The Hold Steady Call of Roll

[HoyaSaxa03]

Originally posted by Semper Fly:
  i'm bringing my single, fair-enough looking Irish cousin (3 or 4 16oz guiness factor). fire away if you're inclined, she'll be loud, and standard issue hammered.

lol
 
 was she the girl who looked like she was wacked out on smack in the second row, a little bit stage right?  that girl needed an escort to the door in the worst way
 
 fantastic show ... close at the heels of the jens lekman gig for show of the year
 
 http://broseidon.blogspot.com/2007/11/hold-steady-art-brut-930-club-11202007.html

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

Well my daughter woke me up at the rock and roll hour of 6ish with her non-stop babble, so here's my show review...first time seeing all these bands
 
 1990's: Only saw two songs, pretty generic and dreadful.
 
 Art Brut: Entertaining, but terrible musicians. Made me laugh. Gimmick band good for one viewing as an opener, but don't care if I ever see them again. So mixed felings i reckon.
 
 Hold Steady: Predictably good, though not nearly on the same level as my two previous shows, Jens Lekman and Nick Lowe. I definitely like their new stuff better. Actual songs rather than stream of consciousness rambling. I don't see how anybody could disagree. If anybody disagrees with that, it's probably hipster posturing.
 
 Good seeing Kosmo and meeting NKOTB. Hope it was a Christmas-like experience. And I saw the Director, but didn't get a chance to meet and greet. Next time I will. But just knowing I was in the same building made me feel strangely fulfilled.
 
 Best quotes of the night (and I apologize if anyone here made them):
 
 1. Made by the classic rock loving, never heard of any of the bands, lawyer friend of a friend in our party: "Most people don't know that Neil Schon has street cred, before he was in Journey he was actually in Santana and the Moody Blues." This was said without a shred of irony.
 
 2. Made by an anonymous hipster after the Art Brut played. "That was the best show I've seen in eight years."
 
 3. Made while the Hold Steady guitarist was passing out cigs: "He's passing out cigarettes, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen."
 
 All in all, a fun night, but not a transcending experience.

[Lamb007]

Was I the only one at this show under 6 feet tall?
 
 Enjoyed all three bands but viewing angles were at a premium and I usually don't have a problem.

[miss pretentious]

lessons learned from last night: i don't like the hold steady.

[andelman]

Originally posted by miss pretentious:
  lessons learned from last night: i don't like the hold steady.

I agree.  Way to much hand clapping for my taste. We left about hlafway through their set.  However, I can see their appeal and I am glad so many people were into the show, just not my cup of tea...

[miss pretentious]

Originally posted by sacklunch:
   

Originally posted by miss pretentious:
  lessons learned from last night: i don't like the hold steady.

I agree.  Way to much hand clapping for my taste. We left about hlafway through their set.  However, I can see their appeal and I am glad so many people were into the show, just not my cup of tea... [/b]

I concur. I was with about 6 other people who were more excited about this show than just about anything else all year...So I figured I'd give it a go. Def. not for me. At all.

[K8teebug]

I didn't have to go to the show to figure that out.

[eros]

1990s:  Not bad.  That singer was possibly one of the most horrendous looking human beings I've ever seen in my life (not that I'm any prize to look at myself).
 
 Art Brut:  Much better/more fun than expected.
 
 Hold Steady:  Slightly underwhelmed.  They seemed to really connect with the group of uber-fans down in front while everyone else just kind of stood there.  The usual for a DC show I suppose...I do agree with Rhett that the "real songs" are much better than the rambling.
 
 Biggest complaint of the evening for me was the sound.  Was it just me, or did anyone else think the mix sounded really muddy?  Maybe my hearing is finally starting to go.  Both AB and HS are very lead-vocal-centric and they just sounded so buried all night.
 
 Sorry I didn't get to see any boardies - someday I'll remove my cloak of anonymity and actually meet some of you.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

but i thought you liked nerds
 
 

Originally posted by miss pretentious:
  lessons learned from last night: i don't like the hold steady.

