So, regulars know that Baltar and I, like some other IR/poli sci people out there, have a little thing about the Drive By Truckers. While I travel to see bands - I do live in West Virginia after all - quite a bit, and have a few different band buddies, DBT has really taken the number one spot away from the Flaming Lips in my live act pantheon. As such, they have been the target of quite a bit of traveling to see the Rock Show (as they call it) over the last several months. They have three singer songwriters, Patterson Hood (notoriously prolific), Mike Cooley (he writes less, but pretty much exclusively gems), and Shonna Tucker (just stepping up to the plate recently). The DBT catalog is so deep, that you can see them twice in one day or three days in a row and the overlap will be very slight.
Right now, we are in Washington D.C. for a DBT two night stand at the 9:30 Club one of the best rock venues on the east coast. We have been planning for this for quite some time.
What we had not planned on was that frontman, co-lead singer and half of the duo that has formed the core of the band for twenty-some years, is out of commission with walking pneumonia. This means that the bulk of the leading and singing has to be taken up by Mike Cooley, who usually hangs out on stage left, looking cool and occasionally cracking wise. For some bands, having their frontman out would be en epic disaster. For this band, it is an epic win, a rarity not only of setlist but also of Mike Cooley's performance.
Last night, night one, that was what we got. Even though Cooley is not the more prolific, they still have decades of material to mine. They did a 21 song setlist, and didn't even get to all of Mike Cooley's "greatest hits" (e.g. Where the Devil Don't stay). It was a shame not to have Patterson's material, surely, as well as his stage presence and guitar work, but in many ways this was the most exceptional DBT show I have ever seen. Long have I sworn that I was going to make a live compilation CD of DBT's greatest performances, and the first batch would surely be Cooley only. It was a geek's dream, a superfan's delight, and tonight it's going to happen again, because Patterson Hood is still down with the pneumonua.
So to the big guy, here's a whole heaping helping of get well wishes and hopes that in short order he kicks pneumonia's ass. And in the mean time, the crowd is in the more than capable hands of Mike Cooley, who stepped up and took the whole Rock Show to Cooleyville.
UPDATE: Rockin' Pneumonia
Posted by binky at February 21, 2009 04:25 PM | TrackBack | Posted to MusicWhile Cooley confidently carried the DBTs through this Hood-less show, I personally felt that one of the biggest highlights of the show came when they invited a fan on stage to sing "Life in the Factory" at the end of the set. Not only was this guy sober enough to avoid making a fool of himself (seemingly a tough thing to find in a DBT crowd), he actually *nailed* the sucker. The crowd went wild as he walked off the stage, and there was well-deserved back slapping all around. It's a rare event for a band and their fans to intertwine so intimately within the rock'n'roll cage, and this certainly was one of those inspiring moments.
Posted by: Gumbrinus (Rock the Earth) at February 22, 2009 02:21 PM | PERMALINKYou're right... that was amazing. I know lots of people (myself included) who would say they know all the words to all the songs, but in that moment, minds went blank. I wish I knew who that guy was, because I got some really good pictures of him. Hopefully someone will scare him up via the 9B board or something.
PS Gumbrinus, if you are still around, it was nice to meet you. I was the one with the card.
Posted by: binky at February 22, 2009 03:13 PM | PERMALINKHell no we ain't happy: Hippie Killer writes about the Drive By Truckers. I can't wait to see what he and his commentariat have to say about the rush job to select a new president for WVU.
Posted by: binky at March 2, 2009 10:21 PM | PERMALINK