Wow. That's all I can say about last night's show. My Hold Steady heart literally soared when the night began with First Night, the first song that truly made me fall in love with the Hold Steady. After that and finding out that Music Hall of Williamsburg is the old North Six venue, I knew that an awesome night was bound to happen.
To explain -- Northsix was the sight of my first Hold Steady concert in the winter of 2006 (I think). It was when they were on tour for Boys and Girls in America, and that show has always been my favorite Hold Steady show of all time. There's nothing like the first show of a band you've just discovered you'll love for a long time to come. The album Boys and Girls in America was great enough just to listen to, but the Hold Steady put on one of the best live shows I had ever seen.
The show last night was ALL of Boys and Girls in America, a decent showing of Stay Positive and a smattering of Separation Sunday and Almost Killed Me songs. I had not heard Boys and Girls in it's entirety live since that show in 2006. My legs are sore from jumping and my arms are sore from pumping. Last night show equaled the greatness of that first show in 2006.
Music Hall as the revamped North Six is a pretty good venue. It's pretty much a tiny replica of Bowery, but in Williamsburg. Smaller, more intimate, but my sightline of the band was better than Bowery. The one not great note of Music Hall was the inexorably slow bar service. And really, pouring a five buck bottled Bud into a cup, with the foam taking over half of the cup? Why not just give us the damn bottle? That gets a Drunk Little Asian's major thumbs down.
That being said, what made last night even better? While the Hold Steady fans were waiting hopefully for a second encore (which we didn't get), the venue turned on the lights and then played Springsteen's Thunder Road. And as us Hold Steady fans poured out of the venue into the Williamsburg streets, we were all singing along in one great chorus, many of us knowing all the words to one of the best songs of all time.
6 comments:
the previous post reference party pit was definitely more apt to last night's show. favorite song of all time involving walking and drinking and more
Glad to see you're back Drunk Little Asian... missed ya!
Yup, just like I called yesterday: they're doing an album a night with these shows. Whoever's going tonight's getting "Stay Positive," which means they might also get the ever-elusive Two-Handed Handshake (I'm obsessed with that song).
Oh, and that first Hold Steady show we saw at NorthSix (second to last show ever held at NorthSix, by the way) was in January 2007, about 3-4 months after Boys & Girls came out.
Bhay, yeah, I knew I had the date wrong! You totally called it. Album a night. Boys and Girls all the way. I'm glad I caught a second night -- was a completely different show and of course, Boys and Girls is my fave all around album.
Yeah, it's a brilliant way to do 4 shows in a row, doing a different album each night. Keeps each show fresh and for those lucky enough to hit night 3... yeah, I'm very fucking jealous!
Oh, and I found this re: our first Hold Steady show:
http://holdsteady.wikia.com/wiki/January_18_2007_-_Brooklyn,_NY_@_Northsix
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