D's Notebook

Tag: concerts

Pearl Jam In Indy – Finally

August 27, 2024 /

As hinted at in yesterday’s post, I got to do something insanely awesome Monday night that I’ve been waiting a long time for. Even with a short night of sleep, I’m still a little keyed up from it this morning. If you choose to proceed, prepare yourself for an overly detailed accounting of my evening watching Pearl Jam play live rock ’n’ roll music.

One of the funny things about me is that for as big a fan of music as I am – and I think the archives of this blog are testament to that – I’ve not been to tons of concerts in my life.

There are lots of factors that go into that, but I believe the biggest was because in the years I was coming of age with music, I lived with a single mom who both couldn’t afford concert tickets and didn’t have the time to take me. You would think as I got older that would change, but it never did much. In the mid–90s I went to tons of shows at local clubs, but even then I never became one of those music fans who went to a show a week or whatever. And I rarely went to big stadium/arena shows.

I also blame the years in the early ‘90s when I was a poor college student. A big group of friends went to the U2 show at Arrowhead in 1992, one of the greatest tours ever. I was offered a ticket last minute, but the $50 or whatever seemed like soooo much money at the time.[1]

I also just had some bad luck over the years. I was supposed to see Prince in 1998, but came down with the worst case of the flu I’ve ever had and had to sell my ticket.[2]

Anyway, that is all needlessly long prelude to the point of this post: Monday was the best concert I’ve ever attended. My total shows seen might be small, but this beat them all.

It was Pearl Jam’s first visit to Indianapolis in 14 years.[3] It was my first time seeing them in over 20 years. It was worth every second of those collective waits.

It’s hard to review a Pearl Jam show, because they are almost always incredible. While I’ve not seen them in person since 2000 – more on that later – I’ve watched tons of their shows online, both officially and unofficially. There is no better live band in music. They are a well-oiled machine that combines the spontaneity of a setlist that changes every night with a structure that allows for almost seamless transitions between most songs. They famously play epically long shows that often veer in unexpected directions depending on where the night and crowd takes them. Shows become near religious events as thousands of devoted fans scream out every word and react to every element of the performance.

Everything about Monday’s show lived up to the band’s reputation.

It was a fire-cracker hot night here in Indy, in the mid–90s during the day, and the air at Ruoff Music Center was thick and heavy when opener Glen Hansard took stage at exactly 7:30. He had the line of the night when he introduced his band: “We’re from Ireland and we’re happy to be here. We’re going to play for 45 minutes and then we’re going to fuck off.” And then they only played for 30 minutes! Under-promise, over-deliver!

His set was terrific. I didn’t know much about his music, mostly the more soft/folksy songs he did for the movie Flag Day, including “My Father’s Daughter,” a song he made with Eddie Vedder and daughter Olivia Vedder. But from the go, his band absolutely kicked ass. Roaring guitars, screamed lyrics. It was a good start to the night.

Pearl Jam took the stage at 8:40, just as the sun was disappearing and a nice breeze was beginning to blow through the partially covered main seating section. My buddy SK and I had been trying to guess what the opening song would be, a pointless exercise since PJ opens with a different song every night and can literally go hundreds of directions when you account for covers. He guessed “Low Light.” I didn’t take a real stab at it, but “Hail, Hail” had been in my head all day.

We were pleasantly surprised when Stone Gossard started strumming the opening lines to *Ten*-era B-side “Wash.” A terrific omen, as many of theirs shows on this tour have begun with slower songs.

Twenty-three songs followed. The band was in fine form, although the sound was a little muddy. Eddie was in great voice. The crowd was frenzied. On the biggest songs, “Alive” for example, you could barely hear the band because the crowd sang along so loudly. You couldn’t ask for a better show.

It was interesting to look at the show from above, as a long-time PJ fan, and see how far this band has come. They’ve been an incredible live band since day one. Those early Nineties shows were intense affairs, Eddie a brooding, distant, sometimes scary frontman. The band went through their difficult mid–90s period, where the performance was generally great but the band was going through a lot and you never knew how much joy and personality they would put into each show. There were a few notable meltdowns in this era when the band’s future was in question. Around 2000, they realized that touring was their salvation, and they began to enjoy it more, stretching shows out to Springsteen-esque lengths. About 10 years ago it seemed like Eddie was losing some of the power in his voice. He made allowances, but sometimes those were jarring to see/hear.

In the last five years that has changed again. Eddie has become more theatrical on stage. It’s hard to put into words, because that sounds a little cheesy and he is not cheesy. He just does a lot more from the start of the show to the end to interact with the crowd, to entertain with his actions rather than just sing from the bottom of his soul. The once reluctant star happily embraces everything about being the director for where each night’s show is headed.

His political monologues haven’t disappeared, they’ve just morphed. Monday he encouraged everyone to get out and vote, and noted that 30 years ago he was imploring us to vote, where now he is asking us to get our kids to vote. His most pointed comment of the night was about women needing to reclaim their right to choose. He never said any candidate’s name, nor espoused a particular ideology.

Of course last week while in Jeff Ament’s home state of Montana, the entire band wore Jon Tester shirts, so I think they just pick their spots these days.

Eddie’s voice seems to have recovered from whatever ailed it, too. I remember watching concert films from early in last year’s tour and being floored by how good he sounded. I think he’s found ways to strengthen his voice but also to adjust how he hits certain notes so that he can mask the effects of age. Not that long ago I worried about how much longer he could tour. The past couple years, he’s sounded as good as he ever has and I can see the band touring forever. His energy level is also insane for a guy who will turn 60 in a few months. He doesn’t climb lighting rigs anymore, but he’s in constant motion around the stage.

His energy and strength and stage presence translate to the rest of the band. The greatness of their live act has always come from their collective abilities. Every member of the band absolutely still has their A-games. Mike McCready in particular has an apparent endless reservoir of energy. There wasn’t a song, or even part of a song, where the band behind Eddie seemed to be half-assing it.

As we were walking out I told SK beyond the spectacular performance, what makes PJ shows so great is how many terrific songs they have to choose from, and even the ones that might not be your favorites are played so well that there aren’t really any down moments in the show. Even if you don’t hear all your favorite songs, you walk away thoroughly satisfied.

That was the case with me. Of my seven favorite PJ songs I listed a year ago, they played just one, “Corduroy.” And, you know what? I was not disappointed at all that I didn’t hear “Release” or “Elderly Woman,” or “Given to Fly,” etc.

I thought it was interesting they basically cut out an entire era of their career from the setlist. There was exactly one song from their albums that were released between 2000 and 2020, and that, “Lightning Bolt,” was a request from a couple who were attending their 57th PJ show.[4] I think most fans are fine with that large chunk of the band’s studio career getting nudged aside. “Lightning Bolt” did sound great, though.

The per-album breakdown was:
Ten/Ten-era: 6
Vs. – 1
Vitalogy – 5
No Code – 1
Yield – 1
Lightning Bolt – 1
Dark Matter – 7
Covers – 2

The beauty of Pearl Jam is their next show in Chicago will likely have a completely different mix, aside from the Dark Matter tracks.

