I'm starting this post a little after 2 am. Just got home from the show. I was blown away. Have been thinking for hours how to articulate and explain a Hold Steady (THS) show. I don't know if I'm capable, but I'll try. (And I'll finish this later today after I sleep some.)
My buddy Adam, from my music listserv Postcard From Hell (PCFH) and his lovely wife, Beth, met me and he drove us to Orlando. We had an unremarkable Thai dinner and got to the venue a little after the doors opened, about 8:15. While standing in line I heard one of the bouncers say that the opening band wasn't going to hit the stage until 9:30. I was hoping I heard him wrong, but it turned out he was right. So, we had over an hour to stand around and chat.
I'm 5' tall, so I usually like to be right up front by the stage; otherwise I can't see what's going on. Even though we got there early, it was already five deep. One of my superpowers, however, is being able to maneuver myself into a place in front of the stage. By the time the opening band started, I was right up front, below where THS leader singer Craig Finn would spend most of the night.
They say politics makes strange bedfellows; you can say the same about music. We struck up a conversation with a guy behind us. He was from West Palm, his diminutive girlfriend was from Gainesville, and we exchanged insights into bands we liked. Adam and he got into a deep discussion about stuff, so I moved over and started talking to the next group over and met Matt from Tampa. I didn't catch his buddy's name. His buddy, a red-tank-top-wearing, unibrow, neanderthal-forehead-looking-walking-testosterone-ad had me worried, but he greeted me with a drunken smile. I moved away from them and met Jaden and his wife from Ocala, and Britt who'd flown down from Pittsburgh for the two shows. Beth moved up too and we hung together until the first band started right a little after 9:30.
I had been worried because Matt, his buddy, Jaden and Britt all looked like big guys. THS shows are not known for their campfire peace singalongs, but instead are known for their raucously loyal fans madly singing/screaming along, waving their arms wildly and pumping their fists, pogoing, dancing...in general, the shows are a rock-n-roll smack down. Why in the world I wanted to be smack dab in the middle of this madness I don't know, but as long as it's not too wild up front, that's where I like to be.
The guys behaved themselves during the opening act, Twin Tigers, from Athens. Probably because we were all struck mute by the shear wall of sound coming out of the speakers. I've been to some loud shows, but this has to be in the top 10. Even earplugs couldn't muffle it. And when it's that loud, you can't hear anything. Lyrics, melodies, all lost. The chick bass player did slow things down a bit when she sang, but the song she chose was a Bob Seger cover (really, WTF?) The only good thing I can say about Twin Tiger is their drummer was phenomenal. And he was phenomenally cute, too. No, make that drop dead gorgeous. All the girls up front were struck dumb, myself included. He was an incredibly intense drummer, he was pounding wildly, almost savagely, throughout their entire set, his arms flying and his hair flaying about. He went through a half dozen or more drum sticks, he just shredded them. I was thinking he should wear protective eye gear; you could see the bits of wood flying from the sticks and I was afraid one may spear his eye. As they left the stage, my new buddy Jaden called out, "Hey drummer dude, my wife thinks you're hot!" All the girls up front agreed.
We had another wait between stage changes. It was very orderly and precise. The placement of the monitors. The tuning of the instruments. The towels folded just so. Water brought out. Set lists carefully taped down (with everyone up front craning to see...Yay! They'd be opening the set with the opening track to their new record, Sweet Part of the City.) Beer bottles opened up and lined up. Adam had drifted to the back before the first band came, but Beth hung up front and we continued our conversation with Jaden and his wife, who was talking with all the guys around her, and Britt from PA. I was right up front, and their was an under 21 waif right next to me and her rather burly boyfriend. The anticipation was building.
I'd mentioned to Jaden that I was worried about being in the middle of a mosh pit, and he said, "Nah, don't worry about it, I can't see that happening." Well, it wasn't exactly a mosh pit, but when THS took the stage, their legion of fans responded how I expected. All crowding up to where Finn was doing his thing, center stage, raising their arms in support, and at the end of those arms many of the hands had beer, which of course sloshed all over everything, including my back and my head. Some of those bottles and elbows were making contact with my head as well. Beth and I were dancing along, laughing and dodging what we could. (It hurts but it's worth it.) It was a zillion degrees in the pit, with sweaty bodies bumping into each other as we danced and cavorted and swayed and shouted and sang and smiled along with the rock and roll greatness that is The Hold Steady.
After a while, though, I'd had enough, especially of unibrow. I grabbed Britt and wedged him between me and unibrow. When that didn't work, I asked him nicely to be my protector and he braced his two arms on the stage and I got between them and he acted as my shield. I was able to enjoy the show and not be bumped every 30 seconds.
How to describe front man Craig Finn? I was late to THS. PCFH had been raving about them for years and I'd thrown some stuff on my Ipod but I just didn't get it. What is it? Why does this guy keep singing about the same things over and over again? Why doesn't he sing, why does he just talk sing-song like? Why does he keep name dropping people and places. Who is Charlemange and St. Theresa and why should I care if Ybor City almost killed him? Then I got their last record and it just slayed me. It all clicked, it all made sense. I went back in their catalog and listened and now am a huge fan. These hopeless, hapless characters Finn writes about over and over again, they somehow find hope and sometimes redemption. So I finally got the songs.
But the front man, Finn. I've never seen anything like it. He's not exactly rock star god material. He looks like the guy who works in the mail room. Not particularly tall or handsome, he's got nerdy rectangular glasses, a receding hairline, and dressed in short sleeve, western snap button shirt. Not exactly a fashion plate. But when he gets on stage he's a bundle of energy and nerves. He breaks out all kinds of dancing styles, he interprets his lyrics with his emotions, he's sometimes twee, sometimes conspirator, sometimes gang leader, sometimes goof ball, sometimes preacher, sometimes disco queen, sometimes mad man. He was all that and more, a sweaty spastic. All I can say is I've never seen anything quite like it before.
The show was a little over an hour and a half and they didn't play nearly all my favorite songs. I'm tempted to go back to Orlando tonight but think I'll take it easy, instead, and bask in my memories.
Let me try to add a video here:
Jen
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