Review: Tim O'Reagan - 400 Bar - 12/2/06

Somebody asked me over the wire this morning, "how was the show?"

Well, in a word, fan-f***ing-tastic! (is that one word or three?)

I'm just heading out the door, so I'm in "quick review" mode. This was
easily one of the best shows I've seen all year. And I see a lot of
shows. :-) The Cliff notes version: packed house and over 2 hours of
great music, with a "vibe" that was simply wonderful – there was
enough love and happiness in the air to warm the heart of even the
biggest holiday scrooge on a cold-ass night.

No setlist now, but we got most of the album, a Boquist song or two,
some smashing covers, a few new ones (?), a coupla Jayhawks moments
and some "surprises," too. The biggest shocker was an honest-to-god
Leatherwoods mini-set. (Historical sidebar: The Leatherwoods were
Tim's band from roughly 87-92, during the period when he moved from
Kansas to Minny. They put out a couple of singles and one fantastic
long-player, "Topeka Oratorio," on Peter Jesperson's long gone Medium
Cool imprint. This album is a bona fide "Lost Classic" and deserves to
be heard far and wide; it really is an amazing collection of top shelf
modern pop. The "band" was essentially Tim and his partner Todd
Newman, although they received assistance from the mysterious "Pablo
Louseorama," who supposedly was in some band called The Replacements
or something. Everyone who hasn't heard TO should immediately go to
Ebay or Gemm and track down a copy. End of history lesson). Tim's
former partner Todd had to cancel at the last minute, but he was
certainly there in spirit. The "cover" of The Leatherwoods' "Tinsel
Town" (also shockingly resurrected 1 or 2 times back on the Jayhawks
2002 "acoustic trio" tour) offered up last night was so good it was
almost heart attack-inducing. And that was only the beginning of the
ride in the way-back machine. After 3 more old classics, us old farts
back by the merch table were grinning like friggin' idiots.

Thankfully, there were no "guest star" distractions on what was very
much Tim's night, a much deserved moment in the spotlight for him,
even though he was about 6 months overdue for a proper record release
bash. Pete Sands from The Honeydogs contributed some very nice
keyboard & accordion work, including the full keyboard intro (missing
since '97? I'll have to hit the archives to answer that) on a chilling
reading of "Bottomless Cup" in the encore. Gary and Kraig were both
out of town, but Perly finally showed up near the end to rock out on a
coupla songs, a superb cover of John Cale's "Big White Cloud" and
perhaps the finest version of "Lost My Driving Wheel" ever played
anywhere by anyone. And for the locals, it was undoubtedly shocking to
see local legend Curtiss A – aka the "Dean of Scream" – pop up out of
the audience at the end to blast through a ragged but right version of
the 60s garage classic, "I Can Only Give You Anything," channeling Van
Morrison's Them, The Troggs and the MC5 in the process.

The boys, and Tim in particular, have really blossomed as a live act
over the last 9 months. Whereas Tim was once tentative and reserved –
if not downright scared shitless at times – he's now far more
confident and relaxed: playing like a champ, cracking jokes and just
generally having a grand old time. This newfound élan was never more
in evidence than on the final encore (yes, the crowd was rightfully
going nuts at the end of the night), a hilariously authentic version
of KC and the Sunshine Band's "Keep it Coming Love." Tim and Jim
huddled at the start and then shouted instructions to drummer Pete
Anderson and bassist Frankie "The Face" Lee. Pete – the consummate pro
who admitted later that he had no idea what was coming – launched into
a funky 4/4 stomp and we were off to the dance floor, the heretofore
unknown disco side of Mr. Tim O'Reagan now on full display for the
entire world to see. What coulda been a train wreck, turned out to be
not only an eminently enjoyable moment – yes, that was my wife near
the sound board doing the Hustle – but also served as a visceral
display of just how good this band is. Jim was especially smokin', his
ripping guitar riffs creating pure rock magic out of the scrap heaps
of music history.

Another special moment, not to mention a sign of pure courage on Tim's
part: taking a stab at a live version of "Ivy." You might think that
this haunting, eerie song – easily one of the most striking
performances on the new album – wouldn't translate well to the stage,
and you'd probably be right. But Tim pulled it off in spades, tackling
the difficult vocal parts with aplomb and displaying yet again what a
magnificent, underrated singer he is.

This was one of those shows that simply made you feel glad to be
alive. What an extraordinary early Christmas present from Tim and
crew. I could get all philosophical and say that attending shows like
this is an experience that is a bedrock component of every Music
Junkie/Head/Fan, and that to be in the presence of other like-minded
souls is pure joy and blah blah blah. But how 'bout: this was an
amazingly fine show on every level and a great sign of things to come.
End of story.