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Ok children. Let’s go through a precise analyzation of what was so terrible about last night.
Two months ago: I look at the First-Avenue website and see that The Hold Steady are playing two shows. Hooray! Hooray! Right? Right. For some reason Drive By Truckers and Hold Steady are switched up on the schedule during the Saturday Night show so it appears that The Hold Steady is opening for Drive By Truckers, HA! Let’s all have a good laugh at how ridiculous that would be. We all laugh, Laugh, laugh, laugh….Fast-forward to…
Saturday night 6:30 pm: I am sitting around watching random tpt programming when it occurs to me that I might as well check when the doors open for the show, Craig Finn’s in town better get all fancied up. Oh what’s this? The doors open at 6pm Hmm, that’s strange but oh well; there must be unlisted openers on the bill. I waste time for another hour or so figuring I’ll get there for the Drive By Truckers as long as I arrive before 9 pm. I even decide to arrive on the early side, moseyin’ on over to First Ave at the ripe old hour of 7:45 pm. I know what you’re all thinking 7:45 Ian? That’s much to early for a show! Well folks I’m not taking any chances. After all this is The Hold Steady we're talking about!
As I stride through the doors I am affronted by two earth shatteringly horrible pieces of news at the same time:
1.) That stupid thing on the website was real and Drive by Truckers are headlining.
2.) The Hold Steady started 45 minutes ago at 7pm!
Seven O' Clock are you serious? Why oh why oh why oh why would any Hold Steady show have them going on at seven in the frickin’ evening???? What is the point of that? I rush in and push to the back of a sold out crowd but am stopped mid-step as I both gasp and vomit a bit simultaneously. It is the first time during the course of the night that I puke inside my mouth out of frustration and disgust; it will not be the last.
Now I am not an ageist, but when 30 somethin's are ruining my Hold Steady show because they have yoga in the morning, I have a problem. Needless to say the hairlines in this crowd were even more receding than the Finn man himself! The audience looks content, they undoubtedly all had dinner dates at 4pm before they came here and are now getting tipsy on 10 dollar beers, let me repeat that 10 DOLLAR BEERS while they shrug along to the music! I'm sorry ten bucks for beer? Are we at the airport right now? Am I in a Chili’s in Time Square? Is anyone else at the show disgusted by this? No, everyone is fine with it. Craig Finn is singing about PBR and random Twin Cities geographic locations and the venue's selling this nostalgia back to the audience jacking up the pricetag threefold. These Yuppies are shelling out cash like its infected with SARS and First Ave. is just lapping up the profits, selling those little logo-stamped baby outfits on the side.
That’s ok I don’t mind, free market capitalism, whatever, but when the show’s demographic is changing things so that a concert will end by 10 pm so that they don’t have to pay the babysitter double, I have a little problem with that. This is rock and roll, or at least I wish it were.
I move past this sad state of affairs determined to have fun anyway. Hell this is my favorite band, the most authentically good thing to come out since….I don’t know. The Hold Steady’s been playing 45 minutes? Fine that gives me at least another 45 minutes to rock out right? Right? Wrong. The Hold Steady play two more songs (they were very good songs don’t get me wrong.) They wave to the crowd, grinning wide and boom, done, no encore, no explanation, no apology, no nothing. They walk off stage not even looking back, Craig Finn goes and finds Holly or whatever and that projector scene drops to reveal an early Jackie Chan film; sadly the most entertaining thing all night. I am stunned, looking around for the Molotov cocktails, but there is nothing, people begin to shuffle around, the lights come on and an ominous voice over the loudspeaker tells everyone to tip their bartenders. Half the crowd moves towards the bathroom (they probably all pee like 50 times a day) the other half moves towards the bar. I vomit a little in my mouth again.
I stuck around, mostly because I was so angry that I didn’t know if I was capable of riding a bike. At 8 something Drive By Truckers went on, I gave them an honest chance, I really did, but here’s the thing: Drive By Truckers= Mediocre at best. I knew this going in and that’s why it was inconceivable to me that they would headline. Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood’s voices are not good enough or bad enough to be appealing they’re in that awful in between place. The lyrics seem hackneyed, tagged on, impressions of how southern outlaw ballads are supposed to be-composed but empty of any persisting authenticity. That pear shaped bassist Shonna is a novelty at best and honestly the whole thing just seems a bit over produced and contrived. It’s all so polished in its “Grittiness.” Drive By Truckers is like what would have happened if Tom Petty, John Cougar Mellencamp and Willie Nelson had made a country album ten years ago. I’m sorry that’s just what it seems like.
