All Over But The Drinkin’ - Mats Tribute At First Ave.
By Wolfdog | Filed under Concert Review | Comments (5)
Last night’s festivities at First Avenue in Mpls were advertised to promote Jim Walsh’s Replacements oral history, All Over But The Shouting. But mostly what was promoted was a reason to get like minded fans and musicians together and have a big ol’ sloppy fun hootenanny.
Walsh wasn’t so much a host or an emcee for the event, but rather a cheerleader (and sometimes playful pest) for his friends, the bands, and the audience. I would imagine he is taking it easy today after a long night of smiling, singing, shouting, drinking, hugging, signing, and hip-checking guitarists. He also gets points for playing a out-of-the-blue cover of Bittersweet Symphony.
The bands were exceptional from top to bottom. No matter if they were attempting spot-on covers, or spinning their own version of Mats’ classics (and some not so classic)
Here’s a general rundown of the music, as far as I can remember. (this tall boy had his fill of $3.75 PBR Tall Boys. memory gaps are inevitable)
From the mainroom:
The Evening Rig - Solid band that did a pretty straight-up job of playing Valentine, Waitress In the Sky, and Kiss Me On the Bus
The Alarmists - Damn good band. did a damn fine job on Left Of the Dial, Swinging Party, The Ledge, and I Will Dare. (for the record, the singer sang “bacon and cigarettes’. But he is like 20 years old, so what does he know)
Revolver Modele - Industrial/Goth rock versions of Johnny’s Gonna Die, Color Me Impressed, and Unsatisfied. If you’re gonna cover Unsatisfied, rockin’ the pulsing goth/dance beat is the way to go.
One For The Team - they looked a bit hippie-ish, but rocked solid. I’ll Be You, Nevermind, Beer For Breakfast, and Can’t Hardly Wait along with a horn section. Very sweet.
Honeydogs - Just a flat out awesome rock band. Totally underrated. Answering Machine, Sixteen Blue, Darlin’ One, and a great Kids Don’t Follow.
Birthday Suits - Great high-energy guitar/drums two piece band. Slugged out Fuck School, Stuck In The Middle, and Goddamn Job in record time.
From the Entry:
At times it was tough getting into the Entry. Packed to the gills. The vibe in the Entry was very hootenanny-ish. Terry Walsh, Martin Devaney, and friends made a joyful mess of a sound for most of the night. A ’spirited’ Date To Church was of note.
Also of note from the Entry was Brian Vanderwerf of Chooglin’ covering an unreleased Replacements outtake, Don’t Get Married with a band including two acoustic guitars, banjo, glockenspiel, trombone, and tuba. Probably was my favorite song of the night.
If this is how book release parties go down, I’ve been missing all the literary fun. And that’s pretty much what this night was, fun. What else do you need on a Wednesday night? Let’s do this again, soon.
Chris Riemenschneider’s take on the evening from the Star Tribune.
On Wilco, Better than Ezra and ‘Mats covers
By Jodi | Filed under Concert Review, Westbergesque | Comments (7)
As you can see, I went to see Wilco earlier this week. The set was tight and that little Nels dude can fucking rock the house. Seriously, the dude is like a demon. But this is not about Wilco. Afterall, this is Paul Westerberg.net and not Wilco.net.
This is about how, I was oddly disappointed that Jeff Tweedy and company didn’t bust out a ‘Mats cover during the concert. I really, really had my hopes pinned on them bursting into “I Will Dare” just for the fun of it and to pay homage to Paul and the boys. After all, I have an mp3 of them covering “Color Me Impressed” where Tweedy says, “Everything we are is because of the Replacements” or something to that effect.
And I wish I could say that this disappointment was only because of the aforementioned ‘Mats cover, but it’s not. I am oddly disappointed every time I go see a band/musician of a certain genre and they don’t do a ‘Mats or Paul Westerberg cover during their set. I am not sure why I’ve decided that everyone who comes through Minneapolis should throw down some props to the band, but I have.
