The Hold Steady – Koko

Wednesday night Andy and I caught a good show from The Hold Steady at nearby Koko. I’ve complained before about this venue – it just seems so much more crowded than other sold out shows – but tonight we actually headed up to the third level and managed to get a decent view that wasn't super-crowded.

Previously I’ve only seen The Hold Steady perform live at the Carnegie Hall Springsteen tribute last Easter – which only amounted to one song (albeit a sensational version of “Atlantic City”) so I was excited to see them play a full show.

As with the Springsteen tribute – frontman Craig Finn is a bundle of infectious energy: constantly bouncing around the stage, singing and shouting to the crowd off-mic, clapping his hands and grinning like a loon.
It certainly got the crowd dancing and moshing in unison – especially with early performances of better known songs like “Stuck Between Stations” and “Chips Ahoy”.

I’ve actually been listening to their most recent album ‘Boys and Girls in America’ for almost two years now – so having read the band have recently completed recording their new album, it was great to hear a few new songs.

I believe “Stay Positive” will be the title track to the album, and on first listen it sounded like a great crunchy rocker. The other newie was “Constructive Summer” which also sounded pretty good (and I’m pretty sure included a very cool name-check of Joe Strummer, rhymed with summer!).

The main set lasted almost exactly an hour, and the band returned for a three song encore, closing with “Killer Parties”. A great show, and you certainly got the sense from frontman Finn that if they could, the band would have keep playing for another couple of hours.

Full(ish) setlist:
Hot Soft Light
Stuck Between Stations
The Swish
Chips Ahoy!
Stay Positive
Party Pit
Massive Nights
Barfruit Blues
Constructive Summer
Same Kooks
Multitude of Casualties
Stevie Nix
You Can Make Him Like You
Your Little Hoodrat Friend
How A Resurrection Really Feels

Encore:
First Night
Southtown Girls
Killer Parties

The Eels - Royal Festival Hall

Andy and I went along to the only London show for the latest Eels tour tonight. Touring on the back of their just released Greatest Hits and companion B-Sides/Rarities set “Useless Trinkets”, tonight’s Meet The Eels show promised to be something different again.

In fact band leader E prides himself on never repeating himself, and constantly trying to reinvent the live performance. A quick look-back over the last few Eels tours confirms he’s managed to succeed: from 2005’s Eels with Strings at The Royal Albert Hall, to 2006’s more rocking No Strings Attached at the Astoria to Mark Everett’s solo book launch in January – every show has tackled the Eels catalog in a new and interesting way.

If anything, tonights show was most reminiscent of the book launch in January, with things starting with a solo E accompanying himself on guitar for “A Magic World” and piano for “It’s A Motherfucker”.

Things quickly changed with the addition of the incredibly versatile Chet, initially on guitar, for rare early B-side “Strawberry Blonde”, but also playing pedal steel, keyboards, drums, and most interestingly a saw (which was played with a violin bow, and sounded similar to a Theremin) on “Climbing To The Moon”.The most enjoyable part of the set was when they settled into the most rocking combination of Chet on drums and E on guitar or piano for “My Beloved Monster”, “Last Stop: This Town”, “I Want to Protect You” and my highlight for the evening “Flyswatter” – which saw E and Chet swap between drums and piano, without missing a beat, so each could take a solo.

The night was also interspersed with some comedy. A recurring routine between E and a godlike disembodied voice; E reading some mixed fan mail and live reviews; and Chet reading some selections from E’s recent autobiography.

The home stretch included a loose cover of Led Zepplin’s “Good Times, Bad Times” with Chet taking lead vocals, before the main set finished with “Somebody Loves You” and “Souljacker Part 2”.

Despite encore shenanigans for all previous tours – the one disappointment was they only played 2 quick, single song encores – firstly “I'm Going To Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart”, before returning again to close with an excellent “PS You Rock My World”.

Full setlist:

A Magic World
It's A Motherfucker
Strawberry Blonde
Dirty Girl
Cheater's Guide
Souljacker Part I
Elizabeth On The Bathroom Floor
Climbing To The Moon
My Beloved Monster
I Like Birds
Jeannie's Diary
In The Yard, Behind The Church
Last Stop: This Town
I Want To Protect You
Flyswatter
Bus Stop Boxer
Novocaine For The Soul
Good Times, Bad Times
Somebody Loves You
Souljacker Part II

Encore 1:
I'm Going To Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart

Encore 2:
P.S. You Rock My World

thanks to http://www.team-skinny-racing.com for the photo.

Steve Earle – The Roundhouse, London

My brother Andy is staying with us at the moment, and he’s a massive Steve Earle fan (I fell away about 3 or 4 albums back) which inspired me to get us tickets to his show at The Roundhouse.

