Old Men at Rock Shows
Where two men in their 40s (ahem) see bands reunite and play together with members who are in their 50s and 60s.
Soul Coughing
In September I decided to take advantage of the rare touring of Soul Coughing, one of the lessor known but strange and influential bands of the mid to late nineties. Not grungy and guitar-driven but jazz influenced with elements of electronic sampling and looping. I haven’t seen them live probably since the college years at a place like T.T. the Bears.
The show was in Boston at the Roadrunner and was packed. There was no opening band. This tour was the 30th anniversary of El Oso. They had said when they broke up in 2000 they would never get back together, but here we are. The need for bands and audiences to relive the good’ol days is just too strong.
They played all the songs Brian and I wanted to hear but one, which we later listened to in the car as we waited for the parking garage to empty. They sounded really, really good. They didn’t stick to just El Oso but played things off all the albums. Mike Doughty had a little bit of crowd banter going on, but mostly, they stuck to the songs.
We were in the back grooving out, far from the stage. We could see them all fine and the sound was good back there. The place was packed but we had room to move around a little bit without getting into someone’s space. This was the first big rock show I had been to in a long time.
Soul Coughing setlist from Setlist.fm
Jesus Lizard
Last night Brian and I went to see the Jesus Lizard in Boston at the Roadrunner. David Yow is 64 years old and still sounds as good as ever, not to mention the crowd surfing, spitting, and beer-guzzling he did during the show. David Wm. Sims had an amazing, twangy, both treble and bass sound just like he always has and Duane Denison was straight-ahead and serious the whole time, keeping the band moving through energetic songs.
The crowd was a slight mix of young and middle age, like myself. There were plenty of gray-haired dudes with rock shirts on but there were also some teens (some with their parents) and slightly older teens/early twenties who somehow know about the Jesus Lizard or simply knew they put on a great show.
Brian and I were near the front of the stage and got caught up in the pit a little bit. We didn’t mind, though, as long as I didn’t get a kick in the head as inexperienced folks crowd surfed ahead. The band played two encores (5 songs and 3!) and seemed like they could play more if they wanted to.