Wow. Simply one of the most enjoyable gigs in recent memory. I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun on a Monday nite for free. The night started out with Linda Pitmon, center stage, welcoming everybody and publicly announcing her and Steve’s engagement. After a few hours of crazy ass fun and killer music, it all ended with a volcanic version of The Stooges’ “1969.” The smiles on everybody’s faces after the show – performers and audience alike – told the story better than any 2 bit blog recap ever could. :-)
The catalyst for this ad hoc gig – “Loose Change” is Steve’s perfectly apt nom de rock for these kinda things – was the Fakebook concert two nights earlier over in St. Paul at the Fitz; everybody on stage except Munson was a part of that memorable evening. Since Steve and Linda were still in town, somebody got the bright idea for a proper rock show, although I’m sure none of the planners had any idea just how well things would go.
There was a fair amount of pub for what was essentially a last minute, thrown together affair, so, all things considered, there was a decent crowd at the Hex. There were mentions in a local daily paper and various blogs, an announcement was made at the Fitz and Wynn’s website even had a pretty damn funny listing in the tour schedule section ("Steve Wynn's Loose Change Announces Two-City Summer Tour... The tour begins June 18 at the Hexagon in Minneapolis...then after a much-needed two month rest...the tour will end on August 11.") There was certainly a nicer crowd for this gig than the last local Miracle 3 show (March 2006 at the 400, right up I-35 from SxSW) which says much more about the lameness of local concert goers than it does about the show Steve and his diehard crew dish out on a regular basis. We saw them several times last year in Austin and, for the life of me, I can’t imagine why anybody would ever miss one of their shows on purpose.
After a single rehearsal at Flowers Studio in Mpls, the general plan for the Hex show was a first set of “Steve songs” and a second set of “covers.” The second set had an additional wrinkle – “The Box,” a makeshift ballot box thing that audience members were encouraged to fill with their requests for the cover set. (Steve mentioned “The Box” in his on-line diary; apparently, he’s succumbed to this madness only a few times during his long career). This kind of strategy obviously requires a certain amount of guts – if not, insanity; needless to say, the results for these things generally ranges from ridiculous to awful, with maybe a smidgen of humor popping up in between train wrecks if you’re lucky. The wild card in this case, of course, was the sheer combined experience of the all-star band that Steve had assembled. Pitmon is the “rookie” – and she’s been playing for over 20 years, the last 10 with Wynn. When you factor in the aggregate rock-years of Ackerson, Wynn, Boquist, Munson and Perlman, you’re talking well over a century of rock ‘n’ roll experience.
Things looked quite promising for the first set for a coupla reasons. First, a picture-perfect version of the Dream Syndicate’s “Still Holding On To You” was performed at the Fakebook show with essentially the same band. Their appearance at the Fitz was rather dramatic, too – Lindeen was talking about what she listened to in her younger days and she mentioned that there “was one song I put on every mix tape.” Presto! On walked Steve and company to perform said song. Neat. Second…did I mention who was in the band?
It’s hard to talk about the first set of “Steve songs” without succumbing to pure hyperbole. For Dream Syndicate fans…well, it was pretty much your basic dying and going to heaven kinda stuff, if for no other reason than 5 of the 9 songs from the seminal “Days of Wine and Roses” album – a key moment in post-punk musical history that helped kick-start a movement that is still reverberating today – were performed flawlessly. They sounded way, way better than they should’ve coming from a band with one rehearsal under their belts. Wynn – obviously no slouch in the axe dept – generously let Ackerson take center stage for much of the set. Ed certainly lived up to his “smokin’” nickname; he laid down one scorching lead after another – I can’t remember the last time i’ve seen him have so much fun on stage. Or play with so much skill and passion. Generally, the 3 gtr attack of Ackerson, Wynn & Boquist produced one thrill after another. Bass duties for the night were shared by Marc Perlman and John Munson – talk about an abundance of talent. After a dozen gems from Steve’s back pages, a good chunk of the crowd – fans and neophytes alike – were gasping for air as they made there way to the bar since they pretty much just had their asses kicked.
