Hold Steady @ the Music Hall in Williamsburg
Since I just listened to the new album I’m also going to talk about that in this review.
The best thing that could of happened to Williamsburg Brooklyn was the recession. it seems a lot of the annoying no job trustafarians are being pushed back into Bushwick because their parents cant afford their rent. That aside I dragged a good friend along to check out The Hold Steady this past Saturday night. This was the second of two shows that day. You should always go to the later show or the last show on a weekend stand. It’s like always hitting on 16 when the dealer is showing a face card in blackjack. A majority of time it works in your favor.
I skipped the opener, The Oranges band. I had some drinking and catching up to do, but they sounded OK over the PA. The Hold Steady hit the stage around 1215am, and opened up with a new song, now identified as “The Sweet Part of the City”. I loved it, and was able to instantly identify with the lyrics.
“we were living in, we can live with it, we didn’t feel a thing, we were in heaven”
The song ends like this also
“We were bored so we started a band… we like to pray for you, we like to pray for you, we like to pray for you….”
I’m 99% sure I’m wrong on those lyrics but it sounded something like that.
The crowd pretty much erupted and barely let up after when they broke into Constructive Summer right after that. I really miss Franz on piano because just seeing him up there makes the show more awesome. The new piano player (also from world inferno friendship society) was tucked away far in the corner. I wasn’t even sure if they had anyone on keys until I looked around. I could tell the band is moving more towards a guitar powered sound. With the extra guitar their rifts have more juice and feel more thunderous.
Lead singer Finn seemed as tight as I’ve ever seen him, with clear vocals and just the right energy without seeming out of place. My friend with me isn’t the biggest fan, but appreciates good rock. He noted “this stuff doesn’t sound like anything I hear nowadays”.
The whole setlist had enough new music and old music to make everyone happy. The new tune, Hurricane J is definitely an instant crowd pleaser. I have to repeat that the extra guitar really kicks the whole thing into overdrive.
I sound real pretentious here but I love the fact that The Hold Steady tells the American stories that most musicians forget. In many ways like when Bruce sung about parts of the country we forget exist, I think the Hold Steady sings about the parts of life we sometimes forget but always look back with a warm feeling inside.
Slapped actress closed out the main set. The encore was fantastic. First night is one of my favorite songs, and they really nailed it. That piano breakdown is the shit. They closed it out with hood rat friends, fantastic.
All in all I’m happy they added these shows. I was real bummed when I saw that they’d be playing Beacon with no GA. Massive weekend.
