Old 97's Review

I went to Twangfest on Friday night with my brother Derek to see the Old 97's. Good show. For those of you who don't know, Twangfest is a yearly fest here in St. Louis featuring mostly alt. country bands that stretches over four nights and multiple clubs throughout the city. It draws in both local and national acts that range from country rock to Americana to singer songwriter types. I've never done the full fest, but I have gone to a night here and there, and have always enjoyed it.

Anyhoo, I had a few things to do around the house on Friday, so we got to the concert a little late (completely missing a band called I Love Math which seems appropriate because I hate math). Miles Of Wire were on stage when we arrived, who I believe are local. Didn't see much of their set, but I liked what I heard. The next act was some dude from Texas called Hayes Carll. I really liked his set. I'd definitely recommend checking him out if you like artists such as Steve Earle, Townes Van Zant, Rodney Crowell, etc. I liked it so much I picked up his CD at the merch table and have been listening to it since.

The headliners were, of course, Old 97's. They put on a good show. I think I may have gone in with a somewhat inaccurate expectation, as I've heard that their gigs were sweat-soaked barnstormers for years. So I expected a bit more of an out and out rocker with a few of the mid tempo songs thrown in. Actually the set was more balanced than that, with quite a few slower songs, but that's okay, it was really good, just not what I expected.

The musicianship was top notch. Philip Peeples, the drummer (who does the theme from Endless Summer), does a lot of that cross handed drumming stuff which looks so cool and I love. Guitar player Ken Bethea is very energetic and fun to watch. Murray Hammond has an interesting thumb based technique for playing bass that is part John Entwistle, part Johnny Cash. Also, his songs are among the best in the band's catalog. Murray rules. Which leaves us with front man Rhett Miller. He's the skinny cute guy in the band, and probably ten years younger than his band mates. Picture Michael Kelso fronting a band and you're there. Some of his hip shaking and half-assed windmills were a little silly, but so is Mick Jagger's stage stuff so whatever.

My only complaint, and it's a small one, was the length of the show. At almost 2/12 hours, I felt it was a little long to headline a festival type show (even if I didn't see all of the acts.) Hey, I'm all about getting your money's worth, and as far as that goes, they delivered. It's just that with all the slower and mid tempo stuff they did, the show dragged a little from time to time and I left feeling tired. Not tired in an exhausted way like a Motorhead or Drive By truckers show, but sleepy tired. Still, the good stuff well outweighed the bad. I'd see them again, but maybe in a few years, not every time they come in.

Wow, that was long and rambly. I'd planned to go into some stuff about my band, Blue Tattoo, and a couple of other things but I've already been typing too long and I'm not sure anybody's still reading anyway. So I'll check in with all that soon, and a Willie nelson concert review next weekend (a little less wordy I hope).

Bye.