The second set was memorable just for the half dozen or so covers that the band had cobbled together during rehearsals. These songs found the band absolutely in command, operating at a level that gave little hint to just "thrown together" the whole evening was. The opening 1-2 Dylan salvo set the bar at an extremely high level that was maintained throughout the rehearsed songs. Incidentally, Wynn has memorably dipped into the Dylan songbook on several occasions over the years (dig up his scorching version of “The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar” if you can), but Ackerson is no stranger to The Bard’s songs, either; the 27 Various used to kick out a tasty version of “Leopard Skin” back in the day. The songs choices throughout the second set were quite illuminating: Dylan, Stooges, Velvets, Stones, Pere Ubu, Richard Thompson – in other words, a nice, compact primer of many of the things that made the music in the first set so vital and powerful. I was a tiny bit bummed that there were no Neil covers in the second set (Steve has been hammering out a smokin’ “Cinnamon Girl” since his days back at UC-Davis) but only a total curmudgeon would bitch about the wild ride that Steve and company took everybody on during set 2.
The “box” songs in the second set were strictly a bonus, ranging from the predictably humorous (it was absolutely priceless to witness the gang assemble “Jet” piece by tortuous piece) to the surprisingly powerful. There were fun moments a-plenty. Linda even got to hop up front (while Perly manned the drums – a rare turn of events for sure) – lyric sheet in hand – for a stab at the Wreckless Eric classic “Whole Wide World.” The crew wisely alternated the “box” songs with stuff that had been rehearsed to insure that things didn’t venture too far into karaoke-land, although it’s tempting to ponder just what might have happened if they would’ve decided to give themselves completely over to the “box.”
Oh yeah, not to damn by faint praise or anything, but there was another Zuzu’s Petals reunion in the middle of the second set as well. On any other night, this would’ve been big news all by itself. On this particular Monday at the Hex, it was just the icing on the cake for a near-perfect evening of rock. Oh yeah, the price was right, too!
Steve Wynn’s Loose Change
June 18, 2007
Hexagon Bar – Minneapolis, MN
Steve Wynn – gtr, vox
Ed Ackerson – gtr
Jim Boquist – gtr, vox
Linda Pitmon – drums, vox
John Munson * – bass, vox
Marc Perlman ** – bass, drums
SET 1
1. Tell Me When It’s Over *
2. Then She Remembers *
3. Burn *
4. Whatever You Please *
5. There Will Come a Day *
6. Halloween *
7. That’s What You Always Say *
8. Tears Won’t Help *
9. 500 Girl Mornings *
10. Still Holding On To You **
11. Amphetamine *
12. The Days of Wine and Roses *
SET 2
1. Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat **
2. From a Buick 6 **
3. I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead **
4. Calvary Cross **
5. # Gimme Some Money **
6. # Go All the Way **
7. White Light White Heat **
8. Shake Some Action **
9. # Jet *
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Zuzu’s Petal reunion – 2 songs
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10. TV Eye **
11. Final Solution **
12. # Whole Wide World (lead vox=Linda; drums=Marc) *
13. # Starfucker (sorta…) **
14. # All the Way to Memphis (a capella)
15. Mother’s Little Helper **
16. The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man **
17. # No Matter What *
18. 1969 **
# = “box song” (song picked from a box of request made earlier by audience members)
SOURCES:
SET 1
1. Tell Me When It’s Over = Dream Syndicate – The Days of Wine and Roses
2. Then She Remembers = Dream Syndicate – The Days of Wine and Roses
3. Burn = Dream Syndicate – Medicine Show
4. Whatever You Please = Dream Syndicate – Ghost Stories
5. There Will Come a Day = Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3 – Here Comes the Miracles
6. Halloween = Dream Syndicate – The Days of Wine and Roses
7. That’s What You Always Say = Dream Syndicate – The Days of Wine and Roses
8. Tears Won’t Help = Steve Wynn – Kerosene Man
9. 500 Girl Mornings = Steve Wynn – My Midnight
10. Still Holding On To You = Dream Syndicate – Medicine Show
11. Amphetamine = Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3 – Static Transmission
12. The Days of Wine and Roses = Dream Syndicate – The Days of Wine and Roses
SET 2
1. Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat = Bob Dylan
2. From a Buick 6 = Bob Dylan
3. I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead = Warren Zevon
4. Calvary Cross = Richard Thompson
5. Gimme Some Money = Spinal Tap
6. Go All The Way = Raspberries
7. White Light White Heat = Velvet Underground
8. Shake Some Action = Flamin’ Groovies
9. Jet = Wings
10. TV Eye = Stooges
11. Final Solution = Pere Ubu
12. Whole Wide World = Wreckless Eric
13. Starfucker = Rolling Stones
14. All the Way to Memphis = Mott the Hoople
15. Mothers Little Helper = Rolling Stones
16. The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man = Rolling Stones
17. No Matter What = Badfinger
18. 1969 = Stooges
