Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard at Lincoln Hall, Chicago, Illinois

On October 26, 2009 I was fortunate enough to attend one of just a handful of shows Jay Farrar (of Son Volt) and Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie) performed at the new Lincoln Hall in Chicago. The venue is in what was the old Three Penny movie theater on Lincoln Avenue. It's just a few doors down from the late great legendary Lounge Ax Ax as well as across from the Biograph Theater, where John Dillinger saw his last film.

Farrar and Gibbard recently united to record songs inspired from Jack_Kerouac's book, "Big Sur". The record, "One Fast Move or I'm Gone", is one of my favorite new releases of the late 2009 season. While, admittedly, I'm not well versed in the DCFC catalog (that won't be for long), Farrar has long been one of my favorite's since my introduction to Uncle Tupelo in 1992 with "Still Feel Gone".

The pristine new Lincoln Hall with it's friendly staff (I wondered to some friends if they could bring that ol' cranky door man from Lounge Ax) was full capacity and a scarce ticket. Farrar and Gibbard were accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Mark Spencer, Jon Wurster (of Superchunk, who also played on Farrar's 2001 release "Sebastopol") and Nick Harmer on bass. The acoustics in LH are tremendous and the crowd was so attentive that if one spoke between songs it would have been akin to speaking loud in a library. Farrar had commented that this was the "one week anniversary" of the band. This caused Gibbard to quip, "Oh, I forgot to pick you up something." The band, surprisingly tight for only being together for a week, played the entire record. In addition a few choice covers that included, Bob Dylan's "Absolutely Sweet Marie", Farrar's own "Voodoo Candle" done as more of a pop song, and Tom Waits "Old Shoes" (and Picture Postcards). Both singers songs from the new record are very strong and both vocals accompany each other quite well, especially Farrar's backing vocal on "One Fast Move and I'm Gone". Gibbard made it a point to state that these songs were, in fact, written by Kerouac. It was also nice to see Farrar out of his element a bit as opposed to his shows with Son Volt. It's just nice to see him change it up a bit and just be a dude in a band.

It was a great introduction for myself to the new Lincoln Hall. It's only a matter of time before the place gets that lived in rock show feel but by initial appearances this is going to a well-run club, incidentally, owned by the same fine folks who run Schubas. Also, it would be nice to see Farrar and Gibbard collaborate again in the future.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the United Center 9/20/2009

While this review is a few days late, I figured hey what the hey, I wrote a brief review of The Replacements last ever show from 1991 a few blog entries ago, which is according to my math, is almost 20 years ago. First and foremost, if Springsteen is in the Chicago area, I go. Period. Exclamation point! End of conversation. I couldn't imagine not being there if he was just 30 some miles from my house. Well, I take that back, I did skip the show he did a U.S._Cellular_Field back in the olden days when it was called Comiskey Park for The Rising tour. I had already seen 4 or 5 shows on that tour and single gigs in stadiums usually result in a "typical setlist" for Springsteen. Then again, a "typical setlist" for a Springsteen show usually conquers any setlists by most bands.

Finding out when tickets went on sale that Springsteen would be playing "Born to Run" (the album) (Yes, that's a nod to Wilco) not just "Born to Run" (the song) had the Springsteen concert chills going even before the tickets went on sale. As most Springsteen followers know, he regularly changes the setlists from night to night but even then his shows can have a certain predictability, e.g. "'Point Blank' was put in 'The River' slot on night 2 in Boston". So with an entire album performed in it's entirety I thought there'd be an extra aura of excitement.

I brought my lovely wife and one of her favorite songs is "Thunder Road" so as we arrived at the U.C. we weren't late but we were pushing it, we parked, got out, it was raining outside and I said, "What if he starts the show with the album, we'd miss 'Thunder Road'!" So that prompted us into a slight jog . . . "We can make it if we run . . ." Instead, Springsteen played 7 songs before kicking off the record, the first being "Seeds", originally off the "Live 1975-1985" boxset. Next was a rousing, rocking "No Surrender" and then a few songs all the cool Bruce kids are calling "the recession set". Whatever.