A note about our seats. When PJ announced they were coming to Indy in May 2023, both SK and I signed up for tickets. With the band not hitting here in so long, we knew it would be a tough ticket. He is in the band’s Ten Club and hoped that would get us in. I didn’t get selected in the public lottery, but he got a notification that he would be able to get Ten Club seats. Until a week later he got another saying he, in fact, did not make their cut.

Fortunately he has a neighbor that has some serious connections in the music industry. Thanks to her assistance, last July he got an email from someone within the Pearl Jam organization saying that we had two Friends and Family seats.[5] When the September 2023 show was postponed, his contact said we would remain on the list for whenever the show was rescheduled. Sure enough, when this year’s tour was announced he got another note asking for confirmation that he still wanted those seats. Two weeks ago he got official word that we were in.

We had no idea where our seats were until we picked up the tickets at Will Call Monday. Even then, Ruoff’s seating scheme is so odd we couldn’t figure it out by just looking at ticket. So we kept showing them to ushers and they kept waving us further forward. We ended up about ten rows behind the pit section, stage left. They were pretty fucking great seats.

Oh, and not to brag too much, but the tickets were somehow comped to us. SK thought he paid for them a year ago, but went back and looked and he never sent anyone money for them. My previous all time best show was U2 in Kemper Arena in 2001. We got free tickets to that show. Yep, I haven’t had to pay a dime for the two best concerts I’ve ever attended. The Music Gods must be rewarding me for all those concerts I did not go to.

This was just my third Pearl Jam show, which seems dumb. SK, in comparison, has now been to 14. I saw them in Kansas City in both 1998 and 2000. I famously missed their appearance in Lawrence in May 1992 because 1) they had not yet become huge and 2) I spent the day playing basketball with one of my best friends who was about to graduate and move to California. Oh, and 3) I’m an idiot. Less than two months later they were my favorite band, a belt they’ve held off-and-on for over three decades now.

In 2003 they were in Kansas City three days before S and I got married and moved to Indianapolis. Didn’t seem like the right time to sneak away for a concert. I missed their Indy stop on that tour because we were on our honeymoon. I think they’ve been in Indy just once or twice since then, during our “lots of little kids in the house” phase and I never even considered going to those shows.

Show number three was a long time coming. And totally worth it.

A few other notes:

SK and I got excited when songs four, five, and six of the night were the first three songs from Vitalogy, in order. Every now and then PJ will play an entire album in order. This was a tease, though, and they moved on to new songs.

“Black” was a song I got sick of in the Nineties because I thought it got super overplayed. It was truly fantastic Monday.

Gossard said before the Dark Matter tour began that they would begin to pare back their shows a bit, with Ament already 60 and Eddie right behind him. They still played nearly two-and-a-half hours Monday. The biggest bummer about not seeing them last year was they were still pushing three hours in those shows.

The audio-visual portion of the show was excellent. At most Ruoff shows there are a few cameras shooting video that show up on the auxiliary boards for fans up in the lawn. PJ shot this like a concert movie, with tons of cameras that were constantly switching feeds on the boards. I now see why so many of their shows end up with high quality movies on one site or another. They take that part of the presentation very seriously.

As we walked out there was a dad with a college-aged son in front of us. We overheard the dad tell the son, very seriously, “I hope you realize that was a fucking incredible concert!” We couldn’t hear what the kid’s response was. He better have recognized, though.

Eddie has been wearing a Walter Payton jersey at all their shows on this tour. It was Jeff Ament who made the local connection, wearing a shirt that had Larry Bird’s face on one side and his number on the other.

Speaking of shirts, I’ve never bought a concert shirt before. Again, I’m a man full of contradictions and surprises. I bought one last night, though, because they were perfect.

Shout out to the merch arm of the PJ empire. That thing is as well-oiled as the band’s performances. They opened up at noon for people who wanted to get there early and get the limited edition items. Inside the venue there were multiple spots to purchase items with crazy long lines before the show. We stopped at one after the show and despite the line, had to wait less than five minutes to purchase my shirt. There was another still open outside the gates that had no wait. And although they were short a few sizes, you could still buy just about anything you wanted almost 12 hours after they sold their first shirt of the day.

Also cool was the special stand that printed up setlist shirts. SK told me the band hands off their final setlist when the show begins and by the time they are done, there are stacks of shirts with that night’s unique collection of songs listed. Genius way to make fans eager to fork over another $40 for a unique memento of the night.

PJ still does the “official bootlegs” of every show. I think I still have all the early 2000s ones I bought somewhere in the basement. I believe I will be buying this one when it is released in a few weeks.

Both times I saw PJ in KC, they closed with “Rockin’ In The Free World.” Which was great. But I was going to be disappointed if I heard it again. Fortunately they closed with a spectacular “Baba O’Reilly” – “Yellow Ledbetter” double. Finally hearing “Baba” live was a big checkmark on my all-time PJ must hear list.

  1. An online inflation calculator suggests that translates to $112 dollars today, which seems reasonable for a U2 show, but understandable for a poor college student to decide he’d rather eat/drink off that for two weeks than blow it in one night. Still wish I had gone to that show, though.  ↩
  2. I also missed a KU basketball game that week, so you know I was sick!  ↩
  3. And, of course, this concert was delayed from a year ago when Matt Cameron got Covid.  ↩
  4. Eddie: “You attend 57 shows, you get a request.”  ↩
  5. Not sure if it was accidental or intentional, but his contact sent him the link for F&F tickets for the entire tour. We had a phone call last spring where we seriously debated whether to get tickets for one of the Wrigley shows later this week, or going to another big city to see them. We decided the smart move, and affordable one since we both have kids in college and at Catholic high schools, was to stick to just the Indy show.  ↩

Weekend Notes

July 5, 2023 /

A lot to get caught up on after a long holiday weekend.

July 4th

Our standard family pool party for the Fourth of July. Almost all the locals were over for a daytime gathering. I smoked rather than grilled burgers for the first time and they turned out pretty good. All the young ones were well behaved, and it seems like both generations of sisters got along for the day, too.

We had neighbors over for drinks in the evening after the family had cleared out. No driveway fireworks this year.

Kid Hoops

Thursday was the last night of summer league games. CHS played a team they lost to by six earlier in June, and both coaches agreed to stack their rosters so that it was a true A game. Which got L excited.

She played pretty well in an eight-point loss. She hit a shot right before halftime to give us a 20–19 lead. But we were on the wrong side of a 9–2 run to start the third quarter that was pretty much the game. L was not on the court for any of that run. When she played, it was an even ballgame. When she sat, our offense bogged down and the defense was disconnected.

She scored six for the night on 3–4 shooting, and had a rebound, an assist, a steal, and a turnover.

She wasn’t super pleased with her play afterward, but I told her about my rough +/- numbers and how I saw her affect the game. There are definitely girls better than her on the team. There are girls with more potential or who are better than her in individual aspects of the game. But of the girls in the 20-ish player pool the JV teams pulled from this summer, no one organizes the game better than her.

