8 days a week - a concert diary

Finally catching up on some sleep after an intense string of live shows here in the Twin Cities. I was out 8 nights in a row and saw some of the best live music I've seen all year. If I would've gone to the Interpol and Badly Drawn Boy shows on the 19th and 20th, that would've made 10 nights in a row, a run my body, wallet and wife probably would've objected to. It was a hell of a ride and I only missed two shows of consequence: Two Cow Garage (who were up against Centro-matic; they seem to be snake-bitten when it comes to scheduling conflicts in these parts) and David Thomas.

10/21/04 - ROCK FOR KARL BENEFIT @ THE QUEST. Much has been written about this historic night, a "special" occasion that for once actually lived up to the hype and even, at times, exceeded it. You know it's been a good night when a Paul Westerberg solo set is close to the least exciting thing on the whole bill (and who woulda thunk the highlight of his set would be "Kentucky Rain?"). Paul later redeemed himself nicely with a gloriously unkempt version of "Dead Flowers" with the Louris-less "Golden Smog" ("if me, Gary or Danny is missing, it ain't Golden Smog" - Kraig Johnson, 10/19/04), a performance that perfectly evoked the spirit of those drunken cover-fests 15+ years ago at the Cabooze, Uptown Bar and 400 Bar (original version). The "GS" set ended on a high note with a furious Iggy cover sung by KJJ ("Knocking 'em Down,' from "Soldier"). Then it was time for the Gear Daddies reunion, a set I quite enjoyed in spite of what can only be described as the "ugliness" of a large portion of GD "fans" (way too many rude, fucked up, frat-boy, backwards-baseball-cap-wearing mooks).

The most historic moment of the night, of course, was Grant Hart popping up on stage during Bob Mould's blistering solo electric set for two songs. While later reports from those in the know indicate that it might be premature to say that 16 years of acrimony have finally ended, it was nonetheless a powerfully emotional moment. And the man of the hour? Well, Karl sounded great on stage during SA's well-received, rockin' set and looked surprisingly chipper considering he was essentially nearly roasted alive during his extremely aggressive radiation treatment just a few months ago. Bad news? Well, it almost goes without saying that this benefit was at the wrong club in DT Mpls - the Quest is a horrible, wretched place, even by Clear Channel standards - but it's a testament to the power of the event itself and abundant good vibes that the severe shortcomings of the venue were overcome for a good cause.

10/22/04 - SARA LEE GUTHRIE & JOHNNY IRION / THE OLD 97s @ FIRST AVE. The 2 most recent New West signings on a very strong double bill. I mentioned in an earlier post my total pleasure at seeing Woody's granddaughter and her hubby backed by a couple of Jayhawks + Dave Boquist; suffice it to say that you should really try and catch them live if you can, especially if this expanded line-up ever hits the road (KYFC). Their new studio album, produced by Gary Louris at Ed Ackerson's Mpls studio, is a remarkable accomplishment and contains at least one song, "Gervais," that is destined to be a classic (comes out 1/25/05).
Like many here, I'm somewhat lukewarm about the recent 97s album, but their show was a crowd-pleasin' hoot damn near from start to finish. All phases of their recorded history were mixed in nicely, fondly evoking memories of the their 90s shows when they played to considerably smaller crowds here (there were well over a 1000 at this show). Throw in a smart cover or two and a truly impressive expenditure of energy, and you've got one sweat-drenched, deliriously happy crowd at the end of the night. Nice guys, too - hung around till the last cell-phone camera portrait was snapped.

10/23/04 - "ROCK FOR DEMOCRACY" @ THE TRIPLE ROCK. Started the night out early at yet another benefit (Summer 2004 in Mpls will definitely be remembered as "The Summer of Benefits") over at the Triple Rock catching my friends The Mood Swings, a "fuzz-pop" power trio led by Ashley Prenzlow, who are currently recording an album for Susstones. This was a very strange night, the concept being to alternate hip-hop and rock bands on one bill (The Melismatics, another fine Susstones act, were the headliners). I didn't stick around too long since I had to head over to...

10/23/04 - "WELLSTONE MUSIC DAY" @ THE TURF CLUB. About a zillion acts on this one, including local music scribe Jim Walsh, who helped plant the seed for this event last year. Jim used to front a local band back in the day (Laughing Stock, whose career highlights include one long-lost LP, a string of shows with the Replacements, and opening for Billy Bragg at one of his very first US shows when he played to about 50 people in the 7th St. Entry in 1985) and is currently dabbling with writing new music. Ya all know the drill: writers wanna be musicians who wanna be writers who wanna be actors who wanna be musicians... Grant Hart, Curtiss A and Slim Dunlap were the big draws and by 2am everybody was in a drunken, giddy mood, a fairly typical occurrence for a Saturday night at the Turf. The festivities ended with a now seemingly obligatory cover of "What's So Funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding," but the highlight for me was Curtiss A jumping up during Slim's set, Jameson in hand, for a never more pertinent reading of his scathing early Twin/Tone classic, "Land of the Free."

