and, for the most part, sounded great.
Their recent trip thru Spain with the Jayhawks has evidently done wonders for their set. They’re obviously itching to play, as anyone who saw the energy they were radiating by the end of the second set can attest to.
Along with the regular Program songs, several cool covers were played: a couple of Neil Young songs, the Velvet’s “What Goes On,” and a scorching version of The Stooge’s “TV Eye” which, strangely enough, Wilco saw fit to cover a few years ago in Amsterdam.
There were also two certifiable moments of “Smog-ish” behavior, as in Golden Smog. Kraig, of course, is a founding member, Peter Anderson filled in on drums at the semi-secret, Tweedy-less GS show two summers ago at the 400, and Jim Boquist and Ed Ackerson are “honorary members” who’ve appeared both in the studio and on stage with GS. So everyone on stage had suitable GS credentials. The first set saw The Program debut of “Spooky” - long a GS live staple - and it clocked in at damn near 15 minutes! And, in what easily was peak of the night for me, T. Rex’s “Buick MacKane” - one of the highlights of every ‘96 GS show it appeared in - also made its Program debut, rocking like nobody’s business.
And so it went - another great Program show in St. Cloud in front of just about the strangest damn crowd you can imagine.
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