I arrived at the less than filled Town Ballroom just after 9:00pm last night and to the sounds of Titus Andronicus's "Titus Andronicus Forever" and "...And Ever" Two separate songs on their great album The Monitor, but may as well be one as the latter of the two is simply a continuation of the first. I had planned to arrive earlier, but for the third year in a row, I was the team captain of my company's Corporate Challenge team and had to stick around for a bit after the run. When this show was announced a month or so back, I told myself I would not miss Titus this time around as I could not attend their show at the Ninth Ward last summer. Well, I managed to catch two songs of theirs this time around, so that's better than nothing. The band each had a turn to take the lead in the song, all getting a chance to showcase themselves,as I made my way to the stage. The band finished their short set, well short to me at least, with "Four Score and Seven", one of the rare cases where the band is soft and quiet. Front man Patrick Stickles slowly croons while Amy Klein's strings act as a transition to the song's raucous finish while Stickles completes his destruction of his vocal chords for the evening.
Okkervil River soon after emerged and jumped right into "White Shadow Waltz" from their newest release I Am Very Far. The night's set would include quite a few cuts from the new album, including "Rider" a rather crunchy "The Valley", and "Wake and Be Fine", but the band has always been known to mix their sets up with both new and old. The blue eyed soul number "A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene" was on the bass heavy side this evening, with the band's always great use of horn guiding the ends of the choruses.
This is the third time I have seen the band perform live, and with every show, it is hard to keep your eyes off front man Will Sheff. He always begins the show in a some what dapper suit, with his disheveled mat of hair and owl like glasses. As he becomes more comfortable, the coat, and later his button down shirt are gone, leaving him in some old sweat covered vintage tee. He seems to take out a good deal of frustration on the equipment on stage(those poor tambourines and mic stands), but his antics are never out of control. He also always seems to have an issue with a particular stage light shining right in his face. This time around, he referred to the light as a "Midnight Express" light. The band always has a couple interesting stories for the crowd as well. Tonight the spoke of their experience in Buffalo during the October Storm, which included mentions of a Czech tour manager and a joy riding all terrain vehicle saving the band from the snow, and later in the show, how they almost lost bassist Patrick Pestorius to Duff's suicide sauce earlier in the day.
The end of their show may have featured their best series of songs to close their show that I have seen yet. Beginning with I Am Very Far standout "Your Past Life is a Blast", the band followed with the maniacal "For Real", "Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe", and "Lost Coastlines" featuring a welcoming extended banjo introduction, the latter two both speak of the difficulty of life on the road and reality of fame. After seeing Okkervil River a couple times live now, you can see a couple touches of most current Wilco lineup in them, as little distortion here and some reverb there creep into their songs. Both bands began with a more rootsy sound, but the newer incarnations of both groups have seen them sonically expand their palate. In others words, I like. The chaotic breakdown during the bridge of "Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe" reminded be just a bit of similar chaos of "Via Chicago".
After stepping away for a moment, Sheff returned to the stage for a haunting solo version of "A Stone" off the band's Black Sheep Boy. Sheff teased the crowd with wanting to play another slow song, but shortly scrapped that idea for something more up beat. After multi instrumentalist Justin Sherburn picked up his accordion and Lauren Gurgiolo traded her guitar for mandolin, they band broke into "Okkervil River Song", my favorite track from their debut album Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See. The song is hard to listen to without a smile on your face as the jubilant melody leads to a pleasing closing harmony. As with the last time I saw the band, they ended the night with the always energetic "Unless It's Kicks". Another Okkervil River show goes into the books for me. While remaining one of the most consistent bands in indie rock today, the band always seem to have a trick of two up it's sleeve for the crowd.
~mm
(photo by Sean Mikula)
(photo by Sean Mikula)
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