Her first summer of high school hoops was a success. She fit in, she got more confident as the season progressed, was high scorer in at least two games, earned the coaches’ trust, and most importantly, she made some new, good friends. I’m excited to see how she improves once fall practice kicks off.

Not much rest for her. The travel team goes to St. Louis Friday for a tournament.

Over the weekend we went to the Y to shoot three times. She came up with a new workout that required her to make 300 shots. Mid-range, floaters, and 3’s. Off-the-catch and off-the-dribble. Lots of free throws. It took roughly an hour to get through it each day. I worked up a good sweat rebounding and passing.

Weather/Power

What a weird weather week.

We began with a terrible bout with the Canadian wild fire smoke. A couple times we had the worst air quality of any city in the US. Wednesday morning we were up to #2 in the world. Never say that Indianapolis can’t compete on the world stage!

It was much worse than our first run with the smoke a month ago. Two days the sky resembled the winter sky right before a big snow storm. Those days we couldn’t even see the sun, let alone take eerie pictures of its light refracted by the smoke. There was also a strange, metallic smell to the air.

Then Thursday a Derecho storm blew through with winds over 70 MPH. Our power went off at 3:57 and did not come back on until 3:00 Saturday afternoon. We filled up coolers with ice and transported our important items from the freezer to a relative’s home, but lost pretty much everything else from our fridges and freezers. S said it was time to replace a lot of our condiments anyway. Our house got pretty toasty each afternoon, but at least our basement remained cool. It was completely comfortable sleeping down there.

At one point nearly 80,000 people in Indianapolis were without power. I was obsessively checking the outage map and watched it slowly tick down a few thousand at a time, only for it to shoot back up after more, if less intense, storms came through both Friday night and Saturday morning.

When our power came back on there were still around 20,000 people in the city without power. I think most of them were back up and running by Sunday evening.

We had zero damage at our house. The neighbors to either side of us kept their power. It was just a thin row of 7–8 houses behind us that all come off the same line that got knocked out. Obviously the big downside of living in an area with tons of old trees and old power lines.

The big surprise was that our pool survived without turning bad. I was worried that sitting in the heat, covered, with zero circulation or filtration would be a recipe for stuff to grow quickly. It has turned cloudy in less time before. But Saturday night it was clear and tested out fine. I shocked it and ran the pump a little higher than normal and it was fine to swim in on Sunday.

In a related note, our refrigerators are very clean and organized.

Taylor Swift

I mentioned in Friday’s playlist that M was off to Cincy to watch Taylor Swift perform. She said the show was awesome.

M just got her tickets a week before the show. She received a text saying that some new tickets had been released. She was worried it was a scam, but noticed the message came from the same number her other Ticketmaster texts came from, so she decided to quickly buy two tickets and hope they were legit. She messaged some friends and they asked if she could try to get two more. The link indeed worked again so she bought four total tickets at face value 10 days before the show. She checked the secondary market and seats in her section were going for more than $2000. Pretty crazy. She was in the lower level in the Bengals stadium, with a great view of the main stage.

The grandparents of one of the friends that went with her live in Cincy, so the girls stayed at their house. The grandfather also met them near the stadium so M could park in a good spot hours before the show, took them to his house to drop their stuff, then back to the stadium. She’s living right these days.

Just a nice bonus this trip allowed her to miss out on about 24 hours of our power outage.

Football Recruiting

I will not address KU football recruiting until December.

Home States

Finally, not only did I just pass my 20th wedding anniversary and my 20th blogging anniversary, but also marked my 20th year living in Indiana. A few years ago I went through the exercise of figuring out how long I spent in each of the four states I lived in.

That was harder than you would think because of the college years, splitting time between two states. I decided to give Kansas ¾ credit for my first three years at KU, then full credit for the last couple after I gained residency and stayed there most of the summers. I’m not sure if that works out exactly right, but it seemed close and fair.

Anyway, my 20th year in Indiana means I’ve officially lived here longer than any other state. That still doesn’t sound right. My current tally looks like this:

Indiana 20 years
Missouri 19 years
Kansas 12 years
California 1 year

Weekend Notes

June 26, 2023 /

Quite a few things to discuss this week, so I’m going to split this into two posts. The personal stuff first, the NBA Draft stuff later on today.

Weather

We dodged a big ol’ bullet Sunday when storms roared through our area. There was a tornado on the ground about 10 minutes north of us. Several on the ground on the south side of Indy did significant damage. There was fairly large hail within two miles of our house.

But we just got a couple brief downpours and gusty winds.

In fact, we had worse problems a few nights earlier when the wind kicked up and briefly knocked our power out. I’m talking like a quick blink. However, a few minutes later I noticed a fire truck was sitting in the street in front of our house and the firefighters were walking through our neighbors’ yard.

We later learned the gusts had pulled down a power line in their yard which had caused a small fire. They were not home, but fortunately the fire was just in their yard and well away from their house.

Also fortunate that it wasn’t an integral power line for any of us and no one had to sit in the dark until the power company arrived to fix the line at 3:00 AM.

A Night of Music

S and I joined some friends to watch Ben Folds play at the Rock the Ruins concert series at Holliday Park, which is about 10 minutes from our house.

It had been a hot afternoon, but once the sun disappeared behind the park’s thick tree canopy it became a lovely evening.

I’m not a huge Ben Folds fan, but did very much enjoy the show. He only played a couple songs that I knew, somehow not playing “Rockin’ the Suburbs,” which would have been perfect for the setting.

A key part of Holliday Park are some “ruins” that were transported from a building in New York to Indy in the 1950s. Folds mentioned that it was an honor to play in this ancient, historic site. “One that they rocked so hard 2000 years ago that they blew the motherfucker up.”

The Bear

I spent a good chunk of the weekend racing through season two of The Bear. I loved the first season. I liked this one even more.

SPOILER ALERT

Everything that made season one great was still there. I can sum all of that up with one word: porn.

The show is food porn, obviously. It is acting porn. It is music porn.[1] It is cinema/photography porn. It is writing porn. Just about every aspect of the show is pornographic it is so good.

What made this season slightly better than the first was how the little moments where the supporting characters were allowed to shine in those first eight episodes were all expanded here, often to episode-long explorations. Marcus going to Copenhagen. Sydney’s food tour of Chicago. Richie’s week learning how the best restaurant in the world operates. Tina’s trip to culinary school.

I think what was brilliant about these episodes/scenes was their restraint. Any actor can go big: see Jamie Lee Curtis’ turn as Donna Berzatto in episode six. In each of those other performances, though, the actor we are focused on had to go small and subtle. We learned so much about them through small gestures and looks and actions. I don’t know who deserves more credit, the writers or actors, but major props all around for making such good television.

My favorite scene of the year? Near the end of episode nine, “Omelette,” as the new restaurant is minutes away from opening their doors for Friends and Family night, Carmen and Syd crawl under a table to make sure it is level. Their conversation was so honest and open and intimate despite being just about work.

One of the big storylines of the season was Carmy trying to balance beginning a romantic relationship with the super cute Claire and opening a restaurant under a ton of pressure.[2] When I heard he and Syd connecting under that table, though, I knew that Claire wasn’t going to work out. Not because he and Syd have a romantic attraction for each other, but because she is the only woman, maybe person, who he can truly be open and connect with. If you are more honest with your co-worker than your girlfriend, girlfriend ain’t gonna last.

