The Hold Steady
The Phoenix. Friday, July 16, 2010.
An unusual sort of gig for me, I guess. The fact that it was the first time going to The Phoenix all year would be a sign that it was a larger-than-usual show. In fact, I wasn't planning on going at all when the show was first announced at the Kool Haus, so maybe it felt like the downsizing to a room that's still pretty big by my standards was meeting me halfway. And I guess I wanted to give the band a bit of a chance to see if the live versions could redeem some songs that came across as kinda dull on this year's Heaven is Whenever, which felt uninspired compared to what they've done in the past. Oh, and my dad, the Texas troubadour, was passing through town and said he'd be willing to go. He's a rock'n'roller and likes to hear about shows I go to and so on, although this night wasn't a great representation of the sort of gig I'm usually at. Anyways, we headed down and met J. for a drink and made our way over to the show.
We got there in time to catch just the end of an opening set by The Whigs. The only impression I really gathered was that they were very loud, otherwise, I reserve any comment. Once the stage was cleared, there was a welcome to the show from a warmly-welcomed Matt Bonner1, who'd put this show together as a benefit for Boys' and Girls' Clubs. There was a rambunctious crowd on hand, and a pretty full house. We hung back by the soundboard instead of getting right up in the thick of things.
Taking the stage and promising a Friday night good time, The Hold Steady kicked into "The Sweet Part of the City", the leadoff to the new one. It's not one of their stronger tunes, but served as a good conceptual starting point, the lyrics ending, "we were bored so we started a band / we'd like to play for you." It's worth noting that no one told frontman Craig Finn that the new material isn't as good as the old stuff, and he was as joyful as ever and fully inhabiting those songs, throwing himself into "Rock Problems", also from the new album, and one of the tunes on it that is wholly successful. But, maybe hedging their bets a little, they didn't do too much new stuff at a burst, throwing a bone to the crowd with the glorious "Constructive Summer" from 2008's Stay Positive.2
Following the departure of keyboard player Franz Nicolay, that part of the band's sound has been de-emphasized somewhat, less there on the new songs, and a bit down in the mix generally. Keybs and extra guit were played by semi-anonymous guys flanking the stage. In a departure from Nicolay's onstage gusto, his replacement played sitting down, not drawing attention to himself.
In between the new material, the band dug into the catalogue for Separation Sunday's "Multitude of Casualties", and made an unexpected reach all the way back to 2004's Almost Killed Me for "Barfruit Blues", which got a more enthusiastic response than stuff like the quieter "Cheyenne Sunrise", which was largely taken by the crowd as a chance to chat. May dad — who I'd forgotten to grab some earplugs for — went to wander a bit to the back of the room.
But I'll say this for the band: they know how to keep a show moving. It was pretty much song after song without respite, with no gaps to tune or other momentum-sappers. There weren't too many reinventions or rearrangements, either. The songs were generally stripped pretty lean — there were more under three minutes than over five. One exception was a lengthy, somewhat wanky middle to "Your Little Hoodrat Friend", a Big Rock gesture that guitarist Tad Kubler trumped by pulling out the double-necked guitar for the closing pair of "Massive Nights" and "A Slight Discomfort". The latter is the last one from the new album, making for a conceptually smart parallel to the start, though underwhelmed by the fact that I'm not particularly crazy about either one.
And then, after nineteen songs, the band returned for three more in the encore, pushing the show past the ninety-minute mark. It all ended with "Slapped Actress", giving a chance for some big-room singalong whoah-oh action, which closed things on a warm note. Overall, it was an okay show — certainly not the most excited I've been to see them. Though that might say as much about my own slowly-morphing tastes — a big room and a big rock sound being less on my agenda these days. But for the Friday night crowd, it seemed just fine, and even my dad nodded his head in approval — rock'n'roll still means well, I guess.
Listen to a song from this set here.
1 A bench player for the Raptors from 2004-2006, Bonner became a crowd favourite for exhibiting a blue-collar work ethic — the sort of decent-but-likable player that always seems to become a folk hero on Toronto's middling professional sports teams. One of the few NBA players that really embraced playing in Canada, Bonner still makes his off-season home in Toronto.
2 When I'd first played this song — written by Finn about the joy and boredom and freedom of growing up in Minneapolis in the '80's — to my dad, he said it sounded exactly like his own teenage years twenty years before that.
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That's cool that your Dad went to the show, and given your more askewed musical tastes, The Hold Steady must have been right up your Dad's alley, given that he's a "rock'n'roller".
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