HearYa hits the Fillmore! It took me an hour to drive into the city and get to the Fillmore on a Wednesday, but my spirits were high. Band of Horses are one of those bands that grabbed me by the short hairs when I first heard them on Everything All the Time. It was also my first trip to the Fillmore, which was kind of like my first visit to Second City in Chicago. Instead of comedy legends, the walls are adorned with pictures and memorabilia of musicians that have graced the stage over the years, from legends like Townsend, Hendrix and Jerry Garcia to modern artists like The Black Keys.
As I began writing, I found this review from September 10 and I could swear it was the same show. The show started at 8pm with Simon Dawes leading off the night, followed by Chad Vangaalen. Chad Vangaalen is a really unique one-man band that plays guitar, bass drum, foot-snare, and harmonica. I think every body part was playing an instrument and his sound was Neil Young meets Stephen Malkmus meets Beck at a college frat house. His banter and crowd interaction was entertaining, as he explained that everyone in America can kick his ass (he’s Canadian). Canadians, as he put it, are “furry, little mutants made of baby diarrhea.” I couldn’t agree more.
Finally, around 10.30pm, Band of Horses emerged and played all of their Everything All the Time tracks, mixed in with some new material with the help of two Simon Dawes members. The new stuff sounds great, but on a few occasions they spent too much time tuning instruments and completely stopped 10 seconds after starting “Wicked Gil” after making mistakes. Even though this was the second to last show on their tour, it felt at times like watching a rehearsal.
At other times, however, I felt like I was watching a truly great band emerge. Like My Morning Jacket, their sound echoes to give it a surreal feel that lends added emotion to their guitar-heavy tracks. “Funeral” was one of the first songs played, much to my surprise, and the show ended with several cover songs including David Allen Coe’s “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” and “Showdown” by Electric Light Orchestra. Although Coe’s hard to cover roughness came off like The Chipmunks doing outlaw country, “Showdown” was right in Band of Horses’ wheelhouse and came off brilliantly. I’ll let BOH slide on the Coe cover, because watching a crowd of liberal San Franciscans cheer after listening to a song written by one of the most sexist, racist, homophobic rednecks in music history was amusing. Maybe it was an inside joke.
Sure, there were missteps and miscalculations. There were moments that absolutely blew me away. There were also morsels of what’s to come. Ben Bridwell will lead his Band of Horses into another great album and I’ll be listening.
Band of Horses Video: The Funeral
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