Review: The Hold Steady @ Terminal 5 – 11/7/08

“You guys are noisy tonight…sounds like you’re celebrating that we have a new president!” frontman Craig Finn proclaimed a few songs into the Hold Steady’s never-dull-for-a-moment set Friday night at Terminal 5.  Maybe the crowd was in an extra-happy mood because of Tuesday’s election, or maybe the beer was extra smooth at Terminal 5 that night because the audience was boisterous and full of bonhomie. It was beautiful reciprocity: the crowd was feeding off the Hold Steady’s energetic performance, and the Hold Steady was feeding off the crowd’s enthusiasm.

I have wanted to see the Hold Steady in concert for quite a while, they have a reputation of being an “awesome bar band.” They did not disappoint from the moment they came on stage. They started off the set the best way I thought they could with “Constructive Summer,” the opening track from this years release “Stay Positive” (one of my favorite albums of the year). Craig Finn asked the crowd to “raise a toast to St. Joe Strummer,” as the band embodied the spirit of Clash’s electricity.

Surprisingly to me, the Hold Steady gave us a very-balanced show. I was expecting the band to rely mostly on their last two albums, but they dove deep into their catalog. I would say the band played an even amount of songs from all albums…a tribute to their long-time diehards. What did not surprise me about the performance was Craig Finn’s lyrical talent. There are few in his class who can tell the story of the adventures, struggles, agonies and triumphs of American adolescence like he can in today’s music scene.

What makes the band enjoyable is their antics. They do not take themselves seriously on stage, they just have fun. They are self-deprecating and are not afraid to demonstrate that although they have “never been with your hoodrat friend,” they are just a bunch of middle-aged white men from Minnesota. The band looks like they are made up of an insurance salesman, the IT man at work, a surfer, a Russian silent film star and a Gap model. Both Craig Finn, and Keyboardist/Accordion Player/Harmonica Player, Franz Nicolay, spent plenty of time on stage stumbling through the jitterbug and doing the kriss-kross “jump” dance. Franz Nicolay’s appearance on stage is eye catching enough…he looks like he is a mix between Charlie Chaplin, Luigi From the Mario Brothers, Soda Popinski from Mike Tyson’s Punchout and Justin Timberlake. Meanwhile Craig Finn half-sings and half-rambles while running his hands through his hands through his hair with the excitement of a 4-year-old reciting the alphabet for the first time. It was amusing to watch him pace back and forth on stage while the crowd shuffled their feet backand forth to follow him.

I was slightly disappointed that the band did not play 2006’s standout “Stuck Between Stations” during the encore, but they had a few tricks up their sleeve. When the Drive-By-Truckers joined the band on stage, the two groups played a great version of the Blue Oyster Cult’s “Burnin’ For You.” For personal reasons, I cannot take Blue Oyster Cult seriously (no, it has nothing to do with SNL sketch). I found the cover on Friday night to be both comical and extremely enjoyable. They also covered the Minutemen’s “History Lesson Part II,” and AC/DC’s “Ride On.”

To take the title from their first album, the Hold Steady killed me on Friday night. The hour an a half set flew by…but then again, time flies when the Hold Steady is on stage.

Setlist (from rollingstone.com)

“Constructive Summer”
“You Gotta Dance (With Who You Came to the Dance With)”
“Multitude of Casualties”
“Chips Ahoy!”
“Sequestered in Memphis”
“One for the Cutters”
“Cheyenne Sunrise”
“Ask Her for Adderall”
“Magazines”
“Arms & Hearts”
“Stevie Nix”
“Massive Nights”
“Party Pit”
“Lord, I’m Discouraged”
“Hornets! Hornets!”
“Your Little Hoodrat Friend”
“Most People Are DJs”
“Slapped Actress”
“How a Resurrection Really Feels”

Encore:
“First Night”
“Stay Positive”
“History Lesson Part II”
“Ride On”
“Burnin’ For You”
“Killer Parties”

The Hold Steady

Sequestered In Memphis:

Massive Nights:

Burnin’ For You – Blue Oyster Cult cover with Drive By Truckers