So of course Carmy fucks it up.

There were also like half a dozen other conversations like the one between Carmy and Syd that were amazing and affecting and make this show so good.

I also loved how everyone but Carmy figured their shit out over the course of the season while he became more of a mess. By the end of the year, The Bear (the restaurant) was a lean, mean fighting machine of competent, confident staff that saved F&F night when it was on the verge of becoming a disaster. And did so largely without Carmy, who was locked in the walk-in , pounding on its doors and screaming.

Richie especially was a revelation. He went from literally having no idea where he fit into the new restaurant concept and how that would affect the rest of his life, to being a total food and hospitality badass in a suit.

I feel obligated to throw out a few words about episode six, “Fishes.” The obvious comparison is to last season’s episode seven, “Review.” They are both over-the-top, breakneck episodes designed to overwhelm and challenge. If you want to love the show, you have to keep up. “Fishes” is like your worst family holiday nightmare cranked up to the maximum boss level. It is probably too much. Especially with how it ends. It was shocking and draining and thoroughly depressing. Much of what happens in that episode does end up being vital for how the rest of the season plays out, but I think it came very close to distracting from how strong and consistent the other nine episodes were.

Despite that slight hiccup, there is just so much goodness in this show. It’s the best thing I’ve watched this year and I give it my highest recommendation.

Kid Hoops

Two weeks of JV updates for L.

The past two weeks they’ve split the JV pool into two teams that each played one game in the Thursday league.

A week ago L’s group played sectional rival North Central, the school we live down the block from. She scored a game-high 10 points in a nine-point win. Everything was at/near the rim as she went 5–8 on 2’s and 0–3 on 3’s. Her best move of the night ended up a waste. She ran out on a break, caught a pass over the top of the defense, took two dribbles, then stopped and faked, sending her defender by her in the air. The CHS bench all let out howls and screams. And then she blew the layup. Oh well…

This past Thursday they played Lawrence Central, another school that falls into CHS’ sectional. L had five points in a seven-point win. This time she was shooting from outside, going 1–4 on 3’s and hitting another long two. LC was playing a zone and a couple times she was wide open but chose to pass.

When she subbed out after turning down her most open look of the night, her coach told her, gently, that she needs to shoot more. “You have a nice shot. Be ready and take them when you’re open.” That’s exactly what I’ve been saying…

I should probably mention who coached her team that night. It was the CHS freshman coach. He just happens to be a 1982 McDonald’s All American at Cathedral and a first-round pick in the 1986 draft.

I had not met him before – he is a VP for Community Relations and Diversity at CHS – but did introduce myself since I was keeping the book. Super nice guy. If you do some digging you can find stories about his life and what he does outside of coaching and his work for CHS.

I also met the dad of another freshman. He told me he liked my KU shirt a couple weeks ago in passing. We talked this week and he told me he has both graduate and law degrees from KU, although he arrived in Lawrence about the time I left. We bored our daughters with about 10 minutes of KU hoops talk before we broke it off.

College Prep

We have begun ordering things for M to take to college in less than two months.[3] Saturday the Amazon man dropped off like five boxes for her. Sunday three different Amazon folks came to our house with stuff. Two things are coming tomorrow. Two other things are backordered and will be here in the next couple weeks. And we’ve only just started.

I swear I didn’t take half as much shit when I moved into McCollum Hall in August 1989. Pretty sure I just took some clothes, toiletries, my boombox, and a bunch of cassette tapes.

Ok, that might be an exaggeration but I know we easily fit everything into the trunk of my stepdad’s Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera. We’re thinking about renting a van for the day we drive M to Cincinnati.

  1. THREE Neil Finn songs!?!?! As if the music choices weren’t good enough already…  ↩
  2. For the record, I’m very much in favor of dudes dating short, cute, dark-haired medical residents. Although Molly Gordon is 5’5” so perhaps I shouldn’t call her short.  ↩
  3. Yikes!  ↩

Friday Playlist + Mini Concert Review

May 12, 2023 /

My Friday Playlist pool has been pretty full this year. There was a little lull in the past month where I had to do some digging to fill out the weekly lists. Suddenly, though, I am overflowing once again. When I started working on today’s edition, I had 17 songs in the queue, only two of which were older tracks. Which is a good problem, obviously, as it means extra music for you as I work to get through them all.

“This Is A Photograph II” – Kevin Morby
My KC homie just announced his latest project, More Photographs (A Continuum), which expands on last year’s This Is A Photograph by re-imagining a few songs (like this one) and adding some new songs from those original sessions that he’s continued to work on. No surprise that it sounds like another great release already.

“I’m Going To Get Free” – Dexys
I had no idea Dexys Midnight Runners, who now perform as just Dexys, were still making music. Although a classic ’80s one-hit-wonder here in the States, they’ve never stopped recording and remain super popular back in the UK. I can’t say I’ve heard any of their music since 1983. This is their latest release and it’s very fun.

“Run To The Moon” – Beach Fossils
Super summery vibes here. It was 85 in Indy yesterday so it’s finally time to play songs like this without a healthy dose of hope for warmer days to come.

“Every Day Like the Last” – Wye Oak
WO just announced they will no longer make full albums, instead concentrating on singles and EPs. Which makes total sense in the current music environment. It also allows them to chase their always meandering muse a little easier. As almost always happens when they shift their sound, I love this track.

“Silhouette” – Human Tetris
This sounds straight out of the 1982, British synthpop world. Which makes sense, as the band is from Moscow and may just be discovering the first wave of post punk. Moscow, Russia, not Moscow, Idaho.

“Watching The Credits” – The Beths
A leftover track from last year’s Expert In A Dying Field. I always wonder why songs this good don’t make the final track list for albums.

“Mountain at My Gates” – Foals
An oldie I heard for the first time in ages this week that still sounds pretty good.

“Underground” – City and Colour
I swore I included this song in a playlist earlier this spring, but can’t find it. Apologies if my search skills aren’t working properly this morning and it was in an earlier edition.

We went to our first concert of the year Wednesday, seeing these guys at The Vogue theater. I knew very little about them, only that our friends we often attend concerts with suggested it as a good show. I listened to a little of their music over the past few months, but other than this, one of the early singles off their latest album, I couldn’t really get into them. But I figured S would really like them and it would be an excuse to hang with old friends we don’t see often enough.

I was a little shocked when we walked into The Vogue just after the opening act – Courtney Marie Andrews – began her set. The place was packed. I pride myself on at least knowing of the bands that are making waves in this part of the music world, but I had no clue how long C&C had been around or that they had carved out a loyal audience. The venue was near capacity and a lot of the folks there knew many of the words to the songs, loudly singing them back at the stage.

Dallas Green has a remarkable voice. The acoustics at The Vogue can be tricky, but his voice rang out clearly even over their songs that rock. I knew from my buddy that Green had been in a screamo band back in the day, and I’m amazed that a guy who used to shriek his lyrics can sing like this.

