Guided By Voices
The Dublin Pub, Dayton, Ohio (March 18, 2002)
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Guided By Voices
The Dublin Pub, Dayton, Ohio
March 18, 2002 |
Clearly, there was some kind of alignment of stars or something. When I saw this one coming, I knew I just couldn"t miss it. After all, Dayton is just a short hour's drive from home (I know -- not something I should freely admit). And seeing Professor Pollard and his boys playing a hometown gig on a holiday known for drinking? Well, the Rock Gods don't drop ones like this into your lap every day.
And let me tell you friends, it gets even better. The show was held in a beer tent. It was a benefit for Dayton firefighters. (Local volunteer fire department maybe?) People were walking around in T-shirts that read "FBI: Full Blooded Irish."
Beer was served frat-style from folding tables in plastic cups -- only instead of the warm, stale swill, they offered Guinness, Harp and Bass. The ceiling was filled with shamrock-shaped balloons advertising Killians Red. If this wasn't a perfect environment for the hard-drinking Guided By Voices, I don't know what is.
And then there was the crowd. Sure, there were the usual college-aged alternakids about. But there was also a large contingent of mullet-and-mall-hair couples. My wife astutely pointed out it was tough to discern whether one wearing a John Deere cap was trying to be ironic or not.
Unfortunately, we arrived on the scene late. As we were crossing the street to enter said beer tent, I could hear strains of "Things I Will Keep" wafting through the air. In a panic, I rushed us into the establishment and got situated with Harp in hand as quickly as possible. (Of all bands, who'd have thunk GBV is one of the punctual ones?) Just as we found a spot right next to the soundman's platform, the band launched into the familiar start-stop riffing of "Cut Out Witch." OK, this is better. This song is perfect example of how great this incarnation of Guided By Voices is. On Under The Bushes, Under The Stars, I think it sounds a bit hollow. But live, with driving rhythm and Doug Gillard's crazy guitar effects, this song is a kick-you-in-the-seat rocker.
Whether you're a fan of pre- or post-Under The Bushes GBV, you can't deny that this current line-up is tight. When the song cuts out right before the chorus, the band stops on a dime, pauses and does a thunderous pressure drop into the chorus. All this while they're breaking in a new drummer too. This probably isn't hampering them too much though, from what I could tell, Kevin March sounds like the best drummer GBV's ever had.
While we're on the subject, I'd love to see a new GBV live album. I mean, Crying My Knife Away is great, but that was seven years ago. I'd love to hear a Fading Captain release of a full three-hour show with these guys ripping through their standard set.
For the first half of the show, the band trotted out new songs from the upcoming Universal Truths And Cycles, punctuated by occasional "My Valuable Hunting Knife" or "The Brides Have Hit Glass" for longtime fans. The new songs sounded great, if not revolutionary. I think pretty much by this point, you're either a GBV fan, or you aren't. If you are, you'll probably dig Truths. On first listen, "Back To The Lake" was my favorite of the new batch, with a staccato rhythm reminiscent of "Mushroom Art" or "The Brides Have Hit Glass." And from what I could hear, expect even more Gillard guitar effects this time around. I would try to tell you more about the new stuff, but the beer and the mind-numbing number of songs they played have dulled my memory.
The sound was roundly excellent. Radiohead really has something with these tent shows. If it wasn't for the fact that I was freezing my ass off out there, and that my poor wife couldn't even see Bob's karate kicks and cock rock posing because of poor line-of-sight, I'd recommend this for all rock concerts.
Unfortunately, the new songs pushed out many of the great Do The Collapse and Isolation Drills tunes I heard them play last year. Personally, I'd be fine with them cutting out some of the older material in favor of songs from these two albums.
My hopes for an evening filled with rarities for the hometown crowd were mostly dashed, though. Aside from playing three selections, including "Messiah," from the wonderful Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Department, there weren't many rarities to be heard. We still got the typical first set followed by the "Bee Thousand encore," as Bob called it. And he wasn't kidding. We were treated to no less than seven straight selections from that seminal indie rock bellweather.
The only hometown advantage I saw was that the drunker Bob got, the more songs were dedicated to "the wonderful people of Dayton." But alas, while it was revealed that the fairly commonplace "Alone Stinking And Unafraid" is inspired by Bob's hometown, not even a "Dayton, Ohio, 19 Something And 5" bone was thrown to the crowd.
Not that I'm complaining though. A standard GBV show is better than almost any other rock and roll experience you'll get these days.
If you don't believe me, listen to these guys do a cover of "Baba O'Riley." "We do this song better than the Who," Bob bragged right before the show's closer. And he wasn't shitting, either. Led by guitarists Gillard and Nate Farley, GBV kick out the fucking jams on this one. It is pure rock and roll bliss to have the Who-obsessed Pollard leading a crowd though a chorus of "teenage wasteland"s.
So I've satisfied my curiosity. And now you know too. Yes, it was Dayton. And yes, it was St. Patrick's Day. But if you want to see a great Guided By Voices show, you don't need any of these things. Give them a cooler full of beer and a stage to play on, and rock your world they will.
PATRICK KASTNER | Affectionately known as Cousin Patty (yes, it's a "Throw Momma From The Train" reference), Patrick Kastner is a designer for the Columbus Post-Dispatch.