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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Riding The Short Bus-Jay Reatard-Black Cat Backstage-10/28/08


I have been recently listening to some old Husker Du albums (mainly Zen Arcade) and last night I had a hankering for some fast-paced garage punk. So with Potsy in class and Jimbromski celebrating his birthday, I ventured out solo to see Jay Reatard at the Black Cat.

What can I say about this guy that hasn't already been said? He hit the stage at approximately 10:30 PM and belted out about 15-17 songs in roughly 35 minutes. One after another, no banter, just rock. I think the only thing he said all night was the title of the song right before he started each tune. With a recent purchase of "The Matador Singles '08" I was familiar with quite a few of the songs, but they were all played in double the speed they are on the disc. Standouts for me included "See Saw", "Trapped Here", and what I think was "Screaming Hand". Believe it or not, Reatard even busted out the acoustic guitar for a couple of songs, playing the instrument at a blistering pace.

The backstage was almost full for the show (I thought it was going to sell out) and the crowd was fairly enthusiastic. For the last song, he brought some random dude on stage to "play" his flying-v, while he sang the lyrics. It was equivalent to me getting up there to play, as the guy looked like he had never strummed a chord in his life. And at 11:10, it was all over.


Side note:I tend to notice and listen to conversations more when I go to shows alone, and last night was no exception. As I was watching opening band Cola Freaks, the Joe Cocker-esque , flailing front man came off the stage to sing (more like scream) into the faces of some freaked out crowd members. One of the guys he was "singing" to was Ahmed, the blind show goer we have seen in the past. Can you imagine being blind, enjoying the show, then the yelling starts getting louder and louder. The next thing you know there is hot breath screaming Danish-accented hardcore right in your face. When I was outside having a smoke, these two dudes were talking about the blind guy.

Dude 1: Did you see when that singer was yelling into the face of the blind guy...
Dude 2: That dude was blind?
Dude 1: Yeah, I see him at a lot of good shows...
Dude 2: Yeah, people with disabilities usually go to only the good shows.

Huh? I guess this is probably true, as the four of us go to a lot of good shows and we are all slightly Reatarded.

6 comments:

Potsy said...

sacklunch does best when he flies solo. I would have joined you had I known you were going and that JR wasn't going on until 10:30. That's when I got home. Sounds like a good show.

Nice finish by the way. You get the Almost Famous award of the week.

Unknown said...

great show (and fantasy football strategy session) last night. here's the analogy i've been workshopping:

a jay reatard show is like heroin. it's always going to be great. but even when you move up to the more potent stuff (better new songs, longer set), you still find yourself grasping for how it was that first time, because you never get that high again.

i'll never get tired of seeing that guy and his huge hair and flying v guitar and chubby cheeks.

sacklunch said...

Sorry, Potsy, didn't mean to diss you. Since the show is only like 30 minutes long, I figured you would miss most of it.

Re:David

I didn't know you were such a fan of the smack. Yeah, huge hair, baby-faced, and flailing away on a flying-v, what more can you ask for?

In regards to fantasy football, I find it interesting that we both have the same records in our respective leagues (7-1 and 5-3) and we have many of the same players. Great fantasy football minds must think alike . It's too bad I can't include Jimbromski in that previous sentence. His team is truly pathetic.

Jimbromski said...

I agree with Dude #2, disabled people only attend the best shows. They have a hard enough time being disabled, they can't waste their lives seeing shit bands. Makes perfect sense.

If you have a disabled friend and he tells you he's seeing a band, you should buy tickets as well.

Sack, I shall defeat you this week in FF. You're arrogant and ready to take a fall.

John Foster said...

Great write-ups this week. Catching that conversation outside and the APTBS review are what keep me coming back. Nice nice nice.

sacklunch said...

re: john foster

I heard another conversation outside the Black Cat as well. It was the guys from Bellman Barker saying they want to kick your ass.