(Oh, you should read the story about his name. Baseball fans, he was named after the person he shares a name with.)

I found the songs I sampled before the show a little too gentle for my tastes. In concert, the band veered closer to a southern rock sound, sometimes borderline country, with several that exploded into loud solos.

I’m not going to dive deeply into their music but I enjoyed listening to them play live for about 90 minutes.

“Age of Consent” – New Order live on BBC
Someone posted this on Twitter this week in a thread about the greatest live performances. He pointed out that the band was late getting to the studio and apparently pissed off about a lot of things, and how Bernard Sumner played a totally different song early on, yet it still comes together in a scintillating performance. The entire rhythm section of this song is incredible.

Another Night of Music

June 15, 2022 /

Two concerts in a week! Both at new venues (to me)! Quite a run!

Last night was a little extra special. Not only did we go see The Lumineers, one of S’s favorite bands, but we took all three girls with us. It was the first official show for C and L, although they had seen Blues Traveler at Symphony on the Prairie years ago. C barely remembers that and L doesn’t at all, plus they had no idea who Blues Traveler was, so I think this counts as their first real concert. M was quick to remind everyone that she’s been to lots of concerts. She was kind of snotty last night.

The show was at the big, suburban, outdoor concert venue here, which like many of them around the country has had about 10 names in the 19 years I’ve lived here. It also isn’t nearly as isolated as it was the last time S was here 20-some years ago. L has played basketball right across the street and there are neighborhoods and industrial parks that butt up to every side of the property now. I guess it used to truly be in the boonies. Progress!

Believe it or not, this was my first-ever visit. Which seems crazy if you follow along here, or just know me and how much I love music and how much time I spend listening to (mostly) new music. As I’ve documented before, though, I’ve never been a big concert guy, for reasons I’ve never really understood. In the time we’ve lived here I think most of it is because it took me years to find friends who were interested in the same music I am into. Plus I don’t like going to shows just because it’s a band you’ve heard of and lots of people were going. To be honest, I wouldn’t have gone last night if the whole family wasn’t going. I like a few Lumineers songs, but do not go out of my way to listen to them.

We had lawn tickets. Our friends we were sitting with got there super early and grabbed a spot in the very front, near center, and rented chairs, so we were in a great spot to people watch in the aisle in front of us and a decent spot to watch the show.

Caamp was the opening band, and we walked in while they were in the midst of their set. I know one of their songs, which they smartly saved for the end of their set (“Peach Fuzz”). I thought it was a little strange that The Lumineers picked a band that sounded so much like them as the opener. At one point Caamp played the first 30 seconds or so of a Lumineers song, including the opening verse, and I wondered why the hell the Lumineers lead singer was out with the opening band. It was just the Caamp lead singer, who can sound an awful lot like the Lumineers singer when he wants to, getting a reaction from the crowd.

The main set was really good. The sound was excellent and The Lumineers pass the most important test for someone like me who isn’t a big fan: they sound live very close to how they sound on their records. The lead singer’s voice is pretty much exactly what you hear on the radio. I always thought of them as more of an American Mumford and Sons, but seeing their stage setup, complete with accordions and multiple drum sets, they struck me as closer to Arcade Fire than Mumford.

They dropped a couple hits early (“Cleopatra,” their one song I really like was second; “Hey Ho” was right after) which was interesting. They were leaning into the newer stuff, for sure. They played well over 20 songs but the set moved pretty quickly and the show clocked in right at two hours.

We snuck out in the midst of the last song to beat some of the notoriously bad traffic, much to M’s chagrin. She insisted we needed to stay to hear every second, so we walked off without her, and then she pouted all the way home. It’s fun when she acts like a teenager! We made it home in less than 30 minutes, which we would not have done had we waited around for the last song to finish. She learned a valuable lesson.

The only downside to the night was it was roughly 25 degrees warmer than last week when we saw The War on Drugs. Just sitting in the semi-shade waiting for the show to start made us drip with sweat. Thank goodness there was a little breeze and we were only in direct sun for about 15 minutes. We saw several people getting wheelchair-ed out with bags of ice strapped to their bodies. I think those people made some choices you can’t make when the heat index is 105.

The age range of attendees was a lot broader than last week, too. Tons of middle/high school kids and plenty of folks our age, but the bulk of the crowd was in their 20s and 30s. It’s been awhile since I’ve been to a show that was dominated by the kids like that. There were tons of white chicks in sundresses dancing in the aisles. Which is never a bad thing.

All-in-all, not a terrible way to spend a hot summer night.



“We’re all just walking through this darkness on our own.” – The War on Drugs Live

June 12, 2022 /

Last Wednesday night I went to my first concert in four-and-a-half years. Just as I did at that last show in December 2017, I went to see The War on Drugs. With S and the same friends we went to that Dec ’17 show with. This was a rather momentous night for me, though, as it was the first concert I’ve been to in Indy that was not in Broad Ripple.[1]

We saw TWOD at the TCU Amphitheater in White River State Park, right downtown, nestled in between Victory Field, the NCAA headquarters, and the Indianapolis Zoo.

It was a damn perfect night for a show. Storms blew through in the afternoon, took away the humidity, and dropped the temps into the upper 60s. There was a gorgeous sunset just after the show began, which peaked through the side of the stage.

And then there was a fucking fantastic show on the stage.

This is the third time I’ve seen TWOD. They get better every time.

This was a transcendent show, nearly flawless in every way. Adam Granduciel set a damn amplifier on fire, which should speak to the power of the performance.

The band roared through 17 songs that were almost perfectly selected and sequenced. I would have swapped two songs in order at the end of the main set, and maybe shuffled in one or two they didn’t play. But the band was so damn good I can’t make any true complaints.

Granduciel’s vocals did get lost in the mix at times. I believe they were too low to begin the show, and got bumped up for song two. But the rest of the night I think it was just that the band was so loud that the vocals still got overwhelmed. That’s not a terrible thing since he’s not the greatest singer in the world. But at times you were more aware he was making sounds with his mouth than really hearing what he was singing.

The highlight of the show, as I hinted at in the Friday Playlist a week ago, was “Come to the City.” The band doesn’t play many songs off of their first full-length album, Slave Ambient, I believe because those songs are difficult to translate to a live setting. I’ve heard a couple others off that album that have not sounded great. I’ve seen versions of “Come to the City” on YouTube that were good, but didn’t match the power of the album version.

But Wednesday night’s effort? It was incandescent. I think I had a big grin on my face for the entire five or so minutes they were playing it. If I had long hair, I think it would have been blowing back over my shoulders from Granduciel’s overwhelming guitar runs. It was one of the greatest songs I’ve ever seen live, and this is a band that routinely melts people’s faces with their music. When “Come to the City” ended, I looked at the people I was with and yelled, “THAT’S WHAT I CAME HERE FOR!”

As a huge fan that has analyzed nearly every second of the band’s last four albums, I noted how their performances have changed since I first saw them seven years ago. They still largely sound like the same band, if more locked-in and cohesive. Granduciel’s guitar is still the center of the show. But there weren’t any five minute solos, or songs that were stretched out to 20 minutes because of multiple solos like on their last tour. He still shreds, but he condenses his play and shares the spotlight more than he used to. Which makes the moments he does slay even better.

