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 21st 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…
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!
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.
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…!
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