Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Another Tuesday Night in the Drunktank
Last night I went to go see Crooked Fingers at the Middle East, and yes, it was wonderful. It had been three or four years since I last saw them, at the 40 Watt, and it was good to reconnect to a part of my past. Eric Bachmann is sounding more and more like Springsteen, and his current group has almost reached E-Street level proportions. There were six of them last night, including the Scialfa-like lady singer, and long-time music compatriot Matt Gentling, who stomped and lurched and wrestled with the bass guitar as if he was still rocking out with the Archers. The band was excellent, easily the best of the four different configurations I've seen of Crooked Fingers. They played a healthy smattering of hits from all four albums, and finished up with the "acoustic set on the floor" deal that Bachmann started up a few years ago. I haven't been to many shows thus far this year, but this was far and away the best so far.
Athens resident Liz Durrett opened, and was surprisingly good. I've got nothing against psuedo-folkness, and I am an enthusiast of women, and of course I have an abiding respect and appreciation for your precious "indie-rock", but for the most part the confluence of the three has always left me cold. Cat Power generally bores me, whereas Shannon Wright makes me want to grind broken glass into my frontal lobes. Durrett, though, held my attention. Maybe because she was modest, simple, and direct, with none of Chan Marshall's performance anxiety melodrama, or Wright's pretension.
A full review will be up at DOA in a few days, weeks, and/or months.
Last night I went to go see Crooked Fingers at the Middle East, and yes, it was wonderful. It had been three or four years since I last saw them, at the 40 Watt, and it was good to reconnect to a part of my past. Eric Bachmann is sounding more and more like Springsteen, and his current group has almost reached E-Street level proportions. There were six of them last night, including the Scialfa-like lady singer, and long-time music compatriot Matt Gentling, who stomped and lurched and wrestled with the bass guitar as if he was still rocking out with the Archers. The band was excellent, easily the best of the four different configurations I've seen of Crooked Fingers. They played a healthy smattering of hits from all four albums, and finished up with the "acoustic set on the floor" deal that Bachmann started up a few years ago. I haven't been to many shows thus far this year, but this was far and away the best so far.
Athens resident Liz Durrett opened, and was surprisingly good. I've got nothing against psuedo-folkness, and I am an enthusiast of women, and of course I have an abiding respect and appreciation for your precious "indie-rock", but for the most part the confluence of the three has always left me cold. Cat Power generally bores me, whereas Shannon Wright makes me want to grind broken glass into my frontal lobes. Durrett, though, held my attention. Maybe because she was modest, simple, and direct, with none of Chan Marshall's performance anxiety melodrama, or Wright's pretension.
A full review will be up at DOA in a few days, weeks, and/or months.