I’ve mentioned this venue before, but it really is a great way to see a bigger show. Feels very intimate for the 1000+ crowd, sound is great, and it’s very hard to find somewhere you cannot see the stage from.

Steve is running with the full bearded look these days. He’s also starting to go pretty bald on top, and put on a little weight – so he comes across as a dead ringer for poet Allen Ginsberg.

Wasn’t sure what to expect from this Steve Earle show – but things started off incredible well with 30-odd minutes of solo acoustic Steve going through highlights from his extensive back catalogue.

I really enjoyed opener “Steve’s Last Ramble”, “Goodbye”, “The Devil’s Right Hand”, “South Nashville Blues” and “Billy Austin”. It was also great to see him reach back 20 plus years to his debut album ‘Guitar Town’ for “Someday” and “My Old Friend The Blues”.

After warming the crowd up and wining us over with a few old favorites – Steve was then joined by a DJ who provided rhythm tracks (I believe “beats” may be what the kids are calling it these days) and some samples and effects for material from his latest album, the Grammy winning ‘Washington Square Serenade’.

I’m not hugely familiar with the new record, but standouts for me were “Satellite Radio” and “Steve’s Hammer (For Pete)”. “Transcendental Blues” also benefited from the DJ providing sitar-type effects. Steve’s current wife (and tonight’s support act – who we missed most of apart from an ok set-closing cover of “A Change Is Gonna Come”) joined from the duet “Days Aren't Long Enough” and hung around to provided hand-claps and backing vocals for “City Of Immigrants”. The main set closed with a great, effects heavy cover of Tom Waits “Way Down In The Hole”.

Returning quickly for a solo acoustic encore, Steve was more talkative than I’d seen him previously, and spent a long time dedicating “Little Rock & Roller" to his father and other family members. This launched into a crowd pleasing “Copperhead Road”. After a short break, Steve returned for a quick second and final encore of “Christmas in Washington”.

Joe Henry - Arts Theatre, Soho, London

My brother Andy and I went along to see Joe Henry last night. I’ve been a massive fan since his ‘Short Man’s Room’ album in 1992. Having never toured Australia it’s the first time I’ve been able to see him play. These days it seems like he’s better known as a producer than as a performer in his own right, as the few hundred capacity Arts Theatre in Soho wasn’t quite a full house.

This is a shame as Joe is a wonderful songwriter and great showman who put on a great performance. Dressed in a stylish dark shirt and loose dark tie, he was accompanied by a versatile duo on double-bass and drums – they managed to conjure a diversity of sounds from the Spanish-tango of “Stop”, a South American lilt on “This Afternoon”, to more straight ahead acoustic rock-pop with a slightly jazzy lilt.

The lions share of the show came from Joe’s last couple of albums – mostly his great 2007 release ‘Civilians’ – with the title track and “Time Is A Lion” highlights for me. We also got a smatter of older songs, including three from 2003’s ‘Tiny Voices’ – “This Afternoon” my favourite of these; “Like She Was a Hammer” and the title-track from 1999s ‘Fuse’. My favourites of the night was the title track to 1996’s ‘Trampoline’ – possibly my favourite Joe Henry song of all time, and Spanish-styled “Stop” from 2001’s ‘Scar’.

One of the more unusual inclusions was Joe’s take on “You Can’t Fail Me Now” which he wrote for Loudon Wainwright III to perform on the ‘Knocked Up’ film soundtrack that Joe produced. Show closer “Edgar Bergen” segued into a brief reading off “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”.

Henry is as witty between songs as his lyrics would suggest. Early on he apologies for not touring London for so long with a simple “I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting you”. But his funniest was the intro to “Stop”, a song better known to most of the crowd through sister-in-law Madonna’s recording of it as “Don’t Tell Me”. As Joe explained it, “we recorded it as a tango, she recorded it as a hit”.

My only quibble was we didn’t get any material from Joe’s earlier – more Alt-Country albums like ‘Short Man’s Room’ or ‘Kindness of the World’. Although given the distinct stylistic break between his pre and post ‘Trampoline’ material – it’s easy to see why the more straight ahead country stuff is dismissed. I don’t think Joe Henry does a lot of touring these days – so if you do get the opportunity to check him out live, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Full setlist:
Civilians
Scare Me To Death
Civil War
Time Is A Lion
You Can't Fail Me Now
This Afternoon
I Will Write My Book
Sold
Stop
Like She Was A Hammer
Fuse
Trampoline
Flag
encore:
Edgar Bergen / I’ve Got You Under My Skin