What I call it was a no-nonsense, take no prisoners, rock n roll show. There was little Springsteen schitck and little time between songs. It was the song ends, guitar tech throws Springsteen another guitar and then it's "One Two Three Four!" he counts off the next song. Even "Preacher Bruce" was absent save for a little spiel during "Working On A Dream" and Springsteen spent most of that spiel pointing out, "that was the sound of the E Street Band fuckin' up." Then Steve_Van_Zandt pointed out the Bruce that he forgot a verse and Bruce said, "Steve told me that I forgot a verse so that was the sound of the 'Boss Man' fucking up." Sprinsteen was waaaay out in the "pit" a.ka. mainfloor, for "Hungry Heart" which caused Steve Van Zandt to quip on WXRT the next day, "Bruce spends more time in the audience these days than he does on the stage."

Then Springsteen introduced the moment we had been waiting for, "Born to Run". He said words to the effect how his first couple records stiffed and that this record was more or less a make or break record. So with harmonica in hand, house lights up, he let wail those all to familiar sounds of "Thunder Road". It's like it was no secret to the entire audience what song was next but yet to hear it open the record live, the crowd let out a collective "aaaaaaaah". It was incredible. "Tenth Avenue Freeze-out" was quick, to the point, "Here's the important part" when "the Big Man joined the band", and no band intros like in the 1999 tour. There was also an added trumpet player, Curt Ramm, to join Clarence Clemons. "Night" was good, and having backseats behind the stage for "Backstreets", watching Max Weinberg play the intro to "Backstreets" was surreal. It was odd to have "Born to Run" in the middle of the set but the place went nuts and the obligatory house lights were up! Clarence seemed out of the picture when I saw Springsteen in May. He doesn't get around as much, but on this night he was on his game and Springsteen used him as a foil like he used to in "She's the One". Bo Diddley would have been proud.

The highlights of the record as it was performed were "Meeting Across the River" and "Jungleland". Personally, I had heard them in sequence before but this time they had the trumpet player! Sheesh, I'm having a "Magnolia" moment right now as a slew of acorns are falling on my porch roof. On Roy Bittan's piano riser were just Roy, Curt Ramm on trumpet, and Richard Davis on stand-up bass. Davis played stand-up bass on the original record in 1975. And of course, Springsteen on the mic . . . "Hey Eddie, can you loan me a few bucks . . ."

As with the rest of the record, we knew *what* songs were next yet to hear "Jungleland" follow"Meeting Across the River" was a Springsteen concert goers dream. Again, just Suzee Tyrell on violin next to Roy Bittan on piano . . . "The rangers had a homecoming..." Not to cite to many Springsteen concert cliches but Clarence really nailed the sax solo on "Jungleland". Springsteen took a stand on Roy Bittan's piano during the sax solo punching the air for emphasis along with Max's drums. As the song was ending, I was thinking if this band doesn't get a 7 minute standing ovation we all should turn in our Springsteen fan cards.

It appeared anything to follow "Born to Run" would be a letdown but it was not to be. The rest of the show continued with "Waiting On A Sunny Day" (the singing kid section needs to be retired already), "Promised Land", "Radio Nowhere", "Lonesome Day", "The Rising", and (upcoming concert cliche) a blistering version of "Badlands".

This has now become a nice change of pace at Springsteen shows, the request segment. Fans bring signs, hold up signs, for Springsteen to play. Some of them are obscurities and some are cool and no so cool covers. Bruce will scour the "pit" for request signs, get confirmation from the band that they can indeed play it, then rip through it. As Van Zandt pointed out the next day on an interview on Chicago's wxrt, they really are rehearsing those songs right then and there on the spot. These signs aren't "plants". He said words to the effect of, "We just run through it and make sure there is not bridge that won't embarrass us." On this night we were treated to, "Da Do Ron Ron", "Rockin' Robbin", as well as the little played "I'm Goin' Down" from "Born in the USA".

What was odd was that the band never left the stage for encores. They just stayed up there. The show ended with "American Land", "Dancing In the Dark", and what appeared to be a treat (okay, we'll just say it probably wasn't on the original setlist) for all us good fans in Chicago, "Rosalita".

