I was thinking this might finally be the time the Hold Steady doesn’t blow me away, what with the unusual/unlikely setting and the fact they’re playing scattered dates this summer and not on a full-scale tour. Definitely not so. One thing I didn’t note in my print review — the mayor gets plenty of ink already – R.T. Rybak gave them an introduction that was actually pretty cool, as he noted Craig Finn and he went to the same high school and college.. Wonder if the mayor saw the same amount of partying? Craig then said later in the show, “There are many nights I feel like one of the luckiest guys in the world, and this is one of them.” It was a great night for all, especially all the young kids I saw who were deeply into the band. For too many reasons to mention, it pained me to have to leave about an hour into the set to catch the last half hour of Counting Crows. Here’s what I did catch of the Hold Steady:

Constructive Summer / Hot Soft Light / Chips Ahoy! / Sequestered in Memphis / The Swish / Magazines / Massive Nights / Party Pit / Don’t Let Me Explode / Stevie Nix / Multitude of Casualties / Yeah Sapphire / Southtown Girls / Lord, I’m Discouraged / Your Little Hoodrat Friend … ??

When I got over to Counting Crows, I fought my way more than halfway up to the stage near the soundboard and still could only hear a muffled version of the band. Among the songs I picked up at the end of their set were: “Sundays,” “Anna Begins,” “You Can Count on Me,” “Mr. Jones” and “Black and Blue.” Of what I could hear, the often-spotty Crows actually sounded refined and inspired, and Duritz’s voice was in fine shape. Too bad for the dedicated Crows fans (a tenth of the crowd?) it was such a subpar concert setting.

Before the Hold Steady, local boys Tapes ‘N Tapes did a typically fine job playing to an atypical crowd. Funny, I forgot how heavy and bombastic the band really is, something you take for granted seeing them in clubs. They played a couple new songs, including one called “Hidey-Ho” that edged on prog-rock with organ and Jeremy Hanson pounding his floor tom drum. The rest of their set included: “Conquest,” “Cowbell,” “10 Gallon Ascots,” “In Houston,” “Manitoba,” “The Dirty Dirty,” “Hang ‘Em All” and “Jackov Suite.”

This entry was posted on Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 9:16 am and is filed under Concerts, Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.