High Volt-age

Tonight was band #3 in my Four-Band Fortnight (thanks, Putz): Son Volt. For those of you who don't know the history, Jay Farrar (pictured) used to be in a band called Uncle Tupelo with a guy named Jeff Tweedy. When Uncle Tupelo broke up in the early '90s, Tweedy went on to form Wilco, and Farrar started Son Volt. Both bands have had their lineup issues through the years, but while Wilco (after one disc of roots rock) went the experimental route with their music, Son Volt stayed pretty true to the alt-country format of Uncle Tupelo. Long story short, SV basically broke up at the end of the 90's, and Farrar released several solo albums. But towards the end of 2004, he reformed Son Volt with a new lineup and recorded Okemah and the Melody of Riot, forever ensuring the band a place in the Weirdly-Named Album Hall of Fame. This album has a much tighter rock sound, and their live show reflected that.

Tonight was the first time I had been to The Vogue. They clearly need a new booking agent, because the place is a very cool old theater, and I can't believe that bands wouldn't enjoy playing there. We stood on the floor and were about 10 ft. from the stage and nearly at eye level with the bands. My only complaint is that after three concerts in non-smoking venues, I forgot how much I hate being engulfed in smoke during a show. And they opened the doors during Son Volt's set to let in some air, which managed to simultaneously put me in a tunnel of cold wind and yet not alleviate the cigarette smoke. I fuckin' reek right now, and my throat hurts. Wah.

Tonight's opener was Chicago's Fruit Bats. I have a couple of their albums, which are rather sedate acoustic affairs. Good for a certain mood, but not something I can listen too very often. But I found I liked them a lot better in concert, where it appears they have a tendency to rock out a bit more. Good stuff.

This was my second time seeing Son Volt, having previously seen them at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC way back in 1996. Can't say I remember much about that show other than they played a lot of slow acoustic songs. Tonight's show was a lot more high energy and probably did a lot more damage to my hearing. They opened with 4 straight songs from the new disc, and eventually played just about the entire album. Throughout the 100-minute show, they played songs from their entire catalog, getting the biggest response for the new songs and songs from their first disc (and my personal favorite), Trace. At one point or another, I have owned every Son Volt album, but I only recognized one song that wasn't from either Okemah or Trace. Not much in the way of stage banter from Jay & Co. (as my friend Will remarked, there was no indication they had ever met each other), just a few Thank You's and All Right's thrown in between songs. Even so, I wasn't disappointed. It was an enjoyable show, I heard everything I wanted to hear, and even got a nice surprise when they dusted off Uncle Tupelo's "Chickamauga" for the last song of the encore.