In my 25 plus years of seeing Springsteen, this was probably one of the best shows I had seen him play. The last time I saw him it didn't seem that energetic, a lot of newer material from the new record, and probably, the biggest indictment of the show probably came from me. My daughter had fallen off (umm pushed off) a swing-set at the neighbors, was okay, but banged up purty good, so my mind may have been elsewhere for the May show.

Then when my 5 year old daughter asked about the show on Monday, I told her Springsteen played all of the "Born to Run" record. She exclaimed, "He played all of side one and then side two?"

The Replacements last show

I don't get to as many rock shows as some rock show go-ers get to in this world but there is one rock show feather I can stick in my cap.  The Replacements last ever show.  It was July 4th, 1991 in Chicago in Grant Park along Lake Michigan.  Being this the pre-internets age I wasn't aware of the rumors that this indeed could possibly be their last show ever.  I was just going to see one of my favorite bands of all time.

Like with many other bands that I have come to love, er, um or obsess over, I came late the The Replacements (swinging) party.  I had heard of them as early as '85 through a friend but at that time I had the car floored with all things Springsteen.  I didn't see The Replacements until the "Don't Tell A Soul" tour of 1989 at the Aragon Ballroom.  I ended up seeing them, all told, a modest 4 times and one of them being at the vanilla confines of Poplar Creek Music Theater opening for Tom Petty.

Let's get back to the 4th of July in 1991, shall we?  Nothing like blogging about things from almost 20 years ago, huh?  I went with this dude that I worked with.  He was a muscle man.  We get to Grant Park and the line is wrapped all the way around the block.  I think my friend pretty much said, "F--- dis" and proceeds to walk towards the front of the line, walk, walk, walk, I'm following behind him but I didn't want to get greedy about where we were gonna, um, cut in line.  No wait, we just blended into the line since it was a mass of humanity as it was at Taste of Chicago.  As we got closer to the front of the line I'm saying to my friend, "Ron, cut in here, Ron, cut in here, cut in here".  He keeps walking towards the front.  I play along, he slides in right near the front of the line with me close behind.  I figured either no one really noticed that we cut or since he is bulging at his pecs, lats, and biceps and all things muscles I figured even if anyone did notice they didn't want to mess with him.  Once we got in and found seats (yes, seats, not the lawn) I asked Ron if he heard me saying "cut in here" and he said he did but he figured as long as we are cutting why not go for broke?

This was one of the WXRT sponsored shows so needless to say, they probably plugged it ad infinitum.  The other bands on the bill were NRBQ and Material Issue with the late Jim Ellison on vocals.  The show itself was about an hour with the set list heavy on songs from their last record, "All Shook Down".  It was almost Replacements-by-numbers but I wouldn't go so far to say they just phoned it in either.  Looking back at a review from Bill Wyman from the Chicago Reader, I see that they did play nuggets as "Within Your Reach", "Unsatisfied", and "Can't Hardly Wait".  The one thing that did happen that was very Replacements-esque was that they switched instruments during the last song, "Hootenanny" and then handed them off to roadies as they left the stage for the last time. One regret from XRT dj Frank E. Lee that I read in one of their old XRT newsletters was that one of the Replacements handed his guitar to Frank for him to go out and play during the encore.  For whatever reason, Lee declined.

Throughout the years there have been rumors and Internet buzz about Replacements reunions or even Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson getting together in some aspect and calling it The Replacements and those rumors remain just that, rumors.  Personally, I think breaking up as they did and staying broken up only adds to their scruffy legacy.

Roger McGuinn at the Hemmens Auditorium Elgin, Illinois

It was once said (many times) that if a living legend is playing live within a reasonable driving distance to your house you go make an effort to go see that living legend.  While I personally may not practice this principle all of the time (and what is the true definition of "reasonable driving distance"? 30 minutes? 12 hours? 2 days with a hotel stay?) I did so on this particular evening.  Roger McGuinn played the Hemmens Cultural Center in Elgin, Illinois March 21st.  The Hemmens is well within said reasonable driving distance, heck, it's within reasonable walking distance to my house.

