So before I write a review and possibly say anything negative, let me say that I'm totally amazed that a 66 yr old and his 63 yr old wife can travel around the country in a tour bus day after day with their easy going obese friend tagging along. For so, so many years. And stay together as a couple plus one. Kudos to them. Freaking hot.
Then again, lots of seniors live the Winnebago lifestyle. What sets these guys apart from other seniors is that they play marathon raucous rock shows like they are Taylor Swift or that other band from Jersey (though my wife reminds me that they don't dance around for 3+ hours like Taylor Swift, but I remind her that Taylor Swift only plays one location for a couple or three nights a week and probably doesn't ride the bus.)
So I got there a few minutes before they went on and staked out my spot near the back. I looked for the tall handsome Goldblum looking motherfucker with the NPR totebag, but he was nowhere to be found. In that time, I reflected on the four or five times I had seen them before. I have to say, that this is a band that has never, ever put out a band album. I also have to say that this is a band who when I play them at home, the response from the other three corners of my world are "Space, turn your music down, nobody wants to listen to that crap." Those are about the only dozen words my dog knows. Also, they are the perfect music for the soundtrack to any good tv show or movie.
But when I thought about the times I've seen them, I can't say that they've ever blown my mind for an entire show. That Hatchet song, Sugarcube, and Autumn Sweater (not played last night) come close. The first time I saw them, I think it was maybe 94 or 95, was at some kind of campus event at JHU. I wasn't a student, but I know somebody who knew somebody. I feel like maybe it was an acoustic show, and maybe it was mostly covers. I'ts all really hazy. I know for sure that Broken Social Scene was not there, and I WAS. The second time I saw them was in Cologne, Germany a year or two later. It was pre-internet, so I just happened to stumble across the show while visiting an old (German) housemate. One thing I remember about the show was Ira's guitar freakouts, which sounded so rad back then. The other thing was that it was the day after Dave Gahan attempted suicide (that really happened, right?) and for some reason I remember Ira making a snarky joke about it. But that's not really possible, is it? Making fun of suicide attempts doesn't happen, right? I mean blackface happened in the 90's and nobody cared, but for sure making fun of suicide attempts, even attempts by pussy British new wavers was never a thing. Right? Another time I saw them play with Sun Ra Arkestra at 9:30 Club, and I was annoyed. I think I may have seen them one other 9:30 show, and it was good.
Anyway, as usual, I don't actually have that much to say about the show. Ira and Georgia look exactly the same, just older. Same hair, same style, same can't sing but it doesn't matter because it fits so fucking well with the music that it doesn't matter. And James is the same level of obesity as he always was. So fucking consistent in the oebesity. Jeff Tweedy has worked his enite life to look like James McNew, but James McNew has always looked like James McNew. Any he can't sing either. Does anybody rememember seeing him in the Parking Lot Movie?
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124612211. Now that was a movie. I bet he has a really sexy girlfriend, because there are women who like the big guys. Anyway, I though the first half (third?) of the show was a little slow and I was maybe wishing I was at home, just a little.
Then I moved up, and was waiting for the second half to begin, and the guy next to me goes "Are you XXXXX?" He didn't use the "Do you know Kosmo" line but he was definitely a familiar fellow. And I was like in my mind "Oh wow, I know you, your face is always a suggested Facebook friend so I recognize you. You're NKOTB." I actually think we talked at a show for like 10 seconds 10 years ago, but it's all hazy. So the show actually got a bit better from that point. Well moving up helped as well, and probably YLT picked it up on their end, but you can never discount getting to hang with a board legend, especially when you're alone and not on a romantic date with your wife. He mentioned that he had seen the handsome Goldblum NPR bag toting motherfucker in passing, but hadn't been able do you know Kosmo him. becomes he seemed to be in a hurry.
Shit, I'm sorry, I have written another show review without really telling you about the show. At times it was boring, At times it was good. At times it was excellent. I like how that get bored and trade off instruments. The road goes on forever and may they enjoy a short movie in Hoboken tonight while I catch up on my own sleep.