It was also awesome to see how songs they’ve been playing for nearly a decade now – all the big ones from Lost in the Dream for example – have been tightened up while also becoming even more massive. “Under the Pressure” has always been an ass-kicker; it was one of the true highlights of the December 2017 show. But I swear, it made people lose their minds and speak in tongues last week. It really should have closed the main set to allow people a few minutes to catch their breath and get their hearts back into rhythm.

The new songs translate well, too, especially their biggest hit, “I Don’t Live Here Anymore.” I wish they played “Change,” but they seem to have dropped it lately.

The only bummer of the night was “Eyes to the Wind” did not get played. It was listed on the official setlist as the first song for the encore, but I think there was a hard 11:00 sound curfew and they cut it to play “Thinking of a Place” and “Occasional Rain.” Those were both great, but “Eyes to the Wind” is one of those songs that grabs me in the soul every time I hear it.

One other thing I noticed is that Granduciel seems much more relaxed on stage, the band seemed to be having fun during songs, and the overall tone of the show was different than two years ago. Perhaps it is because the songs on I Don’t Live Here Anymore are more optimistic and uplifting than the songs on Lost in the Dream. Wednesday there was a real feeling of not just communion, but celebration in the air. I wouldn’t say the band was ever reticent or somber at their previous shows. They have just brightened up quite a bit.

Indianapolis TWOD fans are lucky. It seems like the city will always be on the band’s tour list thanks to their roots with Bloomington’s Secretly Canadian label. They’ve stopped here on three-straight tours, and played incredible shows each time. Hopefully this isn’t the last time I get to see them.

BTW, if you want to look back at what I wrote about the first two TWOD shows I’ve been to, here are links:

The War On Drugs, Indianapolis, 6–12–15
Wrapping Up (+ TWOD)

  1. I will be seeing my first-ever show at the bigger outdoor venue here this coming week.  ↩

Wrapping Up (+ TWOD)

December 22, 2017 /

We are in the full-on holiday frenzy around here.

Yesterday was the girls’ final day of school of 2017. St. P’s always dismisses early on the last day before Christmas break which adds even more excitement to the day. While sitting in the parking lot at dismissal, a friend said he was taking his kids to Dairy Queen and asked if we wanted to join them. Of course my girls did! So the first act of Christmas vacation was having some ice cream.

About an hour later it was off to the airport to pick up my in-laws. They’re staying with us, so I had spent the morning getting the house ready for guests.

Right now the girls are having a major cookie and cake baking session with their grandmother and three aunts. The house smells really good! We have only done our normal weekly baking this month since we’re leaving town Monday.[1] Thus the girls are extra excited to be spending hours baking.

I had to go run a couple small errands this morning. But it was a little odd popping into the grocery story for just milk and a couple other things, rather than making a huge trip to get all the goods for a large gathering. One of S’s sisters is hosting our Christmas Eve get together, and then the family is doing a Christmas afternoon event at our house, but after we depart. Odd but nice. Our grocery store of choice was a complete madhouse when I stopped in today. I saw one accident in the parking lot. I needed to get gas but there were lines for the pumps two cars deep that spilled out into the street.

I also hit three liquor stores looking for a specific kind of beer. My favorite beer of this holiday season has been Sam Adams’ White Christmas. Apparently it’s very popular because it had been unobtainable for about a week and no more shipments are coming. I’m still drinking Nutcracker Ale, Celebration Ale, and Sam Adams’ Winter Lager. But I’m disappointed I had my last White Christmas a couple weeks ago.

Oh, and one other thing has been a part of our week…

S and I attended the sold-out War on Drugs show last night. It was, simply, the best small-mid-sized venue show I’ve ever been to. Sixteen songs stretched out over two hours and almost all were magnificent. The show was perfectly paced, as the songs just kept getting bigger and bigger, some in surprising ways. A couple of my favorites were offered up in new formats, slightly stripped down, which I loved. Both of my songs of the year, “Pain,” and “Strangest Thing,” were played. The guitar solo in “Pain” ended up being better than the one in “Strangest Thing.”

“Thinking of a Place,” which lasts over 11 minutes on the album, was stretched out over an insane 15 minutes, complete with an epic, five-minute solo in the middle section. I’m pretty sure I saw a couple people’s heads explode because they couldn’t take so much brilliance.

And “Under the Pressure” was a bit of a surprise as a highlight. I thought they played it OK in their last appearance here three years ago. But last night? HOLY FREAKING SHIT! It began with a nearly three-minute solo effort by Adam Granduciel, as he slowly built up layers of feedback-heavy riffs. Then they launched into the song, which kicked ass for about five minutes until they reached the final section of vocals, when the band built-and-built-and-built and just exploded the understood rules of physics and they raced into one, last, lengthy jam. Oh, and they had a snow machine blowing out on the crowd during this final section. Or perhaps those were just the souls of all the attendees being plucked up and thrown around because of all the pure joy in the house. I may or may not have passed out during this stretch.

From there the segued immediately into an absolutely lovely, Bob Segar-like take on “In Reverse,” which has my vote for best album-ending track ever. It was really a beautiful way to ease us down after about 105 minutes of music.

A two-song encore capped the night off really well. I must admit we snuck out a hair early, during set-closer “Eyes to the Wind,” which is one of my absolute favorite TWOD tracks. But my poor wife, who did not complain all night, had been up since before 6:00 in the morning so she could make a 7:00 meeting, saw over 30 patients during the day, was on call that night and had to sneak outside to take several calls during the show, and then had to be back at the hospital early this morning to round. She was hanging in there but I could tell as it approached midnight that she was stressing a little bit. Last thing we needed to do was get stuck in the parking garage for 30 minutes, which always happens at shows at this venue. So we eased back through the crowd during “Eyes to the Wind” and headed out the door about halfway through.

The War on Drugs is a band that is absolutely locked in and confident. They were even missing a key member – for reasons unexplained Jon Natchez was absent – but did not miss a beat. His understudy did a fine job on keyboards but Natchez’ gorgeous sax solos were missing from “Red Eyes” and “Eyes to the Wind” most notably. They were really good three years ago when I saw them the first time. Now they’re without a doubt one of the best live bands in the world. Seriously, they absolutely destroyed last night. One day my face might return to its original state after being melted so many times.

We will return home in December 30. I imagine I’ll save my trip breakdown for the following week. But I do plan on posting something for the year’s end on the 31st. Until then, though, this is likely my final post. I hope all of you have wonderful, merry Christmases. If you’re traveling, travel safe. If you’re gathering with family, hopefully those gatherings are drama-free. Mostly, enjoy the most wonderful weekend of the year.

  1. Each week one girl picks the dessert for the week and we make it together. So we’ve made three kinds of Christmas cookies as a part of that rotation. But no big piles of cookies for Christmas day, so a couple of my regular Christmas cookies did not get made this year.  ↩

The Fanboy

September 26, 2016 /

Friday night was fun. Perhaps it didn’t live up to every expectation I had for the evening, but my philosophy for the night was I would not complain about anything that involved a free concert by my favorite band within almost throwing distance of my house. There was a quibble here and there, but overall it was a very good evening.

