Sunday, April 06, 2008

Seems Like Old Times

It seems like it has been forever since I've been to a club show (when it fact it probably has indeed been the lifetime of my children). Last night I finally got motivated to get back out there - with the help of my wife and a babysitter.

The show that finally got me off my parental ass was the incomparable Mike Doughty, the venue... the 9:30 Club in DC. He played probably 15 songs, with an even mix of tracks off of Haughty Melodic (my favorite album of last year) and Golden Delicious (released last month). For good measure, he threw 2 Soul Coughing tunes ("Circles" and "St. Louise is Listening") and a cover of Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler". A couple of technical problems ruined the flow at times, but Mike and his band adeptly filled the time with amusing banter.

Mike: "This is a very important time of the night. This is the song before the *fake* last song. We are going to play this song, then the *fake* last song with a big rock-and-roll ending. I will introduce the each guy in the band by their full christian name - then the lights will go out. We will turn around and you will pretend we are off the stage. You will cheer and we will turn around and then play 2 more songs".

The show was good, but not great. The technical problems aside, the Soul Coughing songs sounded a bit flat in my opinion and I swear "St. Louise" was in an entirely different key. But, for a $20/ticket it is was a no-brainer. Although when you throw in the $10 service charge + $4 box office charge + $10 parking + $6 beers + $60 babysitter the return on investment becomes a little obvious but still worth it.

The thing that most struck me was how much older Doughty looked to me. Then I remembered that the last time I saw him was in 1995 playing a stellar Soul Coughing show at The Point. He was probably saying the same thing about his mostly 30-something crowd. Where does the time go?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

The Point! I remember that place - it was a pretty good place to see a show, though it had a small stage. I remember seeing Kevn Kinney there once. Now it's a Clothing Warehouse. :(