"How can people be so heartless? How can people be so cruel?"
Golden Smog
June 9, 2007
"Kruger Aid" Festival - Waseca County Fairgrounds
Waseca, MN
Gary Louris - gtrs, keyboards, omnichord, vox
Kraig Johnson - gtrs, bass, harmonica, keyboards, vox
Dan Murphy - gtrs, vox, percussion
Marc Perlman - bass, gtrs, vox
with special guests:
G Wiz - drums, percussion, vox
Janey Winterbauer - vox
Fil Krohnengold - keyboards, gtrs, vox
Jim Boquist - gtrs, bass, vox
1. Looking Forward to Seeing You (w/JW)
2. Ill-Fated
3. Beautiful Mind
4. Won't Be Coming Home
5. Corvette
6. Frying Pan Eyes
7. Easy to be Hard
8. To Call My Own (w/JB)
9. Yesterday Cried (w/JB
10. Almost Cut My Hair (MP=lead vox; w/ JB)
11. V
12. He's a Dick
13. Hurricane
14. Cure For This (w/JW)
15. Starman (w/JB & JW)
16. If I Only Had a Car
17. You Make It Easy
18. Until You Came Along (w/JB & JW)
Short review --
How many ways can you say "fantastic?" One of the best Smog shows ever IMHO. Miles better than the dress rehearsal at First Ave. last summer and easily as good as anything i've heard from the shows last year that were recorded. Coming on the heels of a memorable "stealth" show the night before, this was a Smog 1-2 punch that will likely be one for the ages.
Even though they were performing for an occasion that was, as Danny said at one point, "bittersweet at best," there was an abundance of joy and happiness present while The Smog did their thing. They were tight in all the right places and, well, loose in all the right places, too. Hell, they even jammed! Gary, in particular, was in top form -- his singing and playing definitely seem to have benefited from all of the studio work he's been doing lately. They sounded so good that it was hard to believe that they hadn't played together in several months and that they were breaking in a new drummer to boot (Wiz was on fire -- he won over every single person i talked to after the show). It's even harder to think that there's nothing on the foreseeable horizon in Smog World; this could be the last time they play in God knows how long. Talk about bittersweet.
Did i say they were fantastic?
More pictures, including some from the show the night before, are here.
OK, a few more random thoughts...
- The first 45 minutes or so was off the hook. They sounded as good as i've heard them since, i dunno, 1996 maybe, when they were at their live peak. After just one rehearsal day and a short unplugged set the night before, they had the look and feel of a well-seasoned band that had been on the road for months. They seemed totally relaxed and unencumbered by anything resembling pressure -- and it showed.
- There were tons of Smog Friends in attendance and every one of them added immensely to the proceedings. One can't sing the praises of G Wiz enough; suffice it to say that he's a world-class drummer, superb musician and one hell of a nice guy. Fil Krohnengold -- a gifted multi-instrumentalist who's played with Duncan Sheik, Ween, Leona Naess and David Poe to name just a few -- first showed up on the Smog Radar when he played with them in NYC at 2 benefit shows in August 2004. His impact on the live Smog sound was immediate and profound. Past live Smog shows had only featured occasional keyboards when one of the guys saw fit to tinker around on a few select songs. Krohnengold is the Smog's first ever full-time keyboardist and, man, what a difference it makes! He added tons of piano, organ textures, synth colorings -- you name it. After years of hearing the studio and live versions of all the fave Smog classics and covers, it was something of a shock to hear how good many of them sound with well-thought out and executed keyboard contributions -- almost like it was meant to be that way in the first place. Janey Winterbauer (from Astronaut Wife; she's also been colloborating with Perlman lately) has helped out the boys on stage during a few of the local shows they've played since the release of Another Fine Day. Her most memorable contribution at those shows was singing the Muni Loco part on "Cure For This," the gorgeous Marc Perlman song from AFD that is one of the best things on the album. Why oh why this song wasn't some kind of "hit" is just one of the many mysteries surrounding AFD. But, i digress. The two versions of "Cure" that Janey did with the Smog last weekend were equally fine even though the dynamics and atmosphere were quite different in each case. Always a good sign of a great song and performance. Janey also ably helped out with backing vocal duties on a big chunk of the Smog set in Waseca -- just more icing on the cake. Finally, Executive Honorary Smogger Jim Boquist also joined the proceedings for several songs, playing guitar and bass, singing and just basically having a whale of a time. No local Smog show would really be complete without Jim popping up to join in the fun. I can't imagine a live version of "Until You Came Along" without Jim singing the chorus with his pals and neither should you.
- "Beautiful Mind" -- maybe my favorite recorded performance of 2006 -- was just stunning. Everything clicked -- the tricky rhythms, the dramatic arrangement, Fil's keyboard work, Kraig getting "lost in the music." My friend Ben looked at me after the song with the same dazed look i most likely had on my face.
- Marc Perlman got a rare center stage spotlight with a blazin' version of the CSNY classic, "Almost Cut My Hair." This used to be a lot of fun back in the day, but i'm pretty sure they haven't played it since the early days of the Clinton presidency save for maybe a one-off at a private party a few years ago. And Perly not only did a good job with the singing but he ripped up Kraig's Squire on a few leads as well. In fact, the guys went into "Jam" mode, resulting in a fierce guitar duel with Gary and Marc that was as surprising as it was good.
- "Easy to Be Hard," a familiar song from the Hair musical later popularized by Three Dog Night, has been in Smog setlists forever but was never more poignantly -- or beautifully -- performed than in Waseca. Even though i'd heard the song a zillion times, the gravity of the opening couplet caught me somewhat my surprise and had all of the impact of a good punch to the gut. Gary absolutely nailed the words, singing with a precision and passion that was mesmerizing; it was simply one of the most amazing vocal performances of his that i've experienced. I turned around and saw a good chunk of the crowd singing along, waving their arms, holding hands and crying. Very emotional, very moving and, in its own strange way, very Smoggish, too. They've never been afraid to tackle an unlikely cover -- hell, that was pretty much their original blueprint -- and, on this picture perfect day in a picture perfect small town, that strategy worked better than anybody could've ever imagined.
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