So, of course the audience loves it. This is the whitest most Caucasian audience in the history of mankind-of course they love this. The women are all dancing: a ghostly awkward mix of on-beat hip sway and random arm movement. The men are all toe tapping, holding their twenty dollars worth of beer in two hands and nodding their heads in drunken approval. Everybody gets to pretend they are southern! But not in an un-hip or possibly racist Tim McGraw sort of way. And then I notice that this is all some sort of perverse mating ritual, this is married life…I puke in my mouth for the third and final time of the night and push my way out.
(Sigh) Silver lining, on my way home I see a large billboard: Morris Day and the Time are playing the casino.
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I was at that show and i whole heartedly agree
I've been a fan of the hold steady for quite some time and overall that show felt like a dated all ages show held at a church. Very disappointing. The hold steady expressed very little emotion during their set, doing business as usual i guess.
Drive by truckers are a mediocre band cruising on the wave of populism in the "alternative" radio station fervor. They only headlined because they their name grabs more attention on the list sheets....
I've been saying this for a while now but
It's a sad day for music......
Ben
I guess you should stay away from the old people shows
We would appreciate it.
We're tired of all the drama. We like the $10 beers because it means you're less drunk. Stay home, thanks.
really?
Like the show, or don't like the show... but really? $10 beers? Were yours some limited-edition private stock? You miss the $5 PBR 40oz'ers? And everyone is ok with overpriced drinks because they didn't throw rocks at the staff?
And yes, age was a consideration for the early show time. The fact that 1st Ave insists on having the 18 year old ironic hipster dance party every Saturday night at ten. You can't start that later, because they have to get in a WoW raid before bed.
I'm sorry you were completely uninformed about the tour arrangement between the bands, having them switch off headlining each night. But I am sure that is someone else's fault for not personally informing you.
I should also probably apologize for seeing bands who's members are about the same age as myself. That is pretty selfish of me, and I've been trying to get away from that blame everyone else stage I went through in college. I'm glad to see you aren't an 'ageist'. That you only reserve your bile for people who aren't exactly like you. Broad, sweeping generalizations of people you don't know is the grease that keeps sliding us down the hill.
Keep your chin up, I see they have Katy Perry scheduled for early next year.
Hold Steady show
This article is spot-on. I was at the Sunday night show. Lots of people in their 30s (including me, but I wasn't sporting khakis and a wedding ring), and the women were sporting the latest in 80's fashion and hair. They all loved the Drive By Truckers, whose sound reminded me of why I used to hate the Gear Daddies so much - fake grit, boring alterna-country slop. By the time I got through the lengthy Drive By show I was fed up and had drank $24 of beer. The Hold Steady started well but then played a business-like show. All in all, one of the most boring shows I've seen. Kraftwerk is thrilling in comparison.
RnR Exclusive to 20-somethings?
I'm pretty sure the music scene in MSP has been around a long time. This is the home to the Replacements, Soul Asylum, and Husker Du--and a lot of those receding hairlines probably grew up watching them at first ave. I think being upset about missing the show because of not checking who is playing and when is offsides. They've been alternating all tour, so not sure why you are so surprised.
I'm sure if you get yourself on the guest list for tonight's Atmosphere show you'll see a different crowd there, but still paying Minneapolis prices for drinks.
I'm assuming this is the only
I'm assuming this is the only DBT show you've seen to date... don't get me wrong, The Hold Steady are pretty damned cool, but have you ever taken a sober moment, without some cheap skunk beer you evidently adore, and actually listened to DBT? This isn't their first rodeo. They've been kicking ass for quite a few years now! Maybe you could have choked on that puke and we wouldn't have your senseless rambling?
Now, I'm not a nameist, but
Now, I'm not a nameist, but what's an "Ian Power-Luetscher"?
"Now, I'm not a nameist, but"
What the hell? I made this comment already a million blogposts ago.
Wow!
While it is nostalgic to read about a fourteen year old sneaking out on his bicycle to catch his new favorite band, I am surprised that the Daily would allow him to post his blog on their website.
Because any rational/semi-mature person that is going to spend their time and money on an event would know better than to just show up when they feel like it and expect said event to proceed as they expect it to. And seeing as this is your band of the month, one would think you would have at least spent the two minutes to look up the particulars of this event (like start time and who is playing when.)
If you would have done so, you would have seen that each band is alternating headlining this tour and that the name of the tour is a line from a Drive By Truckers song that was suggested by Finn. So while your childhood ignorance prevents you from enjoying good music, at least "the Finn man himself" recognizes a talented band when he sees it.
The Finn man himself
Needs to play music, and drop his gay stage antics.
Edjumacation for the 14 yr old
From the Oregonian:
Putting together a good show involves, ideally, more parts than the audience sees. If everything goes well, after all, all the crowd should really be seeing or caring about is the music.