10/24/04 - LIANNE SMITH / RICH MATTSON @ THE TURF CLUB. Speaking of Twin/Tone, Lianne used to be in local Rockabilly cats, Safety Last, who, near the end of their run, also featured a young Gary Louris, right before he hooked up with Mark Olson in the Jayhawks. Lianne currently lives in NYC and is jumping back into the music scene after an extended absence. It was just her and an old Tele, with her former bandmate in Safety Last and The Tanglewoods, Jim Tollefsrud on drums. Nice set, with shades of Rosanne Cash and Jill Sobule evident and lots of promising songs. Rich Mattson is from Ol' Yeller, a cool local band who've put out 4 solid albums. For my money, he's just about the most underrated talent in town. He's a hard working guy with great stage presence and he seems to have the ability to pop out good songs at will. This was an acoustic set accompanied by one of his bandmates and featured lots of brand new songs, some being a dramatic departure from the rootsy Americana of Ol' Yeller. The night wound down earlier than I thought, so I hopped on I-94 and headed towards DT Mpls to catch...

10/24/04 - THE CRAMPS @ FIRST AVE. When I was planning out my concert schedule a few weeks ago, this was a show I thought I'd miss. As it turns out, I saw the whole shebang and ended up drinking way more than I planned on to boot, probably in reaction to the unrestrained campy decadence of Lux, Poison Ivy and crew. It had been two decades since I'd seen these sick weirdos and they were every bit as good as I remembered them. Maybe even better. The years have been surprisingly kind to these two (although, up close, I noticed Ms. Ivy had on a *lot* of make-up) as they've cranked out album after album of their patented brand of "psycho-billy" junkie rock. A week early for Halloween, although you never woulda known it from the crowd. I haven't seen so many freaky punk outcasts in one place since 1983, and that was probably at a Cramps show, too.

10/25/04 - WILCO (NIGHT 1) @ THE ORPHEUM THEATER. I'll admit I didn't have high hopes for this one since I was profoundly underwhelmed the last time I saw them in this space (July 2002) - I believe I used the word "snoozefest" to describe that show. The new expanded line-up, however, has opened up a whole new chapter in the band's history, something I've become increasingly aware of as I've listened to a big pile of 2004 Wilco live shows in recent weeks. In retrospect, it now appears that the fault line for Wilco fans will turn out to be the Summer 2001 live shows, aka The Jay Bennett Farewell mini-tour. This is the demarcation between the eclectic alt-country/Americana/whatever-you-wanna-call-it of the "old" Wilco and the "new" Wilco, who probably are more inspired by the Velvet Underground and Neu than Gram Parsons or Neil Young.
Personally, I was absolutely blown away by this new edition of the Jeff Tweedy Band. What Wilco plays these days resembles "rock" music but is probably closer to some conceptual high-art version of "rock" (I heard a local musician after the show refer to them as an "American Spiritualized," and that was meant as an extreme compliment). I'll admit, I'm a sucker for the "symphonic noise" and unabashed experimentation they are now so obviously fond of. Having said that, I can easily understand how some (many? most??) long-time Wilco fans now feel that their heroes have jumped the shark. I know how awful it can feel when a band you love gives up the ghost (I've still never forgiven Strummer and Co. for sacking Mick Jones). After witnessing this, the 23rd Wilco performance I've seen in MN, it's easy to see how one person's "beautiful noise" can be another person's "pretentious wankery." Wilco seemed particularly intense and driven on this otherwise uneventful Monday night; it was 49 minutes before Tweedy said a single word to the audience (I happened to be running my stopwatch, a carryover habit from my old taping days). Predictably, the bulk of the setlist was from the last two albums, but even the older material was affected by Wilco's new directions and strategies, which are explained nicely by Mikael Jorgensen (aka "Laptop Guy," although he actually is quite competent on a variety of keyboards/doo-dads in the current live line-up) in the appendix of the new "The Wilco Book." Case in point: the new noisy middle section of "Via Chicago," which, IMO, expands exponentially the disturbing creepiness and sadness of this song, resulting in a chilling listening experience. This is the same noisefest that Karla so mercilessly derided; I thought it was one of the highlights of the night - go figure. The line clearly has been drawn in the proverbial sand and I fear those who are jumping off the bandwagon may never catch up with it again.

