|
Review Navigator   FeaturesContestsReviews
| The Weakerthans / Lucero / Murder By DeathLive in Providence2004 live show   Review by: MikeM See others by this writer The Weakerthans (link) Only registered users can post comments 
 
Published on October 1st 2004
Who would have thought that country western would be the newest hipster craze? I seriously saw about five people weaning cowboy boots, no hats though. Anyways, the venue was much more crowded than I expected it to be in Providence on a Wednesday night, especially since the tour would be in Cambridge the next day. On to the bands, only three played which in a way was kind of nice. Murder By Death was up first. I had heard a few songs from them before but it was nothing that impressed me too much and after the first song, I still wasn’t very impressed. I felt that they had way too much going on at once and the mix wasn’t sounding all that great either. I guess the band really got their shit together after that because I found myself really enjoying the rest of their set. I’ve heard people describe their sound as some sort of weird soundtrack to a western (going along with tonight’s theme) or horror movie. That seems fairly accurate to me, especially since that seemed to be what most of the songs were about; you know, zombies and whiskey. Also, for one song the singer played a flame shaped guitar, it was pretty awesome looking. Lucero has been a band on my “to see” list ever since hearing last year’s wonderful That Much Further West. They did not disappoint me in the least despite the fact that the played drunker than…well pretty much any band I’ve ever seen (and yes, that includes the Lawrence Arms). The bassist from Murder By Death even brought them a round of shots, presumably of whiskey, halfway through the set. I was actually not familiar with most of the songs they played; they didn’t have a set list and initially wanted to see how many songs of theirs about drinking they could play in a row. You can probably guess that’s a lot. The band sounded absolutely great though, especially an amazingly strong vocal performance that I didn’t think would hold up as well live. They also played their masterful version of Jawbreaker’s Kiss the Bottle like it was their own. I will definitely be checking out more of their older material after seeing this set. A lot of people seem to have reservations about country music, just remember it doesn’t all sound like Toby Keith. Lucero is worth a listen no matter what no matter what you normally like. Finally, it was time for the Weakerthans. Despite being a huge fan, I had previously never had a chance to see them live, but of course I had heard great things. Once again, I was not disappointed. I was afraid certain songs would translate as well live, but everything sounded perfect. The band was also more energetic than I expected them to be, especially the new bassist. They played with (not sure if they always do) a keyboardist who seemed slightly unnecessary, but it really didn’t have an effect on the performance one way or the other. The set list was a bit Reconstruction Site heavy, but I can’t really complain about that as I think it’s their best album. A few more older songs would have been nice, and they were actually planned for the encore but I guess it got too late. It’s a shame they take so long in between albums, but hopefully it only means more touring. This was easily one of the best shows I’ve seen all year.
SETLIST: (not in order, but I’m pretty sure complete) People who liked this also liked:        Please login or register to post comments. What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
I'd love to see this band play all of Reconstruction Site, that CD rocks "the first night of this tour in oberlin they played every song off reconstruction site, except hospital vespers and past due.they ended up playing over 20 songs, and it was so fucking good. also the cello player for mbd is a hottie. the weakerthans are probably the best band ever. murder by death is SO bad live. i didn't read the article, but i bet they played a 20 minute piece of crap instrumental. they always do. god, i hate them. armchair martian is basically what lucero does, only way better. MikeM is my Hero. I love the Weakerthans, can't get into Lucero. Therefore I will give a 5. ---the first night of this tour in oberlin they played every song off reconstruction site, except hospital vespers and past due.they ended up playing over 20 songs, and it was so fucking good. also the cello player for mbd is a hottie. I caught this show in DC a couple weeks ago. I missed Murder By Death, but I've already seen them and I don't feel that I missed much. Lucero, however, was fucking brilliant. All of their new songs are fucking phenomenal, especially "The War." I told Ben that it was so fucking good I couldn't tell whether it was an original or traditional, and he made a half-yeah-half-grunt-all-cowboy noise to demonstrate his gratitude. Weakerthans were good, but it looks like Samson got the rest of the band from a Canadian Starbucks. "Take off your aprons, but leave on the shirts, eh?" "They did not disappoint me in the least despite the fact that the played drunker than…well pretty much any band I’ve ever seen (and yes, that includes the Lawrence Arms). " Someone needs to review "Travistan". Good thing I didn't try and see this in Philly, cuz I would have been taking the train and not had a ride home... saw this show in philly and so the show was supposed to start at 8 and it started at 9:30 all the bands were great, murder by death are talented kids and it went so late that the weakerthans playing at like 12:45 am gezz Oh yeah, smoking a cigarette while playing bass? Who gives a fuck? The bass player of Lucero takes out a chair and sits on the side half of the time! And he's ALWAYS smoking and drinking while playing. You kids should lighten up. They're just regular guys up there playing music. Lucero's my favorite band. I adore them. I've seen them a few times headlining at bars and I was pleasantly surprised seeing them with the Weakerthans in a club by the length of time they played for, the amount of old material they played (including The Blue and the Gray from "The Attic Tapes" that I requested), and the acceptance of them by the crowd. I was even one of the people wearing cowboy boots haha (in Pittsburgh, not CT though). It's great shit. lucero's version of "kiss the bottle" owns. "Wow, way to provide a response completely devoid of any sort of backing evidence. Also, if you're debating someone about how "rock star shenanigans" don't take focus away from the music, don't use examples like keith fucking richards. The man is 50% entertainer and 50% musician." this sounds almost like a review I would've written. Weird. just a note to the reviewer, reviews sound shitty when you don't use song names/musician names. "tell that to keith richards and ron wood. im quite sure that they're into their music." "When I saw this show in CT, the bassist from Murder By Death was smoking a cigarette. During a song. While playing bass. And he had obviously practiced smoking while playing. Way to demonstrate that you're not at all into your music. Fuck rock star shennanagins." The Weakerthans and Lucero together. Really, you cant get a better twosome for a show. When I saw this show in CT, the bassist from Murder By Death was smoking a cigarette. During a song. While playing bass. And he had obviously practiced smoking while playing. Way to demonstrate that you're not at all into your music. Fuck rock star shennanagins. left and leaving 'pwns' reconstruction site... Hey, I'm a Zombie Bottle of Whiskey and I take offense to your Review. “yes, a penguin taught me french back in antarctica” the first night of this tour in oberlin they played every song off reconstruction site, except hospital vespers and past due.they ended up playing over 20 songs, and it was so fucking good. also the cello player for mbd is a hottie. The Weakerthans and Lucero together. Really, you cant get a better twosome for a show. I missed this show last night... I'm a fuckin idiot. Oh how I love the Weakerthans. Haven't seen them yet though, hopefully they hit Toronto soon... and play lots and lots of Left and Leaving. |
