Small venue: check.
Older-than-18-years, non-wet-behind-the-ears, enthusiastic crowd: check.
Pyro: Nope.Lasers: Huh?
Smoke: only from cigarettes.
Cigarettes: so many that it looked like professional smoke.
Video Screens: No.
Disco Balls: None.
Velvet Elvis in front of the Drum Kit: Yup.
Elaborate set bringing to life themes from recent CD: Uh, they had two paper mache crows with light-up eyes that didn't work right. That's high art for them.
Three guitars: check. (Plus a pedal steel.)
References to Molly Hatchet: check.
Beers consumed by band: Oh, about half a case.
Liquor Consumed by Band: bottle of Jack Daniels.
How long did it last: about two-thirds of the way through the set. Then they asked for another.
How soon should I go see them: Soonish. They'll die of liver failure or lung cancer before they'll stop touring, but given how much of both they were consuming, that might not be long.
Massive drum kit: No. Looks like he had about six drums, and three cymbals.
Massive number of guitars piled next to the stage: yes, but they only used about four.
Number of times the band thanked the audience for coming out on a Sunday night: about half a dozen.
Number of times you felt they actually meant it: every time.
Number of tamborines, flutes, organs, kazoos, harmonicas, or other unnecessary crap: None.
Two-and-a-half-hour set on a Sunday night before only about 500 people: Check.
Did they care that they didn't sell out a stadium: Nope.
Ticket price, with all charges, fees, and everything: $22.50. (Fuck you, Rolling Stones.)
Seeing great set of no-frills musicians play their asses off: priceless.
God Damn, that was a good show. Drive By Truckers. Posted by baltar at October 16, 2006 09:37 AM | TrackBack | Posted to Music
Definitely.
I was thinking about how to describe the show, and the word that kept coming to me was raw, but that's not right either. Though in danger of using a word that has virtually lost all meaning and come to represent the opposite, I think that the best word for DBT is REAL.
And re: our conversation on the way out of the venue, I found this little quote from Patterson Hood:
Played in front of thousands at Virgin Fest in Baltimore, then had great time stumbling through the crowds with my wife Rebecca and seeing The Who, Raconteurs, Gnarles Barkley, and Flaming Lips (who had my favorite set of the day).
Aha!
And a small factual correction, there was one harmonica, but it wasn't unnecessary crap.
Posted by: binky at October 16, 2006 09:47 AM | PERMALINKUh, I think the harmonica was in the openers set, not DBT. I could be wrong, but I don't remember them messing with that (they did do one set with Jason on some sort of keyboard, but was sorta ignoring that).
Posted by: baltar at October 16, 2006 09:57 AM | PERMALINKNot those guys. Strictly light-weights. Not the worst I've seen, but just not that interesting.
Posted by: baltar at October 16, 2006 10:06 AM | PERMALINKdamn!!! my buddy tried to get me to go this, and he raved enough about the ban that he had me thinking about it, but then we never followed up on the conversation and i missed it.
well, baltar, you've got one on me -- i still haven't gotten to a show at mr. smalls.
Posted by: moon at October 16, 2006 11:00 AM | PERMALINKAnd it just hit me that in two weeks I am seeing both the Drive By Truckers and the Flaming Lips.
Posted by: binky at October 16, 2006 12:08 PM | PERMALINK