We were going with our friends K and T. K went to the Frightened Rabbit show with me last April, and he and his wife T went to the Revivalist show with us a couple weeks back. Because of work schedules, T and I got to the restaurant hosting the show right after 5:00, when doors opened. There was a long line to get in, so I knew that our chances of grabbing one of the few tables that would allow a direct view of the stage were shot. We checked in, confirmed all the best tables were taken, and wandered toward the back of the place. There were several long tables in the game room that were completely empty. They were to the side and slightly behind the “stage,”[1] but offered a direct line-of-sight. We quickly claimed the four seats closest to the stage.

That’s when I noticed most of the band were playing shuffleboard right behind us. I nudged T and said, “That’s the band right there.” She’s a bit of a firecracker and started working me right away. “Are you freaking out? Just a little bit? OK, which one is the lead singer? You’re going to go say hello, right?”

So two things about me my oldest friends probably know: I’ve never been comfortable interacting with famous people, and if I have to speak in public in any way, I will quietly, stressfully, think through 1000 variations of what I can say. Knowing there was going to be a raffle after the show for a meet-and-greet with the band, yes, I did devote a ton of time Friday thinking of exactly what to say if I was lucky enough to get picked. But here I was, sitting less than five feet away from the band with a chance to have a private moment. That reluctance to bother a celebrity kicked in, though, and I waited for someone else to make the first move. It didn’t take long. A couple people sidled over to the lead singer, Scott Hutchison, said hello, and asked to take a picture. He seemed cool with it so when the band was on the opposite end of the shuffleboard table, I told T, “OK, next time they come down, I’m going over. Can you take a picture?” Of course she could, she said. Just then K arrived. As the band moseyed their way toward us, I handed him my phone, explained my plan, took a deep breath, and walked over.

“Excuse me, Scott?” Hutchison turned with eyebrows raised. “Hi, can I bother you for a minute to take a picture?” I have no idea what his response was, but I think it was affirmative. I offered my hand and said, “It’s really nice to meet you.” He shook it and said something back, I think along the lines of “it’s nice to meet you, too.” I had not shared my name. Did that make it awkward? It’s not like he’s going to remember me, right?

Anyway, K snapped a few pics and I turned and shook Scott’s hand again. “Thanks very much, I really appreciate it!” He pumped my hand and thanked me for coming to the show. I bounced back to my seat while trying not to trip on anything or otherwise make an ass of myself.[2]

This is a fine moment to remind you all I’m 45 years old. I felt about 14 for the 15–20 seconds that our encounter lasted. Good times, though! S rolled in a few minutes later and I happily showed her my pics.

As for the show, it was solid. Our seats were not great for sound. All the speakers were pointed away from us, so we got a rather muddled mix of the vocals and instruments, except for the drums. We were just to the left of the drum kit and they often overpowered the rest of the sound. I tried to squeeze around to get closer to the stage but there just wasn’t much room. I could get where I could hear better, but not see a thing. We had ordered food anyway, so I went back to my seat to eat.[3]

“The Woodpile”

The band generally sticks to a fixed set list. They ran through the first five songs on their usual list, then began paring it down. They ended up playing a single set of about 45 minutes, 10 songs where they normally play 15–17. It was an all-ages show, probably explaining why a few of their songs that have more obvious curse words in them got cut.[4]

It was a quick, tidy show. Again, it was free and in my zip code. No complaints. K, T, and S all passed me their raffle tickets for the meet-and-greet, but sadly none of our numbers got picked. I thought it might have been awkward to get picked anyway. “Hey, I bothered you before the show. I’m back!” We finished up our dinner and drinks and were out of the place by 7:30. Not the most terrible Friday night I’ve ever had. Hopefully two shows in Indy in five months isn’t too much to keep the band from coming back when they tour their next album. If they come through town again, I’ll be there again.

  1. More of an alcove than a stage.  ↩
  2. To see the pic, check my Facebook feed.  ↩
  3. It felt very, very weird to be eating while watching my favorite band play.  ↩
  4. K and I were wagering on whether “Keep Yourself Warm” would make the list, with it’s line of “It takes more than fucking someone, to keep yourself warm.” It was not played.  ↩

Concert Review: Frightened Rabbit

May 3, 2016 /

On the rare occasions I go see live music, it is always a big event. Probably a little bigger than it should be. The easy way to fix that is to go to more shows, obviously. But there’s a part of me that likes going only when it’s a band that I really want to see.

Friday night was the perfect example of that. My favorite band of the last 7–8 years, Frightened Rabbit, made their first-ever stop in Indianapolis. It was a glorious night.


(Not my photo and not from Indianapolis. But better than what my iPhone could grab in the dark.)

Despite lead singer Scott Hutchison fighting an illness that forced him to cancel a live radio spot in the afternoon – and sit in his hotel watching Seinfeld all day according to his in-show banter – the band offered a powerful, emotion-packed 90 minutes of amazing indie rock.

After opening with “Get Out,” the lead single off their current album, Hutchison greeted the packed house:

“If I’m not mistaken, this is the first time we’ve ever played here, right? You guys are fucking incredible!” Cheers. “Which makes you wonder what the fuck we were thinking?”

Bigger cheers, laughter, and he had everyone on his side five minutes into the show.[1]

The venue they were playing in, The Vogue, is not my favorite. I’ve seen several shows there, and the sound is almost always bad. There’s something about the acoustics that make it damn near impossible to get a good mix. That was true Friday. Some instruments were muted, or even lost, while others were pushed too far forward. That was the only real bummer of the night, but it was to be expected at The Vogue. At least we were fairly close to the stage, I guess.

Despite the sound issues, the band was in terrific form. They roared through 19 songs, playing just about every one of their classics along with a healthy dose of tracks from the new album. Somewhat surprisingly, “The Modern Leper,” arguably their most famous and beloved song, was third in the set list. I would expect it to be slotted later in the night, but it also served to show early on how many big fans were in the house. Almost everyone was shouting the words along with Hutchison.

Their set list does not vary much from night-to-night, which means you know what you’re getting if you do some basic research. But it also means that they have the sequences and transitions locked in pretty good. Most of their songs are big, emotional pieces, but the main set does have a sense of growth as they approach the end. The set ends with “Keep Yourself Warm,” their warning that one-night stands do not solve all your romantic problems. Hutchison took his mic and walked out to the edge of the crowd, turning a dark, depressing song into a huge sing along. It seemed like pretty much everyone was singing along to the main lyric: “It takes more than fucking someone to keep yourself warm.”

The three-song encore also built to a good closer, their traditional show-ender “The Loneliness and the Scream,” a song built for clapping along and singing the “Whoooa-oooo-oooo-oooooooooo” outro with a thousand or so of your friends.