Alas, there was plenty of other stuff to care about Saturday night at the Crystal Ballroom, when the Hold Steady and the Drive-By Truckers played for better than three hours.
The Hold Steady are an indie rock buzz band that's maintained their cred now particularly through their two most recent albums, 2006's "Boys and Girls in America" and this year's "Stay Positive." They're part of the Springsteen family tree, drawing on the Jerseyite's narrative powers in their own songs.
But this was the wrong night for the band, at the wrong venue, with the wrong opening band.
The wrong venue because of the sound. The venue is a hard one to do sound for, considering its odd trapezoidal shape. The ballroom's sound quality can vary drastically from place to place within the room. The rhythm section and the vocals especially suffered Saturday night, making it hard to make out the winding stories that make up the backbone of the band's music. The venue's sound is typically better on the underager/nondrinking side, another blow for the band: Considering what a drinky crowd this was, the overager side stayed fuller through the night.
The Drive-By Truckers weren't the wrong opening band because they were bad -- quiet the opposite, they were better than the Hold Steady. That fact wasn't lost on the crowd; a good fifth or so left after the DBT set, opting to bail on the night's supposed headliners. The Drive-By Truckers' Southern rock carried enough energy to override the patchy sound, and they trod the line between showing off their guitar skills and pointless guitar wankery with grace.
The Hold Steady, in contrast, unleashed wakery galore, the heavy-handed guitar stretches that did nothing to further the music. It didn't help that, with few exceptions, they stuck to similar tempos with similar feels; after awhile, it felt like the same song being repeated and repeated..
The two bands shared the stage for much of the final encore. Fine in theory, but a mess in practice -- too much going on, not enough direction, styles clashing rather than complementing. Add to the list, then, wrong encore.
-- Luciana Lopez; lucianalopez@news.oregonian.com
Another DBT Lover/ Hold Steady hater:
Study up on good music, schoolboy:
The Hold Steady joined by Drive-By Truckers for "Chillout Tent" in Chicago
By the time the tour arrived in Chicago last Friday, the United States had a new president who lived, improbably, just 20 minutes south on Lake Shore Drive. "Chicago! Obama!" is how Truckers lead singer Patterson Hood introduced his band's opening set, before launching into 90 minutes of speed, galloping guitar riffs, and lead vocals shared with guitarist Mike Cooley, who exuded confidence and cool.
The Riviera date came midway in the tour's routing, which meant both bands arrived with their sets sharpened. The Truckers played with the raw power of the communal bands they so long admired, from Lynyrd Skynyrd to the Allmans. Their seventeen-song set was the more conceptual on the bill; Hood channeled the grim despondence of his narrators in heartbreak fashion, even sweating through the tragic soul ballad "Checkout Time In Vegas" as Otis Redding might have way back when.
With the Truckers, despondence is never frail for long. Closing in on the set's end, their songs drew longer and denser, as Cooley, Patterson, John Neff, and Shonna Tucker lined up their guitars and sang in unison. Reprises were attached to songs such as "The Boys From Alabama" while referencing some classic cliches; the band was kind of awed by making them perfectly ripe.
That team delivery was not the way of the Hold Steady; instead, this band of poker-faced droops passed all the momentum off to lead singer-talker Craig Finn. He has grown as the band's public face, but two years after their breakthrough album, his novelty is thinning. Does rock really need a Richard Simmons? Add a pair of short shorts, and his peacock strutting, aerobic fits and continued facial preening would be complete.
The jubilance of their best songs is no doubt endearing, but such a long set — almost two hours — countered with tedium. This is a band that could deliver a note-perfect half hour. But instead, after 25 songs, the drama of "Lord, I'm Discouraged" and other somber fare felt like bluster.
http://nodepression.com/articles.aspx?id=4861
What an asshat.
www.kenthrbeksucks.com
DBT/Hold Steady
I don't know who this yazoo from MN is, but he certainly has some issues...... who in the hell would check out the schedule/show times in advance and not "believe" what he reads and just assume what band hits the stage at what time? 14 indeed. Just want to report from Los Angeles that I saw the closing show of the tour on 11/25 and DBT absolutely brought down the house. Great show. Not being familiar with the HS I was more than willing to give them a chance..... but jeeeez, after 3 songs I had to leave....... I, for one, just didn't find them all that good. And I wasn't alone..... about 1/2 The Wiltern audience had cleared out after HS began their closing set.
Whatever an "Ian
Whatever an "Ian Power-Luetscher" is, it is genius.
I would not even go as far to consider DBT a band, more like an annoying noise that you want to rattle out of your ear, then it just stays there.
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