1,267 THE HOLD STEADY, Bristol Rough Trade Records, Thursday 9th March 2023

 

I’d been a pre-pandemic regular for The Hold Steady’s recent run of London Weekenders, joining the worshipping throng at the Electric Ballroom in the Marches of 2018 (gig 1,076), 2019 (gig 1,125) and 2020 (gig 1,178) to celebrate the finest raw, ragged rock’n’roll band of the 21^st century. However, their 2023 post-lockdown reactivation of said regular jaunt, from Brooklyn via Minneapolis to the UK, had somehow escaped my notice, and by the time I realised, I’d already booked a trio of big-ticket gigs for this month (see future blog posts for those!). I’d therefore resigned myself to missing out on Craig Finn and his ragged rabble’s “live” shenanigans this year, but then this cropped up; a midweek lunchtime “live and signing” sesh, promoting hopefully-better-than-the-last-two new CD “The Price Of Progress”, at Bristol’s splendid Rough Trade! Woah! I snapped tix up immediately, buoyed at the prospect of seeing THS at such close quarters…

 My boss very kindly allowed me to shift my working patterns, so after an early work start, I logged off and hit the road mid-morning for a drizzly drive down. Nosed around in the Rough Trade racks on my early arrival, getting a tap on the shoulder from gig buddy Stuart, who’d given this one a late call and took the train down! We got our wristbands in short order, and grabbed spots down the front, house right, as the place filled up (by no means a sell-out, this, however, the lunchtime scheduling possibly mitigating against that?). The band took the stage prompt at 1 p.m., vocalist Craig Finn promising something, “a little different for the lunchtime crowd!” Sure enough, oldie “Multitude Of Casualties” was all understated melancholy, heralding not only a set selection considerably off their usual beaten track, but also a performance of urbane, relaxed late-night bar-room restraint, far removed from the usual seething rock beast this band can be, but instead demonstrating style and musicianship. Having said that, by the song’s denouement, Finn was all expansive hand gestures and twitchy feet – he just can’t help himself! 

This relaxed occasion also gave Finn the opportunity for voluble and loquacious explanations as to the songs’ geneses; thus, we discovered the sway-along newie “Grand Junction” was written about a turbulent couple, whilst stranded in said town, the slow-burn, tears-in-beers ballad “Distortions Of Faith” concerned a manager/ performer married couple, and macabre set closer “Oaks” was about youthful trips to the local car wash to buy LSD! Finn also informed us that a previous trip to Bristol had resulted in him, “behaving like an asshole,” and bursting a blood vessel in his eye! Yikes!

 First album deep cut “Sketchy Metal” featured an excellent undulating riff outro from guitarist Tad Kubler, making recourse to his impressive array of effects pedals directly in front of me, and rather oddly reminding me of Ultravox!’s “Young Savage” riff! “Death Of The Punchline” was comfortably my set highlight, a roaring rocker which could have walked off “Stay Positive”, but which apparently was recorded for the new album then left off it! You contrary bunch, you…! The aforementioned “Oaks” featured a lengthy outro and again some splendid fretwork from Tad Kubler, rounding off another excellent set from The Hold Steady, albeit somewhat different than usual, demonstrating a different dimension to their music-making.

 

(above pic from The Hold Steady's own FB site. Well, I AM in it...)

Tad kindly handed me his and drummer Bobby Drake’s shared list, and we joined the rapidly-moving queue for a meet and greet with a band I’d been dying to shake hands with and say thanks to, since that heady first discovery of “Boys And Girls In America” in 2007. However, this didn’t turn out as expected… Despite the boys signing a poster (the album not being ready for release yet…) and copies of 2 earlier set-lists from my physical Gig Book 13 (Tad and Bobby in particular showing quite an interest in my journals, asking me questions about both that and my XTC shirt) we were unceremoniously hurried along by an overzealous and officious bloke (minder/ roadie? Probably… RT employee? Bloody hope not!) who shouted, “that’s excessive!” at me when I simply answered the boys’ questions about my blog by handing over my blog card, and refused any suggestions for a photo with the band. Sure, I get you’ve got a job to do, and another in-store in Nottingham that evening, but no need to be so bloody rude about it, and it totally spoiled what should have been a special moment for me. Thanks a fucking bunch pal. 

(The best I could get in the circumstances. Thank you Stuart!)

No time to argue though, as I was “on the clock” so I calmed myself down, and Stu and I hit the road, home about 3-ish and back to work! Despite the jarring ending, this was still a fine way to spend a lunchtime in good musical company on and off stage. Looking forward to that new album now…!