Despite his illness, Hutchison had other wonderful between-song moments. He praised the medicinal qualities of Scotch, giving Balvenie credit for his ability to perform. After playing two-straight songs off the new album, he introduced the next selection as “and old song.” When there were some cheers, he said he understood how everyone wants to hear the songs that are five years old, not the ones that are two weeks old. “Come on, Scott, play the old ones!” Then he shared the story of going to see Radiohead the day before Kid A was released and suffering through the band playing every track off that disk. Fortunately, I don’t think anyone minded hearing his new songs with his old ones.

From my vantage point, I didn’t always have a clear view of drummer Grant Hutchison, which is a shame. He’s a beast on the kit. I was able to see him at times because he jumps off his stool often, and occasionally got a good view of him flailing his arms around wildly. He projects a sense of barely-controlled chaos, and his massive beats are a huge part of the band’s sound.

Opening band Caveman was very good, too. The band has placed one song in my year-end, favorite songs lists, and I’m digging the two new songs of theirs I’ve heard. So not only were they the rare opening band that I had heard of and enjoyed, but they also put on a pretty good 30 minutes of their own.

The thing that struck me the most about the show was it matched what Hutchison often says in interviews when people ask about whether he relives his old pains when he sings his songs. He’s said that once he writes his songs, that ends the pain. When he’s performing them, he says it’s like watching an old movie where he views how he once felt, but those emotions do not come back.

Frightened Rabbit played 90 minutes of almost all sad songs Friday night. But I didn’t walk out of The Vogue depressed. Rather, when played live, loudly, in front of 1000 loyal fans by a terrific band, the songs join to create an uplifting, inspirational vibe. That evening together was our collective reward for making it through the dark nights of our individual pasts.

  1. I love how most performers need to say something like this when they haven’t played somewhere before. By the end of the night, Hutchison said “We’re definitely coming back!” I’d crack up if he said something more like, “This was a great night! Thank you! We love you! But, honestly, it makes more sense for us to stop in Chicago and Louisville, perhaps even Columbus, than Indy. So it may be another 5–6 years before we make it back. Sorry!” All we want is the truth.  ↩

The War On Drugs, Indianapolis, 6-12-15

June 15, 2015 /

title

Wide awake
I rearrange the way I listen in the dark
Dreaming of starting up again

Perhaps because I go to so few concerts, I approach them with a sense of trepidation. Will the singer be in good vocal form tonight? Will a mercurial band member be in a bad place and bring the whole group’s energy down? Will the sound be bad? Will the crowd suck, and the band not push forward because of the lack of energy and love coming toward them?

So when I catch a band on a night when nearly everything is perfect, it feels like a moment of pure, magical joy.

That’s how I felt Friday evening watching The War On Drugs.

From the moment the band stepped on stage, you could tell that they are in that magical[1] place where everything has come together for them. They’ve been touring for well over a year, and are locked in as well as can be. They’ve appeared in big festivals and in small clubs. They’ve been on Letterman, Conan, Kimmel, and Ellen. They’ve received loads of adulation from the press and fans alike. Their confidence has never been higher. When they roared into “Arms Like Boulders” to open the show, any fears I had of a disappointing even sailed away.

Man, were they on fire. I don’t know if lead singer/guitarist Adam Granduciel was angry or just loaded with energy, but he absolutely shredded every guitar solo through the 15-song set. Even slower, more contemplative songs got extended, loud solos.

But there was no negative energy coming from Granduciel. He warmly greeted the crowd when he took the stage, saying he had had “many, many good nights in Indiana.” Late in the show, he dedicated “Eyes To The Wind” to “our friends in Bloomington,” home of Secretly Canadian records, the label that launched the band and held their contract until a week ago, when Atlantic Records snapped them up.

It felt like a night where he was saying both goodbye and thank you to the Secretly Canadian folks, and was sparing no effort to show how far he and his band had come since their first album back in 2008.

The crowd was fantastic. The Indianapolis Star said the show was sold out. I don’t know about that, but The Vogue was the most packed I’ve ever seen it.[2] I expected the club to be filled with white guys between 35 and 50. And there were a lot of us. But there were also a lot of kids in their 20s and plenty of women who were singing along to the band’s most well-known songs. There were roars from the folks up front when a familiar opening riff rippled out from the amps. Fists were thrown into the air during particularly powerful lyrics. And each massive, sweaty, song-closing solo was greeted with load shouts of approval.

The best songs of the night were simply sublime. “Burning” was as glorious and emancipating as it sounds on Lost In The Dream. “An Ocean In Between The Waves” turned into a nearly 10-minute jam that threatened to blow the roof off the joint.[3] “In Reverse,” is live as it is on the album: perfect.

There was only one disappointment on the night. I had hoped the band would play “Brothers,” a fantastic track from their 2011 album Slave Ambient. I had checked online set lists sites and did not see that they had been playing it this year. So I was thrilled when Granduciel strummed the opening riffs. However, the beautiful, hazy, meandering, folksy sound of the album version did not translate well to the stage. I don’t know if they were rusty at it, or if the depth of the album version is a product of multi-tracking and layering that simply can’t be repeated live.

Oh, and I was annoyed by some people around me who stood around and talked during every song. First off, I can’t hear anyone next to me talking while at a concert. I don’t know how they can carry on a conversation. Second, I’m not dropping $25 on a ticket so I can stand around and talk about how shitty my work week was for 90 minutes.

Concerts, when at their finest, are acts of communion. People gather from afar to worship the mysteries of music together. I know this sounds weird, but despite being nearly 44-years-old, I felt like one of those disaffected teenagers who discovers music that speaks to him and is amazed that there are others who appreciate it as well. Despite reading the flood of positive press for TWOD over the past year, I’ve only heard their songs on local radio here once or twice in that span. So it was a surprise to watch them play along with nearly a thousand other people, most of whom also knew the words and melodies and DNA of each song. I stood in my spot well back in the theater, with a clear view of the stage, and soaked it all in. Most of the time I think I had a big grin on my face. Not just because the music and energy were great, but because I realized I was not alone in my love for TWOD. I didn’t high five any strangers or stay after the show to trade stories of favorite songs or other bands I like with people I had just met. But I did take great pleasure in knowing there are a lot of other people out there who have been affected by The War On Drugs music as much as I have.

There are only a handful of bands I’m interested in seeing live anymore. And many of them are bands that tend to skip over Indianapolis and hit Louisville, Cincinnati, or Columbus on their way to Chicago. The War On Drugs squeezed in their Indy show the night before their Bonnaroo set, likely as a favor to their (now old) record company in Bloomington. I’m so glad they made the stop.

Set List:
“Arms Like Boulders”
“Comin’ Through”
“Burning”
“Baby Missiles”
“Buenos Aires Beach”
“An Ocean in Between the Waves”
“Best Night”
“Red Eyes”
“Eyes to the Wind”
“Under the Pressure”
“In Reverse”
Encore:
“It’s Your Destiny”
“Brothers”
“Lost in the Dream”
“I Was There”

  1. There’s that word again.  ↩
  2. Again, very small sample size here.  ↩
  3. EVERY music critic who lauded Lost In The Dream last year talked about how amazing the second solo in “Ocean” is. Good Lord is it magnificent live.  ↩

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