i was younger once/i'm holding on/i'm using up the break of dawn/your numbers called/you're long, long gone
I flew to LA on the weekend to watch Snocaps. It's something that wasn't really on my radar when the album dropped, but then Katie Crutchfield wrote that they were probably only ever going to play two shows each in Chicago (though they added a third there), LA, and NYC, plus Wilco's already sold out Sky Blue Sky festival in Mexico. And also that they'd be dipping into the Crutchfields' shared back catalog to play some PS Eliot, Swearin', Allison solo, and early Waxahatchee songs.
I figured, I'd pick up a ticket and then make up my mind later. But then, for some weird reason, the only Ticketmaster delivery option to Canada was by mail, so there I was with a physical ticket to a show 2,000 kilometres away, which was going to make my plan of "I'll sell it for cost if I don't go" a bit more challenging. Still, being out $50 was a lot less than flight and hotel. Also, it was pretty short notice to rustle up someone to go with me, so I would probably be soloing it.
But then one night (with the help of four or five beers at the Canucks game), I said "fuck it" and booked a flight.
Mike Krol (aka Allison Crutchfield's husband) opened, playing what he announced as his "only show this year."
He had Allison join him on stage for one song, after which he promised "another surprise later." At one point, passed a ladder onto the floor and asked an audience member to "set it up in the middle" before climbing up to sing from his new perch. He blew confetti into the crowd. And he very sweetly started crying when he talked about how happy he was to see and hear his wife singing again.
It was messy, a bit chaotic, at times beautiful, and fun as hell.
That other surprise was a doozy too, with Krol ceding the microphone to the other Crutchfield man, Kevin Morby, for a rendition of the Babies, "
Mess Me Around."
The main event was everything I'd hoped for, with the band running through--spoiler--my favourite record of the year in full and throwing in three Waxahatchee and Swearin' songs each, plus four PS Eliot numbers.
Katie doesn't really play anything pre-Saint Cloud live anymore and I don't really know what the status of Swearin' is (but Allison has a full time gig working A&R at Anti Records these days). It's also been over 9-years since that mini PS Eliot reunion. So, just the novelty of hearing those songs live would've been enough, but they also sounded really, really good--sometimes better than the originals.
"Coast to Coast" didn't lose too much of it's pop-punk energy, but it kinda made it halfway to sounding like it might have a home on Saint Cloud or Tiger's Blood. It was close enough to the original that it still itched the nostalgia centre of my brain, but also, maybe we will get to hear some of those old songs on future Waxahatchee tours? Turns out some of them would fit with a little update.
And I love those old PS Eliot records, but the twins were so much younger and less practiced when they came out. None of the current renditions were overly polished, but they're just better at playing. Even more noticeable, and even compared to the PS Eliot reunion shows, Katie's a way better singer. I've always loved her voice, but it's so much more full and powerful now.
The last time Swearin' played in Vancouver--7-years ago--I captioned an Instagram post with, "I don't think there's any band I've listened to more in the last decade than Swearin'. And if I think about 2015 'til now, there's probably no one I've listened to more than Waxahatchee (except maybe Laura Stevenson).
Also, "Tennessee" is one of my favourite songs of all time and I've never heard it sound better than it did on Friday night. And that alone would've been worth the trip.