Because I have made this decision you would think somewhere along the line I had heard a lot of bands cover The ‘Mats in concert. You could think that, but you would be wrong. The only band I’ve ever, ever heard cover the ‘Mats in a concert I was attending was Better Than Ezra.
I KNOW!
It was a concert called Music in the Park or something like that — Jayhawks, Mason Jennings, Better than Ezra and some other people I have long since forgotten. It was a somber affair because the concert happened just a few days after 9/11. I remember this because the Jayhawks were short a person because they were stuck somewhere and couldn’t fly because planes weren’t flying.
Anyway, Better than Ezra (whom I kinda love) sang “Skyways” and ever since I always expect everyone to cover the ‘Mats. Have you ever heard anyone cover the ‘Mats at a concert you were at?
Tags: 'Mats, Better than Ezra, paul westerberg, the replacements, Wilco
They’re waiting in the darkness….
By Wolfdog | Filed under Concert Review | Comments (10)
Things I have never seen at First Avenue until last night:
1. A crowd rapt with attention, hanging on every word someone is speaking.
2. Chairs on the floor. And no one felt the urge to toss them around.
3. Someone learning to play the Jackson 5 - I Want You Back on stage.
I loved nearly every minute of Paul Westerberg’s edition of ‘The Craft’. You can complain all you want about the ever-present corporate sponsorship, the lack of more songs, the lack of choice of beers, and the body odor of the person beside you… but really, I think we got something unique that night. Something you don’t get from a regular ’show’. You get to see how much passion Paul has for his baseball team. (note to Carl Pohlad, resign Torii Hunter. I think he’s serious about the brick throwing). How he has written songs in different tunings and never known what key they were in until your bass player tells you much later. You get to hear what brought about writing a new song called Everyone’s Stupid. You get to hear Lush & Green.
I was paying close attention, not only because the PA was on the quiet side for the interview, along with the 500 or so others there. I looked around at one point and was awed by how everyone was glued to it. It is a very eclectic and amazing bunch (fistful) of weirdos. The conversations had and overheard before and after the show are something you don’t get in a lot of places. But at First Ave on a night with a show like this, people are on the same page (or at least the same section of the library) and you are likely to bump into a kindred spirit around every corner.
And I’m thankful I bumped into a lot of kindred spirits. I met a lot of great people, hung out a bunch, and generally had a huge smile on my face all night. I may have accidently hugged Scooter as well. But that may have had more to do with multiple Black & Tans.
If I didn’t get a chance to run into you, sorry I missed you, but say hey here and let us know what you thought of the whole shindig. And maybe I will see some of you at Jim Walsh’s book release party in November…..
Paul Westerberg The Craft live at First Ave. in Minneapolis
By Jodi | Filed under Concert Review | Comments (6)
Where to begin?
What struck me the most was when Warren Zanes (the dude from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) talked about how he always considered “Let it Be” to be the first step Westerberg made toward a solo career. Westerberg didn’t disagree.
They spent a lot of time talking about how “If Only You Were Lonely” and “Within Your Reach” off of “Hootenanny” was really the first break in the band, where Westerberg wanted to go one direction and the rest of the ‘Mats wanted to go in another direction.
Zanes asked him how he appeased the other guys.
“Gary’s got a boner,” Paul said.
Paul also talked about how the difference between a good song and a great song is all in the bridge and that he personally followed the same sort of bridge “rules” that Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello follow.
Oh! The set list went a little something like this:
Let the Bad Times Roll
It’s a Wonderful Lie
Everybody’s Stupid — a new song!
Lush and Green
Make the Best of Me — a new song!
What a Day for a Night
World Class Fad
Dyslexic Heart
Can’t Hardly Wait
Skyway
Paul even talked a little about “Bookmark” (one of my all-time faves) and said that he played, “Bookmark for a year solid before I decided what the words were gonna be.”
At that point he threw out some mad props to Ben Folds, “he writes beautiful and clever melodies.”
Really it was a pretty kickass night. I will write more in the morning when I am a little more coherent (it’s late 1:11 here and I gots to work in a few hours).
Also, check out the Strib’s review of the show and the PiPress’ Ross Raihala has also posted about the show.
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