10/26/04 - WILCO (NIGHT 2) @ THE ORPHEUM THEATER. Intensity level was dialed down a few notches for this show; not as many skronk-fests and journeys to inner space. Tweedy was more affable and engaged with the audience, and the encores were a bit more palatable to fans of the "old" Wilco. Monday night we were sitting in the front of the balcony so we had a birds eye view of the amazing Mr. Kotche. On Tuesday I was down in the 6th row so I was able to pay more attention to the Nels Cline (who, literally, brings the noise to this band) and Pat Sansone, who does a fine job as the resident multi-instrumentalist (Leroy who?). Some welcome setlist variations for night 2 - another big change from the early post-YHF shows - including "Hell Is Chrome," "Less Than You Think" and "Magazine Called Sunset." "Spiders" worked well as the main set finale; both versions I saw were superb, the metronomic intensity building to dizzying heights. Definitely becoming a big crowd fave, at least for fans of the "new" Wilco. Like I said, the line has been drawn... FWIW, I'm also a fan of the earlier, non-Krautrock live versions of "Spiders," although it's essentially become a different song now. As he did the night before, Tweedy gave his political stump speech (he and most of the band went to a John Edwards rally earlier in the day at the U of M) before a very powerful version of Bill Fay's "Be Not So Fearful" to end the show. I left the second night suitably awed and anxious to see this line-up again, a drastically different feeling than I had after the last few times I'd seen the band.
Milled around for a bit after the show (saw Alan Sparhawk from Low - who's no stranger to conceptual methods - in an intense discussion with Tweedy; don't be surprised if Wilco go all "slow-core" on the next album...heh, heh), but not for too long since it was time to walk down Hennepin Ave. a few blocks to see...

10/26/04 - CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN @ FIRST AVE. This show apparently wasn't selling well - Tweedy announced from the stage earlier in the night at the Orpheum that a Wilco ticket stub + $5 would get you in to see CVB. After the Wilco show I noticed a few First Ave. employees actually giving away comps to the people exiting the theater. Regardless of the price, it was surprisingly good show for a long-dead band, especially considering that their equipment just got jacked a few weeks ago. Much to my delight, they played a ton of material from their "Santa Cruz" years, along with a big chunk of the new album and a very entertaining batch of covers ("White Riot," "Pictures of Matchstick Men," etc.). A large contingent of Wilco members and friends were in attendance, gaining admittance only after Marc Perlman and I patiently explained to the door person that these people weren't just coming from the Wilco show but they _were_, in fact, Wilco (First Ave. was co-promoting the Wilco show and someone was supposed to have left word at the door). At one point, I exasperatedly asked the cashier if she couldn't just change my media credentials from "plus 1" to "plus 11," which didn't quite get the reaction I was hoping for.

10/27/04 - DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS @ THE ELECTRIC FETUS. An afternoon acoustic in-store set that featured 2-3 songs from Hood, Cooley and Isbell. Words, melodies and finger-pickin' took center stage for this performance in front of the box set section. It all came off surprisingly well considering the absence of their usual triple electric guitar roar. It's becoming increasingly evident to me that Jason Isbell is the real deal; he's an amazingly accomplished songwriter and guitar player for such a young whippersnapper. Hopefully a proposed solo project is on the fast track.

10/27/04 - CENTRO-MATIC / DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS @ FIRST AVE. Another strong double-bill and an impressive crowd for the Trucker's first big room show in MN. Centro played an hour set that seemed to last about 15 minutes and were just friggin' awesome. It was also cool to see Jason Isbell provide some atmospherics on a few songs. All of the Centro guys are amazing musicians - their command of mood and dynamics is absolutely masterful. Will J.'s almost becoming a regular around here - he did an opening solo set at the Triple Rock a few weeks ago and will be back there in a few weeks for another solo set, opening for the reformed American Music Club. I chatted with him for a few minutes during the Truckers and he couldn't have been nicer. Definitely one of the "good guys" (John Stiratt belongs in that category, too).
The last few Truckers shows I've seen were largely uneventful, but they sure kicked ass from the git-go this time; they were as hot as I've ever seen them. Several of the songs off "The Dirty South" have grown on me in recent months and they played nearly all of those in the first 90 minutes. This was fortunate for me since I had to take off to pick up my wife a few blocks away at the Loon bar. She had just come in from the airport on our new billion dollar LRT choo-choo train and was having a drink while watching the Red Sox complete their stunning curse reversal. Usually 90 minutes will get you an entire concert; for the Truckers, that's about half a show!

10/28/04 - JOHN CALE @ FIRST AVE. Pitifully under-attended show, considering this man's CV and influence on modern rock music - back in the early and mid-60s, he was exploring (helping to invent?) some of the very avenues that Tweedy and Co. are traveling these days. On the surface, there are more than a few similarities between Cale and the "new" Wilco - both share a penchant for songs featuring lilting melodies and light passages interspersed with blasts of the avant-garde. Cale is touring with a very competent 3 piece band in support of last year's "Hobo Sapien" album, his first release in a long time. Stylistically, Cale and his band were almost ridiculously diverse - everything from delicate, whimsical ditties to long, loud segments of sampled noise and distortion (hmm...sound familiar?). Highlights included "Fear is A Man's Best Friend," "Cable Hogue," "Leaving It Up To You," a radically revamped, very disjointed "Gun" and a long jam version of the immortal "Pablo Picasso." All in all, a superb show, even though he didn't play a whole slew of personal faves ("Big White Cloud," "Guts," "Amsterdam," etc.). Cale alternated between his keyboard/sampler, viola and acoustic & electric guitars and showed he's still the shit, well into his 5th decade of involvement with some of the best music created in the modern era.

10/29/04 - HOME. Spent some quality time in front of the TV and computer. Had the strange sensation that I was missing something, somewhere...