The Hold Steady live!
The Hold Steady
Metro, Chicago
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
The “She’s been calling me again” hook of The Hold Steady’s “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” could be a metaphor for the band with Chicago behind the narrator’s voice. On an endless tour behind last fall’s Boys And Girls In America (Vagrant), Brooklyn-via-Minneapolis’ most literate party band came back for more, but at least changed their appearance for Halloween.
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Mock stumbling onto stage wearing fake mustaches and bandito baja frocks, the band’s offbeat humor launched a face-value joke for once. (Their uniformity was also in stark contrast to openers Art Brut, who hastily assembled costumes before playing.) Revelling in the applause, hope lingered (however briefly) a rendition of The Three Amigos‘ “My Little Buttercup” was in the cards.
As Hold Steady sets go, Wednesday’s performance banked heavily on one album — their latest. But that was no problem for their fans, who were at the ready lyrically as soon as “Stuck Between Stations” sparked. Frontman Craig Finn obliged them by frequently letting his guitar dangle while he gripped his mic with both hands and spat oblique tales of teenage glory, augmenting it with the self-medicated Hollywood rush of “The Swish.”
During his band’s brief tenure, Finn has cultivated the sort of fan relationship Guided By Voices’ Robert Pollard has with his own, marshalling a parade through your living room and down to your parents’ second fridge. Finn’s old vices never really had innocent designs (“How’m I s’posed to know if you’re high/if you won’t let me touch you,” “I’m gonna walk around and drink some more”), but repercussions do get underlined at Hold Steady shows (new song “Ask Her For Some Adderall,” “First Night”). But party is what the Metro wanted, and any consequences were washed away by “Massive Nights,” “Chillout Tent,” and “Southtown Girls.”
Shortly before the encore, Finn took time to reminisce about his first roadtrip to Chicago, when a pile of friends packed into the car for a weekend. It ended with his head getting split open, though it didn’t deter him. He has been returning and cracking skulls in friendly payback since, and Wednesday’s full-bore gig — reportedly for a live album — was just the latest celebratory installment.
— Steve Forstneger
Category: Live Reviews, Weekly
