Last Thursday The 88 had their record release show at The Troubadour. And what better way to introduce Over and over than to play it in it’s entirety. Usually bands slowly work in a few songs off their new release but once they kicked it off with “Hide Another Mistake” you could tell the crowd was quite familiar with the material.
I’ve always wondered if it’s best to hear the song you want early or at the very end. It’s good to build up anticipation but it sucks when you wait all night, screaming your lungs out, and they still don’t play that one song you came for. It just so happened I knew exactly what song was coming next and it was the same one that had been stuck in my head for days, “I’ve got blood on my hands…..love”. I just happened to be lucky enough to be next to Tinker Bell so the two of us shook it like it was Christmas.
I’ve been rocking the new album for a couple weeks and it’s a perfect blend of innocent pop and contorted sensibilities. While listening I was thinking “The 88 kinda sound like Wilco from their early years or Weezer without their infatuation with trying to stay young.” They do have a similar sound. I’m not sure if that’s the right comparison now but pop music has a lot of history. One of the highlights was when frontman Keith Slettedahl got to track 7, “You Belong to Me”. The rest of the band took a brief rest and Keith grabbed his acoustic guitar. “But I’m lazzzzy, and I’ll pull you down” After 6 poppy tracks it rounded out the performance and showed you how much potential these guys have. Since the album is not that long I thought they would rock a bunch of other tracks but they just played a couple more including the much requested “Elbow Blues”. They’ve got lots of good stuff on their site, check it out.
Now that we got the Headliners taken care of, lets back track. I rolled up super early because I had been at the Wooten Center and I wasn’t wasn’t heading back home or across town to Jeremiah’s before the show. While out front I was talking to Dylan and Gwendolyn was getting ready to go on. I asked her if it was something I should check out and she kinda gave me that “(pause) of course” look. Without needing any more encouragement I jumped in and was instantly taken by her unique folky tunes. It was the second time that week I had caught eyes with a beautiful woman on stage and it made me realized why all those girls fainted when Elvis looked down at them. I was in a funky, caffienated mood so I snuck upstairs and watched the rest of her set from the balcony benches. It could have been 30 years ago and nobody could’ve noticed the difference. Think of how many talented female folk singers must have graced The Troubadour stage. As I listened to songs about birds and stories about Scotland I fell into a blissful state. Sometimes acts like Gwendolyn work and sometimes they don’t (ie. Mia Doi Todd going on after Lords of Altamont).
Patrick Park went on after Gwendolyn and kept the singer-songwriter vibe going. I only caught a couple tracks but was very impressed with the confidence he had on stage and the way he held the audiences attention. Homeboy could sure play the guitar too. Check out some live cuts on his site to see what you’re missing.
