Musical Chairs Wednesday: Bob Mould Band

This week caught me a wee bit unprepared for Musical Chairs; however, I knew writing about what I did last night would fill the hole. Once again, I saw my idol play live, this time with a band, something I had not seen since he toured with Sugar in 1992. Needless to say, I was pumped for this one.

First, a little pre-concert chat with the man himself. My friends and I were up in the balcony of the club (usually, we like to be right down by the stage, but with a full band, we valued our eardrums and wanted to hear the whole mix, so we went up), and Dale spotted him lurking in the back during set up for his portion of the show. He has this habit of wandering at the back of the venue before he goes on, and he goes virtually unnoticed by the crowd. I think he likes it that way; however, I slipped down and said hello, and was greeted like an old friend. He asked about my guitar playing, and how it was coming (yes, sensei, I'm practicing), then I let him go get ready. I never want to overstep that line with him.

So, the show. Loud. Tight. The band sounded fantastic (Jason Narducy of Verbow on bass, Brendan Canty of Fugazi on drums, and Richard Morel of Blowoff and his own band on keyboards). The new material works really well live, and it was nice to hear the songs again in their "complete" form. He played a good deal from Sugar's Copper Blue, some of which I hadn't heard since the Sugar tour. As for Husker Du material, you'll have to go here to read the rest.