CONCERT: The Hold Steady: June 27th, Ram’s Head Live!, Baltimore, MD

Sorry, no pictures from the show, I left my camera in the car.

If I had to pick one word to describe the Minneapolis, MN quintet’s live show it would have to be ‘fun’.  Front man Craig Finn is just trying to have a ’Killer Party’ and its an open house.  Finn makes up for the fact that he never plays the guitar hanging around his neck by making comical gestures that go along with his stream of consciousness lyrics.  He looks so happy on stage, its hard to have a bad time watching him.  He smiles with every word he sings, or speaks, and is constantly dancing and yelling out words within the songs to the crowd after each line.  There is definitely a sense that the songs mean the world to him, and he is never afraid to thank the crowd.  Every member is into it, especially keyboardist/pianist extraordinaire, Franz Nicolay, who seems to be Finn’s sidekick and even prop at points in the show (Finn says a line about a guy with a shaved head and gestures to Franz), not to mention the fact that his moustache is exquisite.  If there’s anything bad to say about their shows, its that the songs are all pretty similar sounding and tend to get repetitive after a certain point.  The performance got a little slow towards the middle, but they were able to pick it up again for the four song encore. 

Despite the good show, I really have problems with this venue, but the problems are nitpciky and slightly unreasonable.  The place is one of the nicest clubs I have ever been to, but therein lies my complaint.  There is something that detracts from a band’s performance at a small venue, when the place is nice.  It’s like you are seeing a band perform in a convention room at a hotel or something.  The walls are all clean, the bars have LCD screens above them, there’s a bathroom clerk with perfumes and colognes.  For a band described as ‘the world’s best bar band’ it is hard to see them perform in such a nice setting.  I prefer a functional dump for a venue, but that may be just me. 

As far as the music goes, it was all spot on.  As they broke into “Constructive Summer” to start it all off, they were very well received.  The crowd was into almost every song, and favorites such as “Killer Parties,” “Chips Ahoy,” and the new single “Sequestered in Memphis” were sung by everybody in the room. 

A Hold Steady show is definitely an experience, but don’t expect the show of a lifetime, just a whole lot of fun. 

The Most Bad-ass Hip-Hop Performance Ever?

It’s safe to say that Jay-Z has all the respect he needs in this world, but apparently not from Oasis’s self proclaimed god among men Noel Gallgher, who made statements questioning the decision to have Jay-Z headline this year’s Glastonbury Festival.  How better for Jay-Z to give a “fuck you” to Mr. Gallagher than to perform one of his hit songs, “Wonderwall,” to open what would assumedly be an amazing set for Jigga?  He then breaks into “99 Problems” with a “Back in Black” riff. Even Hova knows how to tease songs. This shit is bananas:

apparently, you can watch his whole set here