 

The house lights dimmed and the opening chords of the Bob Dylan-penned "My Back Pages" echoed throughout the pristine acoustics of the Hemmens.   It was a sound so incredible that it almost sounded like it coulda been intro music for the former leader of The Byrd's.  From out of the shadows and into the spotlight stepped Roger McGuinn himself with his famous 12 string Rickenbacker guitar. Yeah, that one, the jangly guitar.  The guitar that made describing jangly guitar music to a friend an adjective, "You know, it sounds jangly, 'Byrdsy'."  It's the guitar McGuinn saw George Harrison play in the film "A Hard Day's Night" that possessed him to get one for himself.  If I could somehow bottle how I felt at that exact moment when McGuinn played "My Back Pages", those opening chords, last night at the Hemmens, I'd be happy and misty-eyed the rest of my life.  

Words like "national treasure", "legendary", "iconic" get bandied around way too much in this day and age but with someone like McGuinn these words chime true.  It's criminal that oldies radio formats and cable TV playlists play just a few greatest hits from The Byrds.

Roger McGuinn, formerly known as Jim (had to get that in somewhere), then took a seat along side a banjo, a 12-string acoustic, and his specially designed for him Martin HD-7. He began to weave wonderful stories of growing up listening to a transistor radio, "the iPod of it's day", learning to play early rock n roll on the guitar, going to the Old Town School of Folk Music, and getting his parents to sign a paper so he could fly to California to join the Limelighters just after high school graduation. Among these stories he'd intersperse a Leadbelly song, a Woody Guthrie song, some more Dylan covers, and of course songs and stories from The Byrds.  The show was well paced, if not rote (not a knock on the show, mind you, you can hear some of the same stories almost word for word on YouTube) since he has really honed and crafted his show to focus on the many highlights of his career.  Here is a YouTube link of a version of Eight Miles High not too different from the version last night.  McGuinn is still in great voice for a man his age.  His guitar work is immpecable, even mind-boggling, to think he is getting all that sound out of one guitar.  And then to be able to sing and get all those sounds from the guitar does truly make him a national treasure.

My Morning Jacket at the Chicago Theater

I won't make a pretenses about being a big fan of My Morning Jacket.  I bought "At Dawn" in 2001 when it was released but I'm not about to turn this into a "I knew them way back then" post. Despite it's buzz on message boards, it didn't do too much for me.  A little too much reverb, a little long at 70 plus minutes, and then the purple on black lyric sheet didn't endure me very well either.  I'd give it a spin from time to time but mostly it was relagated to a cameo on shuffle on my iPod (once I joined the 21st century and got an iPod in 2007).

I'd take note of the bands rise from smaller clubs, building a buzz with fans, as well as getting the rep as a fantastic live band, as well as a "Jam Band".  It was also noted that they were getting rave reviews on their records.  It still didn't possess me to go and buy their records. . . until Saturday December 27th.  This is when I saw them at Chicago Theater.  I was invited by a friend and left to my own devices, it's a show I would not have sought a ticket for.

With a fervent fan base in tow, My Morning Jacket rocked the Chicago Theater.  One of the grand old theaters in Chicago.  It has a balcony equivalent to where those old dudes from the Muppet Show would critique Fozie and Kermit.  It's also where ushers sometimes hush patrons and point them to stay seated with flashlights (read:  No Dancing In the Aisles!).  Tonight, the crowd was allowed to boogie and sing all they wanted, even in the upper reaches of the theater.  I slinked out and picked up their latest release, "Evil Urges" on vinyl for $20 at the merchandise table.

Once I got home to listen to the record I found out just what a powerhouse live outfit MMJ really is.  The record is almost downright tame compared to the experience of a MMJ show.  So while I'm really tempted to get "It Still Moves" I think I'm more inclined to get the live boxset "Okonokos".  

While I don't regret going to see My Morning Jacket when they played at a place like Schuba's I will admit that I'm glad that I did finally get to see them.  See, it's more proof that I have no idea what is good for me.  Left to my own devices I'd have stayed home and played records with myself.

Since we know everything you read on the internet is true, here is a wikipedia link for My_Morning_Jacket