Blitzen Trapper live!
Blitzen Trapper
Empty Bottle, Chicago
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Which version of Blitzen Trapper do you prefer? The acoustic Dylan worshippers? The stomping students of Neil Young? The feverish punk rockers? The swampy psychedelic love child of a merger between The Black Crowes and Led Zeppelin?
All were on display at the second of two sold-out shows last week. The predominantly bearded Oregonian sextet offered up a little something for everyone during a 90-minute set that veered heavily into the band’s latest buzz-worthy offering (and first for Sub Pop), Furr.
These urban cowboys reorganized the jangly title track through the prism of Dylan’s late-’70s excursion with the Rolling Thunder Revue and continued down the trail mapped out by “His Bobness” as lead singer Eric Earley, sans half of the band, led a dusty recollection of “Cocaine Blues” and a hypnotic ode to Tom Paxton’s “The Last Thing On My Mind.”
Bearing an uncanny physical resemblance to Perry Farrell (minus the glitter and paisley silk shirts), Earley seamlessly morphs into the various personalities afforded by the band’s lithe tunes. Put a guitar in his hands and a harmonica stand around his neck and suddenly his vocals turn up the nasal inflection three notches.
The pummeling “Fire & Fast Bullets” and quirky “Sci-Fi Kid” fit within a CBGB state of mind thanks to Brian Adrian Koch’s frenetic work on the skins and the triple-threat of Marty Marquis. The ass-shaking “Saturday Night” is the distant, granola cousin to the big city Midnite Vultures-era Beck.
Now that we’ve said goodbye to another Fat Tuesday, the season of self-reflection and discernment stretches out ahead. With any luck, the lads in Blitzen Trapper will continue to refrain from such practices. It would be a shame for the young band to develop and nurture a static identity.
— Janine Schaults
Category: Live Reviews, Weekly
