From Hold
Steady, a barroom blast
The Hold Steady/Bon Savants/The Beatings
Great Scott, Allston, Massachusetts
February 19, 2005
by Marc Hirsh
Never underestimate the DJs at Great Scott. That
was one
lesson learned this past Saturday, as the opening strains of “Left Of
The Dial”
blared through the sound system as soon as The Hold Steady left the
stage after
its 45-minute set. It was an inspired send-off, in part because of the
song’s
celebration of 1980s college radio, which was where acts like the Hold
Steady would
have been able to find a haven away from the taunting and cruelty of
the
mainstream. But it was also a playful recognition that the
Replacements’
ramshackle, we-could-fall-apart-at-any-minute charm seems to have found
a new spiritual
cousin in the
That approach is hinted at on the Hold Steady’s album, Almost Killed Me (Frenchkiss), but it snapped into focus on stage. With a more equitable mix, Craig Finn’s vocals weren’t as prominent as they are on the album, and they were overwhelmed at times by the rest of the band as it churned through its megacharged bar anthems like a still-hungry E Street Band on the verge of collapse. That cranked up the power of songs like the Cheap Tricky “The Swish” and “Most People Are DJs,” with its herky-jerky “Sweet Emotion” groove.
Even with the new competition, Finn remained the mildly spastic center of attention, looking like a schlubby IT guy on the short side of middle age and sounding like Camper Van Beethoven’s David Lowery with a head cold. Finn didn’t sing so much as go off on wordy rants peppered by rhyme, spewing out lyrics with an indifference to such niceties as rhythm and melody. In a way, his delivery might be one of the purest, if most unintentional, incorporations of rap styling within basic rock music.
The relentlessness of Finn’s vocals sometimes led to a sameness that, combined with the band’s occasional tendency to segue directly from one number to the next without a break in between, made it hard to differentiate between songs. At times like that, the Hold Steady seemed like nothing more than a bar band. But it could very well be the best bar band in the world.
Local bands the Bon Savants and the Beatings
opened and
closed the show, respectively. The Bon Savants’ echoing guitars gave
them a
vaguely psychedelic sound akin to the Church but with a harder guitar
attack,
while the Beatings used their slightly nervous energy to leap a decade
ahead to
the Superchunk-style indie anthem-punk of the 1990s.
