maybe you're right/we're gonna have a good time tonight
That said, all these 00s reunion gigs have been kinda hit or miss and when I bought the tickets, it was with the thought that maybe I'd go or maybe I'd just sell the tix. But I'm sure glad I went.
They would've been there for hours if they played everything I'd wanted to hear, but they played a big chunk of what I wanted to hear and even snuck in a Jonathan Fire*Eater cover (two if you count "Little House of Savages"). The latter came in the encore was dedicated to Fire*Eater bassist, Tom Frank, with Hamilton Leithauser joking that he might have turned in for the night already, but he "could watch it on YouTube with his kids tomorrow." It was a little jab that it seemed like the entire crowd could relate to, as it didn't seem like the band's been discovered by a new audience at all. Everyone there looked like they knew them from the first time around.
That was part of the reason that I wasn't sure how things were going to go. It was a Sunday night on the nostalgia circuit and the crowd and the band--save for Leithauser, who hasn't seemed to have aged--didn't seem like a group that really exerted a lot of energy on Sunday nights, myself included.
But it sure didn't feel like I was in my 40s on a Sunday.
"What's in it for Me" got things started with a slow simmer, but once they tore into "Wake Up" for song two, we were off to the races.
I'd forgotten how much I love how Paul Maroon's guitar sounds live, like it's ping ponging all over the place, sounding totally wild, but somehow like he's in control at the same time. And maybe it's kinda stupid to say "I love 'The Rat'." But I'd forgotten how much I really love "The Rat" when it's turned up loud--louder than I ever manage in headphones these days and much, much louder than I'll ever play over speakers in our sedate apartment.
It seemed like they'd forgotten a couple of things since they called it quits too, most notably, how much fun it is to play in a band with your some of your favourite people in the world. Maybe near the first ending it wasn't anymore. But on Sunday, they looked like they remembered again and were having the times of their lives. And Leithauser made sure he let everyone know just how happy he was to be there again. Up there on stage, but most importantly, up there with his best friends.
now playing: Wilco - "Ten Dead"
