Hold Steady
Last night I went to my first rock concert in Hamburg. The Hold Steady was at The Molotow club in the St. Pauli district. They are a group out of Brooklyn, but composed of two remnants of the Minneapolis band Lifter Puller.
Given the description of the band as sort of a mix of classic rock with a grunge flavor, I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it -- however, when the band finally climbed on stage before the tiny but packed club and we made our way forward to just below the monitors I was really glad I had come.
The first song started with a quiet, almost spoken descriptive review of the social climates in the decades from the 1920s to the present, culminating at the end of the first stanza with the super loud entrance of the backup and bass guitarists, drummer, and keyboard... the energy was crazy, perpetuated by the band's encouragement of audience singing and continued to increase throughout the concert especially as they played several songs about Minneapolis.
At the end of the set the audience applause dragged the band back on stage for three more songs, the energy in the last of which building ever more before the band started pulling members of the audience up on stage (starting with me and then my two American friends).
Talking with the lead singer afterward, I found out he went to a rival college prep high school of mine called Breck, and spent part of his childhood in a house a matter of blocks from mine.
I'm still not sure if I'd listen to their music at home, but the combined energy of the musical style, their great performance presence and audience interaction, and the somewhat bazaar connection to my home town (in Hamburg) made for an awesome concert.
Given the description of the band as sort of a mix of classic rock with a grunge flavor, I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it -- however, when the band finally climbed on stage before the tiny but packed club and we made our way forward to just below the monitors I was really glad I had come.
The first song started with a quiet, almost spoken descriptive review of the social climates in the decades from the 1920s to the present, culminating at the end of the first stanza with the super loud entrance of the backup and bass guitarists, drummer, and keyboard... the energy was crazy, perpetuated by the band's encouragement of audience singing and continued to increase throughout the concert especially as they played several songs about Minneapolis.
At the end of the set the audience applause dragged the band back on stage for three more songs, the energy in the last of which building ever more before the band started pulling members of the audience up on stage (starting with me and then my two American friends).
Talking with the lead singer afterward, I found out he went to a rival college prep high school of mine called Breck, and spent part of his childhood in a house a matter of blocks from mine.
I'm still not sure if I'd listen to their music at home, but the combined energy of the musical style, their great performance presence and audience interaction, and the somewhat bazaar connection to my home town (in Hamburg) made for an awesome concert.
posted by Andrewfred at 2:36 AM
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