SXSW Recap

From my good friend and fellow FNL super fan, BC, the man who introduced me to The National and Cloud Cult many years ago:

It exceeded even my lofty expectations. 3 days straight of non-stop music. I'm talking 12pm to 2am every day, with a short power nap in the early evening to re-charge for the evening. An incredible party scene, and literally music coming at you from all sides of the street. Here is a quick run-down of the week....

Wed. Night - land at 10pm, in time to catch School of Seven Bells at midnight (they kinda sucked)

Thursday:
12noon-5pm: Wavves, Lucero (I like these guys a lot), The Hard Lessons (very cool husband/wife duo from Detroit - they fuckin' rocked) and a sick show from The Hold Steady.

Wavves

7pm-2am: More bands than I can't remember, but highlights were The Thermals and 1 am set from The Wrens. Those guys are still great.

The Thermals

Friday:
12 noon-6pm: A weird Swedish music showcase that was surprisingly good, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (these guys are good, but like 18 years old), The Thermals (again) and The Hold Steady (again). Can't get enough of them.

The Hold Steady

Friday night: Silversun Pickups followed by a "surprise show" by Metallica at Stubb's, a 2,000 person venue. Wow. They thrashed. Hard to follow that up, but we tried with a midnight set from Grizzly Bear followed by a 1am set from Dinosaur Jr.

Unknown

Saturday:
2pm-6pm - Viva Voce, Peelander-Z (possibly the most fun show of the weekend - crazy Japanese band), Camera Obscura, Chairlift.

Peelander-Z

9pm-2am: The Duke Spirit and closed things out with an absolute rockin' show from Silversun. Their new stuff is GOOD.

Silversun Pickups

Also forgot that we caught Dirty Projectors as well right after Metallica - they are weird, but interesting. Also saw this New Zealand band called Cut Off Your Hands - not that cool.

The badge is M O N E Y. We had to wait at the most, about 5 minutes, but we never got shut out of a show, including Metallica. If you don't buy the badge however (and it ain't cheap), then its much harder to see stuff. Start planning on next year - we've already booked a hotel room.

JK: I really need to stop making excuses and go next year.
NF: Roger, that.

The Hold Steady & Drive-By Truckers @ Terminal 5, 11/7/08

The Rock + Roll Means Well Tour @ Terminal 5

I've yet to read a review of a show at Terminal 5 that didn't criticize the venue in some way. For that reason, I've been avoiding it like the plague. I bought tickets for this show mainly because I was annoyed at the fact that I hadn't yet seen The Hold Steady live. After last night's show, I don't really have a negative opinion of the place. Yes, it's very crowded on the floor during a sold out show but I was standing near the back and had no issues with the sound. I actually prefer it to Roseland and probably Hammerstein too.

I started listening to DBT only after seeing that they were the co-headliner on this tour. I've been focused on The Dirty South and Brighter than Creation's Dark with a plan to check out Decoration Day next. Maybe it was the beer or the fact that I only had chocolate for dinner (probably both) but by the end of their set, I wanted to hang out with these guys and hear their stories. Great set. Consider me a fan.

People either love or hate The Hold Steady. I'll be the first to admit that I was in the latter group until I heard Boys & Girls in America. I'm not going to say anything new here, their performance last night was nothing short of amazing. They played b-sides to please the die hard fans, tracks from their last two albums to please people like me, and ~ 25 songs in an hour and 45 minutes to please every last person in the venue. Any fan of this band really has to see them live or you're missing half the fun. To cap off the night, Patterson Hood and some other members of DBT joined The Hold Steady during the encore for a version of Minutemen's "History Lesson Part 2," AC/DC's "Walk On" and Blue Oyster Cult's "Burnin, for You." Seriously.

I was thankful that Terminal 5 didn't keep me away from this one. It's the best double bill I've been to in a long time. Call it a celebration of historic proportions (see post below).

Hold Steady Tour Dates

I will see you in Bonnaroo. Finally. Here are the dates:

05-12 Harrisburg, PA - Abbey Bar at Appalachian Brewing Co.
05-13 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
05-14 Newport, KY - Southgate House
05-15 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
05-16 Grand Rapids, MI - Intersection
05-17 Milwaukee, WI - Miramar
05-18 Madison, WI - Orpheum Stage Door
05-20 Omaha, NE - Sokol Underground
05-22 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
05-23 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
05-24 Boise, ID - Neurolux
05-26 George, WA - The Gorge (Sasquatch! Festival)
05-28 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
05-30 San Francisco, CA - Slim's
05-31 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre
06-02 Phoenix, AZ - Brick House
06-16 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Festival

The Hold Steady on Billboard 200

"In fact, the Brooklyn-based five-piece bowed at No. 124 on the chart with its third album, Boys and Girls in America. The Vagrant set also managed a No. 9 and No. 2 showing on the Tastemakers and Heatseekers charts, respectively.

"With zero airplay and no TV exposure, the Hold Steady attributes much of its success to its 'ravenous' fanbase. 'I don't know if there's a way of calculating this, but I think that [with] a good ratio of our fans -- we're their favorite band,' Finn says. 'They're more ravenous. They'll travel with us.'" [Billboard]

The Hold Steady: New Album, Pitchfork Love, DC Live Date

[Photo Credit]

As much as I love their 2005 release, Separation Sunday, the new album is better. It's scary when you think about how good this band is, and also how unique the sound is. Lyrically they are peerless. Peerless in the sense that no one is writing songs like they are - in true American storyteller fashion. Boys And Girls In America is a rollercoaster of emotions, from depression to inebriation, to happy-go-lucky party mode. It takes you from the track out to Minneapolis and back to the bar. It gets you high and brings you out on the town with the boys and girls.

Lead singer Craig Finn relates some of the themes from the album at Vagrant Records:

"Well, Boys and Girls in America comes from Kerouac. In On the Road he says, "Boys and Girls in America have such a sad time together." The record is kind of about love and guys and girls and relationships. Most of the songs go back to that. But that’s an umbrella-you can do a lot of things within that. The songs are a little more self-contained. They don’t relate as much to each other but all go back to this one big thing."

That one big thing is relationships, as told through the eyes and ears and hearts of the boys and girls. They are fantastic stories, fantastic songs, and simply put, fun. It has an enjoyable, party/sing-along feel that is rarely seen in a top-to-bottom quality record. It is a rare achievement, and worth every penny. In addition to Finn's everyman delivery, Kubler's explosive guitar work, and Franz Nicolay's steady work on the keys - which has come to form The Hold Steady's trademark sound - you can expect guest vocals from Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum), Elizabeth Elmore (The Reputation), and Dana Kletter (Dear Enemy).

While it isn't surprising that Pitchfork gave them their highest mark of the year (9.4) for this album, it is a little surprising that Pitchfork's link is the only non-commercial link listed at their album stream. As much as I don't want to be suspicious, because the album is great, I am suspicious. JK drew my attention to it (look lower left corner) early in the week. It would be one thing if the link posted pointed you to the review of the new record, something that bands frequently do when they receive a good write-up, but the link goes to Pitchfork's homepage. It all seems a little strange. I'm not going to think too hard about it, but I thought it was worth mentioning. The album, in the end, speaks for itself. What Vagrant decides to do, as a label, is another, separate entity, I guess.

MP3: The Hold Steady - "First Night"
MP3: The Hold Steady - "Hot Soft Light"

Tour Dates of Note
Nov 22 - Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw (Constantines support)
Nov 24 - Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's
Nov 25 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat