Three Nights of Son Volt
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Callie and I are back in town from chasing Son Volt around the Pacific Northwest.
We caught three shows by Jay Farrar's reconstituted band. I'd never seen Farrar or Son Volt or Uncle Tupelo, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect, aside from the fact that I really like Okemah (and all of Farrar's work, really), and the production approach taken by Farrar. That approach -- and Farrar's quirky perfectionism -- led me to believe we'd be seeing some good shows in mostly small venues.
That's exactly how it played out.
The first night was a place called the Nightlight in Bellingham, WA, a quaint town that's home to Western Washington University. The venue was slightly larger than the Firehouse here in Houston(but only one level), with a main floor and quirky offshoots. Capacity according to the waiter is 500. We were seated about 30-40 feet from the stage. The view wasn't great because the place was PACKED to capacity. But the sound was SWEET -- that venue has the best sound system of any venue of its size or smaller that I've been in. The guys played a really tight set heavy on Okemah. An encore followed that was heavy on Trace.
There's not much to say about Farrar's stage presence. He says hardly anything. He just plays. Every once in a while he say "Thanks" or "All right." That's fine. I'd rather have more music. Farrar is a fine guitarist, and swaps guitars frequently to get the sound he wants for each song. The current iteration of the four-piece band is the one featured on Okemah: Farrar handling vocals and wielding a mean guitar and occasional harmonica, Brad Rice on guitar (playing some very nice slide), drummer Dave Bryson and bass player Andrew DuPlantis. There's nothing flashy about this band, just good, solid tight play. It was about 100 minutes' worth in Bellingham, with the encore. And it was quite an introduction to Farrar and Son Volt.
We did see the band's van parked outside the venue before the show. It was nothing fancy -- just a stretch van, not a tour bus, with a small rented trailer attached. We guessed (rightly) it was Farrar's because of the Missouri plates and St. Louis rental info on the side.
The third night was Vancouver, BC, another new city for me (Callie had been there some years ago and caught a Counting Crows show). It's a gorgeous drive from Seattle to Vanouver. It was also somewhat of an amusing drive, because as soon as we crossed the border, we noticed the band's van parked at customs, and Farrar sitting outside reading a book (photo below).
Obviously, we pulled over and debated saying hello. Normally, it wouldn't be much of a debate, but Farrar is notoriously introverted and we try to respect the privacy of band members. We did finally go over. I told him we'd seen the last two shows and really enjoyed them, and that we didn't want to pester him, just wanted to say nice job. He smiled and said thanks (I think). The band seemed amused by it all. Having said hello, we went back to our car, snapped a photo, and got back on our way.
Vancouver is a great city, and we wound up there with plenty of time before the show. We checked out the venue (Richard's on Richards, my favorite of the three venues), wandered around a bit, and stumbled into a pub near where we were staying in the Davie Village area (Vancouver's gay/eclectic part of town, a little less touristy than other areas). We weren't there for an hour, and who goes walking by talking on his cell phone but Jay Farrar. He didn't stop at the pub, unfortunately. Small world.
There was one interesting "glitch." Farrar's stage guy handed him the wrong guitar for one song. As the song got underway (can't remember the song), the band all seemed to realize it. The bass player looked horrified. Farrar just calmly unplugged and swapped guitars WHILE SINGING, without missing a beat. I'm sure when I check out the recording, I won't even be able to figure out the song. Farrar is one cool customer.
Anyway, that was that. The Vancouver show was my favorite overall. The Bellingham show featured the best sound system of the bunch. The Seattle show had less crowd noise and should have produced a better live recording (we'll see). Overall, we couldn't have asked for three better shows to introduce ourselves to Jay Farrar live.
I've long thought the dude was a musical genius. My appreciation has only grown after seeing him live, finally. I can't wait to roadtrip to Austin and Dallas next weekend for those shows.
I see that they've added a Birmingham date to compensate for the now-cancelled New Orleans date that followed the Texas gigs. It's a shame they couldn't have added Houston or Gruene. Gruene Hall would have been sweet.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/10/05 14:29 | Music | Technorati
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Comments
Great recap! I just watched the documentary and the live takes that came with the CD so now I'm primed to see them Tuesday.
One note about the "dumbasses" talking: I met my current girlfriend at a Jay Farrar show two years ago and we chatted through much of it. I never thought I'd be one of those people but when you meet the girl of your dreams even Jay takes a backseat.
NP: Wolrd Waits For You
Posted by Sean @ 00:56 on 09/11/05
I bet your chatting was just that, though -- chatting. There were three guys in primo upstairs seats at Richard's YELLING at each other over the music (which I'm sure is now immortalized on the recording). After some glaring from us, they finally moved it and toned it down somewhat, but geez.... other than for a girl (*smile*), why would you DO that?!
Let me know how the Tuesday show is! I think you're gonna like.
Posted by Kevin @ 09:33 on 09/11/05
great report. you're like the Lester Bangs of Houston.
Posted by banjo jones @ 12:11 on 09/11/05
I've added Okemah to the Yahoo Unlimited playlist.
Dallas - Glenn Tilbrook played the Gypsy Tea Room in May, most of the reviews didn't mention the venue so I guess it was ok. One guy said: The Gypsy Tea
Room is a small but high quality place with great sound.
FWIW
Posted by Rob Booth @ 16:46 on 09/11/05
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