I used to abuse a phrase: "That's so punk rock," was the phrase, and for awhile, it was appropriate: someone would get told off, somebody stuck it to the man, I figured out how to open a tightly sealed CD, those events would all earn a shout: "That's so punk rock!" Earlier this summer, the phrase found itself number one in my encyclopedia of overused expressions. So I cut it out. But friends, it's back. You see, last week, for me,
was so punk rock.
So, due to a snafu with scheduling, I had to cancel Neil and I's tickets for Tokyo Police Club at the Grog Shop on July 25th. Instead, because the show was my birthday present to beardo, I had to get tickets (via Ticketmaster, yuck) for the Tokyo Police Club show in Columbus, at The Basement. Now, I love this venue, I've seen many shows (including TPC) there before, but, this move meant no more Gaslight Anthem at the LC. It would have been my fourth Gaslight show, and I was looking forward to taking my good friend Jeremy "Never Has Any Fun" Kuhn, as he loves him some Gaslight Anthem.
To tease myself, I searched for GA shows near Ohio, and found one hell of a solution: "The Hold Steady with special guests Gaslight Anthem and The Whigs." Neil was down to drive and Kuhn was in, so we immediately purchased our three tickets for what we could assume, would be a rude, loud night of rock and roll in Detroit Rock City! Of course we were down!
But I'll get back to that.
For my birthday, Jonathan hooked me up with tickets to see another band I was done making excuses for, The Hold Steady. They were playing a show in Columbus reasonablly close to my birthday (July 14) so why not? To make matters better, on the bill as a supporting band were The Whigs, a nice bluesy-Southern Rock outfit from Georgia.
So, it's me, Matt Porter and Dan Axmacher from Wooster (pleasant surprise) Pat, Jonathan and myself. The local band to open up was this really killer group called "Two Cow Garage." They sounded a lot like a more punky version of The Hold Steady, so it was a great fit; and dropped one of my favorite stage talk lines ever: "We're from Columbus, well, small towns around it." Bassist says: I'm from Columbus, f***ing Clintonville, I don't give a s**t." Then The Whigs came on, who I had seen opening for The Kooks way back when, and they killed. Only played one song I knew, but I did really dig their new music. Finally, nothing between the Hold Steady and us but a few roadies.
So finally, they come out and just kill it. Crazy good set. The play everything I want to hear expect Chips Ahoy, but we'll get to that tomorrow. "Southtown Girls" clearly stole the show, see:
All in all, the Hold Steady play a mad show, and at around the time we're back at Otterbein with Hound Dogs, I realize: I'm going to see them tomorrow. The idea hits Pat and Jon and suddenly it's a two car, five man road trip up to Michigan for another crazy rock show.
All night I think of this, and how excited I am to upgrade from The Newport, which is a fantastic venue, to the world famous Fillmore, where I will see The Dead Weather in a few weeks.
So, we drive up, Neil, Jeremy and I, with Jon and Pat bringing up the rear. It's a fairly easy drive, full of Lady Gaga and Red Vines. Finally we get there, and the venue is crazy awesome. I told Pat and Jon it was like Powers Auditorium without the bad shows and failure: beautiful theater stage set, the show takes no time getting started. Tim Barry, The Gaslight Anthem's supporter is awful. Some dreamer with an acoustic and too many bad words, he plays a quick set. Then The Whigs play another crazy good set, minus the volume being a little too loud. And then, Gaslight.
They come out and blister into a set, opening with their title track "American Slang," which is delicious live. Unfortunately, when they rip into their louder and harder tracks, we find ourselves stuck behind a bunch of slow, there to get drunk types, and it takes a few songs to get around them, but we do. Well, I do.
Brian was kind enough to pose for my camera:
They play an amazing set, the fourth time for me seeing them, and totally the best. The new album translates live so damn well it's crazy. The fans weren't too wild either, which surprised me considering we were in Detroit Rock City. During the last few songs of the set ("Great Expectations," "Here's Looking at You Kid," and "The Backseat") all the fans jumped and swung together, screaming, or gently whispering depending on which track, lyrics back at the band and each other. It was an awesome, community driven pit.
The Gaslight Anthem finished up and asserted themselves as one of my favorite bands. An easy decision, to watch them play, I can see how devoted to their fans and their music they really are, and it's energizing to be around them and the fans who all feel the same way.
This was all good. Then The Hold Steady came out. Neil, Kuhn and I were all sort of bummed that they had the headlining spot; we were there for Gaslight, but no big. Kuhn looked miserable, but Neil, Pat, Jon and I all jumped and partied straight through an amazing set that included "Chips Ahoy!" That moment sold the deal on our 6 hour car ride, 3:30 AM arrival time before a 7AM orientation day to come completely worth it.
We grabbed some merch, stole some killer posters off the Fillmore's walls and cruised home.
Two shows, six bands, two days; my friends, that's so punk rock.
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