Maybe I’ve been too positive lately?
A problem with a blog like this is I’m only reviewing bands I truly enjoy. I would be going to these shows whether I had a revolutionary concert review site or not. I’m not paying 15 bucks to go see a band I dislike just so I can snidely make fun of them on the Internet. I’ll leave that to the true assholes. So I began to worry if my incessant praise of bands would become repetitive and boring. Then The Hold Steady came along. As I watched the Brooklyn band perform for their Western Mass brethren at The Pearl in Northampton, Craig Finn’s overjoyed exuberance had the opposite effect: I felt a little cynical.
Traveling over two hours to see The Hold Steady probably didn’t help. Sticking to their small-town club roots, the group scheduled only one Massachusetts show this tour. While it would have been nice to see them at say, The Middle East Downstairs, The Pearl is really just that. In an age that encourages the stagnant and lifeless features of venues like The House of Blues, The Pearl is a throwback. Reminiscent of any number of Western Mass Town Halls, the show had the flavor of a whole city coming together for the usual Tuesday night entertainment. And after buying a Budweiser for $5.50, I felt like I had never left Boston in the first place.
Speaking of throwbacks, this had to be one of the most varied and strange crowds I had ever witnessed. Turn to your right, and you would see a group of 16 year olds discussing which high school party to attend following the concert. Turn to your left, and you would see a group of 60 year olds discussing which high school party they had to pick their kid’s up from after the show. To The Hold Steady’s credit, this broad-based appeal covering several generations is an extremely unique one in any music scene. Hipsters, Former Hippies, Metalheads, People Who Actually Saw Led Zeppelin Live, Indie Rock Snobs, you name it. They were all there on Tuesday night. It’s not a certain type of music fan that enjoys The Hold Steady; it’s a certain type of person.
Yet as I watched the band play a lengthy 23-song set, I couldn’t help but feel I had missed my chance with The Hold Steady. Relying heavily on 2008's Stay Positive and their new release Heaven is Whenever, the concert had the feeling of a band holding on to the last remnants of their creative energy. Keyboardist Franz Nicolay quit the band earlier this year, and his explanation says more that I ever could about The Hold Steady’s current state:
“The need for a change, Nicolay says, is about ambition. ‘They have their one big idea—making literate, wordy lyrics over big anthemic rock—and the last two records were about as good as I felt like I could do with that idea.’”
Unfortunately, it appears as though that quote may apply to Finn and the rest of the band. The new songs are not new in style or tone, but simply watered-down versions of the group’s better and more exciting older catalogue. Nicolay probably figured this out in the midst of recording Stay Positive and quit before The Hold Steady became exceedingly unnecessary. Finn tried his best that night to sell the band’s new material, but no sheen of positive energy could save the lukewarm and unoriginal new single “Hurriance J” or the awkward nature of performing “Navy Sheets” without Nicolay’s signature keyboard line. Much like Rivers Cuomo without Matt Sharp (you’ll notice I bring up Weezer a lot when speaking of disappointment), there was a sense I missed out on the real thing, and I would never get a chance to experience it.
Of course, it wasn’t all bad. Opening with “Hornets! Hornets!” off the incredible Separation Sunday, no song sums up the group’s quiet-to-loud, slow guitar-chugging style better. Finn was obviously ecstatic to be playing for the Western Mass crowd, and had the look of a man who wished he could just hug the entire audience. And after screaming for it several times, concert-goer and huge Fleetwood Mac fan (just kidding) Adam Shulman got his wish with a rousing version of “Stevie Nix”. At their best, The Hold Steady can make you love music like few band’s can, and those moments of triumphant ecstasy were still there on Tuesday night. “Little Hoodrat Friend”, a personal favorite of mine, closed out the show extremely strong.
Music appreciation is so deeply tied to time and place. It’s not only the music, but how and when you experience it. It would have been great to see The Hold Steady in their heyday. But I didn’t drive around my hometown in high school listening to Craig Finn describe my adolescent experience. On the contrary, I came to The Hold Steady as a young adult. And while I’m glad to have finally seen one of this country’s true American Rock bands, The Hold Steady is much like the United States: well past it’s prime.
SETLIST: Hornets! Hornets!, Hurricane J, The Swish, Magazines, New Song, Navy Sheets, Banging Camp, Massive Nights, Chips Ahoy, Constructive Summer, Multitude of Casualties, New Song, Lord I'm Discouraged, New Song, Stevie Nix, Hot Soft Light, Stuck Between Stations, Sequestered in Memphis, New Song, ENCORE: New Song, Stay Positive, Little Hoodrat Friend
First off, I thoroughly enjoy reading this blog and I'm not just saying that because I'm your friend and concert boyfriend. However, I think you picked the wrong concert for which to write your first hard-ass review. You're lumping the new songs with Stay Positive songs a bit too much for my liking. Stay Positive, while not as good as their earlier albums, is still a solid album...I think that "Constructive Summer", "Sequestered in Memphis", "Navy Sheets", and the title track are all great songs. It's also the album the girl who introduced me to the band told me to download first, so clearly some people enjoy it. As for the new songs, how many times have you gone to see a band and they played new songs and you've been blown away? "I want you to be happyyyyyyyy"...sorry I had to. I don't know about you, but I'm definitely buying the new album. There's always the chance that the songs will be growers as many of their other songs have been. Also, remember that Almost Killed Me, Separation Sunday, and Boys and Girls in America were released in 2004, 2005, and 2006. These are far more recent years than those of the heydays of the likes of Weezer, Green Day, Chili Peppers, Rancid, etc. I realize that those bands fall into the "bands we listened to during our adolescence" category, but that's just it. Those bands have been putting out mediocre shit for over a decade whereas the Hold Steady MIGHT be about to put out one mediocre album. Basically, I think you're just giving up on them a bit too early. So yeah, so much for staying positive...dick.
ReplyDeleteA few things. Thanks for proving to people that someone reads this shit. Secondly, you obviously enjoy "Stay Positive" way more than I do, which is fine. Since the band formed in 2000, I kinda view Almost Killed Me and Separation Sunday as even earlier works than they're actual releases (which might not be fair). Also, the example of Phish's "Let Me Lie" isn't exactly a great one, since that song IS terrible and I knew it the first time I heard it live. The Hold Steady didn't form in 2000 as a bunch of kids, but a group of seasoned musicians in their early 30's. While the band itself is newer, Finn is nearly 40, just when you expect rock musicians of any kind to fall off. However, I will definitely give the new album a chance.
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ReplyDeleteAlso, I think it's worth pointing out that those bands you mentioned basically tapped out at two, maximum three great albums. Everything after that has either been complete shit (Weezer, Green Day) or extremely mediocre (Chili Peppers, Rancid). Just because The Hold Steady hasn't put out a decade of mediocre albums yet doesn't mean Stay Positive didn't start the process. (How's that for some shitty double negative writing?)
ReplyDeleteHaha, seriously dude...pretty negative stuff. I mean, I'll agree with you that odds are that the Hold Steady's best albums are behind them, but I'm not going to immediately discount their new stuff. As for your first post, definitely a good point that they formed later than most bands and were more experienced than most new bands. With that said though, they put out way better albums than the other bands mentioned at their respective ages. Also, it's pretty unique that they formed that late, and their style itself is pretty unique, so who's to say they can't break from the mold of losing relevance as they shift into their forties?
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