[chaz]

1990s - Arrived about 30 seconds before they finished their last song.  No comment.
 
 Art Brut - Took a few songs to get going.  I enjoy them probably more on record than live, plus I think their first record is much stronger.  Gotta hand it to them though, they worked the crowd great.  I was ready for them to be done though.  Like it's been said, they're a pretty gimicky band.
 
 The Hold Steady - Great set list, song selection etc.  And I also really liked the new songs they played.  Somehow though it just didn't measure up to other shows.  Maybe it was just me.  I was a bit tired and it's been a crazy past week or so.  Maybe the Boss show is just still too fresh in my mind.  I dunno....this night just didn't seem to have the reckless abandon of the last HS show I saw.  I was fading..and I'm sad to say I actually left right before the encore.  Probably would have been more fun and invigorating down front, the crowd in the rafters was rather listless, though I did have a great spot on the rail right near the stage.
 
 So what did they do for the encore?

[nkotb]

I thought the show was a blast.  I missed 1990s entirely; I was helping a friend move a mammoth TV, and I'm not too broken up about it.
 
 Art Brut were great, although I agree with Rhett's assessment, and probably wouldn't check them out again as a headliner.  I enjoy the albums well enough, but it's just not something I'd need to see more than once.
 
 I thought the Hold Steady were fantastic; they just don't seem to disappoint.  Granted, it's a little like shooting fish in a barrel, in my opinion.  With those types of songs about those types of things, I don't see how their shows can NOT be a good time.  Nothing to change my worldview, but definitely a blast.
 
 Great seeing Kosmo, the Director and Brennser again...I can't believe it's been that long since our paths crossed.  And meeting Rhett was like a Christmas miracle!

[tigersscareme]

i thought it was a great show. the only annoyance were two drunken lunchboxes who pushed in front of me to record 'you can make him like you' into their cellphones.
 i have to ask, who does that work for?
 also, craig finn looks a lot like a young version of my grampa which i find charming. a grampa singing about hoodrats and the bones brigade.

[Sweetjoy]

I'd signed on for 1990s and Art Brut ages ago and had a friend get tickets. Didn't even realize the Hold Steady was headlining until a few days ago. Didn't put two and two together. I thought I'd recognize a couple of their songs from woxy, and I might have, had we stuck around long enough to find out. Should have known from the way DC101 has been pimping them in the morning for the past week. Totally generic O.A.R.-sounding modern rock. Did not catch my ear at all. We left after 3 songs. But the crowd did seem REALLY into them.
 
 1990s were great, though their last song was a bit too jammy for me, until it got to the meat in the last minute or so.
 
 Art Brut took me a few songs to warm up, but once I got into it, it was surprisingly charming to me. I thought it was cute how Eddie referred to them as a collective all night, 'Ready, Art Brut?' and I loved when he mentioned right before Good Weekend that the song had gone #1 in Disneyland, Narnia and the former Yugoslavia. They really engaged the crowd.
 
 Still not entirely sure how Art Brut and Hold Steady were paired for this show. My 20 seconds of research is showing that they aren't on the same label -- was someone just like 'well, both of the singers just kind of talk melodically instead of actually singing, let's have them tour together!'? Cus man, after sitting through an hour of Art Brut (which I enjoyed) I was pretty much done with that quirk.

[tigersscareme]

hey, do people get pictched (i'm hoping) from the 9:30 when they get up on stage?
 i'll admit, i fucking hate that shit, and there were weird little pockets of shoving matches around, and then i saw one of the more offensive shovers get up on stage and never saw him again.
 i like to grab their shoes and throw them to the floor. seriously.
 superchunk encouraged that at the trocadero in philadelphia in 93 or 94 before you were removed from the club from stage diving. it was funny watching singularly shod assholes hobble around looking for their matching sneaker.

[andelman]

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