Concert Review: The Hold Steady @ The Mezzanine, San Francisco, CA 07/29/2008

I just saw The Hold Steady at The Mezzanine in San Francisco, and I get the feeling that this may well be the last tour that they are playing venues of this size. These guys are blowing up and soon they will be playing arenas, if not stadiums.

The Mezzanine, located in the SoMa district, holds about 500, tops. It has a large floor area and on the side, you guessed it, a mezzanine (with some seating, a bar and a decent view form the rail if you can find space).

The show started off with support act The Loved Ones. They are a pretty straight-forward punk band from Philly with a decidedly Green Day-ish sound. The lead singer, Dave Hausse, stalked the stage with a ton of energy and sang the original songs with conviction. However, one noticeable thing was the lack of any worthy guitar solos. That is, until Tad Kubler of The Hold Steady came out for a couple of songs and ripped a few smoking solos off. Franz Nicolay also joined the fun.

Craig Finn & Co. came storming out with "Constructive Summer" from the new album Stay Positive. The dichotomy of Finn's dark lyrics and his joyful, grinning expression, were an amusing contradiction. The band was firing on all cylinders, with Kubler's semi-distorted Gibson providing the sound foundation, and Nicolay's swirling organ and piano punctuating over the top. Finn's spoken-wordish singing style goes well with the song's lyrics which veer over into the realm of epic poetry.

The crowd was very enthusiastic, singing along and pumping their fists in the air. Although crowded, the size of the room provided for a relatively intimate experience with the band. This was a rare opportunity to see a rising star in action, before they become too big for their own good. See them now.

Setlist (according to http://sholtrox.blogspot.com/2008/07/positive-jams.html):

Constructive Summer

Chips Ahoy

Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night

Sequestered In Memphis

Girls Like Status

Massive Nights

Southtown Girls

Lord, I'm Discouraged

Yeah Sapphire

Knuckles

Hot Fries

One For The Cutters

You Can Make Him Like You

Your Little Hoodrat Friend

Crucifiction Cruise

How A Resurrection Really Feels

Slapped Acress

Encore:

Positive Jam

Stuck Between Stations

Most People Are DJs

Tom Waits - Bridge School Benefit 1999

This was one of my all-time great live show experiences. Tom reworking his songs to perfection. Good old Youtube has video of this epic performance.

Concert Review: Constantines @ Slim’s, San Francisco, CA, 07/02/2008

Traveled down to the city to check out one of the best bands you’ve probably never heard of, the Constantines. They’re from Ontario, Canada and I’ve loved these guys since I heard them on the Sub Pop website in 2005. Tournament of Hearts turned out to be one of the better albums that year. This year, they released the follow-up called Kensington Heights. Their formula can best be described as a multi-guitar “wall of sound” with some interesting rhythms and a nice melodic-sensibility. I was looking forward to seeing what kind of a show they put on live. Unfortunately one of the founding members of the band, Steve Lambke, broke his hand a few days before the show (apparently from playing Frisbee) and was absent. The Constantines had to make the best of the short-handed lineup.

I arrived at Slim’s 30 minutes before the 9pm start time in order to get some food and a good seat. Slim’s is a small to medium-sized venue with a rectangular space surrounded by an L-shaped bar and some small tables. It also has a balcony with more seating, but this was not used for the show (definitely not sold-out). The food was pretty good (I had a grilled chicken sandwich w/ fries) and it had a nice, relaxed vibe.

The first band, The Weather Underground, started right at 9pm. They are an up-and-coming band out of Los Angeles, led by Harley Prechtel-Cortez. I was impressed with these guys, having an edgy Indie rock sound and a beat-poet style to the lyrics. Prechtel-Cortez had an amusing stage-presence, twitching and squirming, something like a cross between David Byrne and Jim Morrison. These guys were fun. Keep an eye on ‘em.

Next up was Ladyhawk. They are also out of Canada (Vancouver) and feature the same kind of noisy rock sound that the Constantines are known for. The thing that stood out the most for me was the lead-guitar work, utilizing a Rickenbacker and many effects ands wingdings. Washes of sound, feedback, and ultra-fast strumming.

Finally, at about 11:15p, the Constantines take the stage. Even without Lambke, they created a sound that demanded attention, with crunchy guitar-work, pounding bass and Bryan Webb’s half-sung, half-screamed vocals. They played many tracks that I recognized from their three most recent albums, as well as some others that must be from their first album. They brought out the guitarist from Ladyhawk for the encore and pleased the crowd with a rocking version of “Shine a Light”. They concluded the encore with a rambunctious take on the Stones classic “Street Fighting Man” with many members of Ladyhawk joining in. They certainly looked like they were having fun.

All in all this was a really fun show with some ups and downs, and what must be some detraction without Lambke. Still, I was left with a smile on my face as I wandered back to the hotel. Whee.

Some links:

Constantines on MySpace

Ladyhawk on MySpace

Here's a video I took. I know, the sound is pretty bad. But, it gives you an idea.

Why Eminem is good

This is Eminem in the early days, freestyling on MTV with now-deceased D12 rapper Proof.

Flight of the Conchords

These guys are making me wish I had HBO. Funny as hell. Check it:

Radiohead on Conan: Video

Radiohead doing "House of Cards" on Late Night with Conan.

YouTube Classic

Elvis Costello & the Attractions doing "I Don't Want to Go to Chelsea" live in 1978.