The Hold Steady

[Chills]

Been checking out "Almost Killed Me" and "Seperation Sunday" lately.

The lyrics are solid gold  :D

"the 80s almost killed me let's not recall them quite so fondly."

[ratsprayer]

welcome to the club, Chills!

when you get a chance, you should get FIESTAS & FIASCOS by lifter puller.  it's my favourite of craig's work.  



"we were hoping for an action adventure, or something loud that we could feel through all the feminax"

[MarkW]

Have you checked out "Take me out to the ball game" on their myspace page?  An essential for Twins fans, I'd think...

[MyLifeISought]

Anyone seeing them today with Ted Leo in Cincy?

[dragonboy]

Played Boys & Girls for the first time today (only heard the odd song here & there up until now). I expected to like it & maybe have it grow on me but I f**king loved it!

Where's Red when you need him?
Probably seeing that band he likes so much, what are they called again?  ;)

[red]

OH MY!!!   ;D  

I just don't know where to start, so I'll leave it until tomorrow night when I'm not so exhausted.  

So VERY much debauchery ensued, plenty will be omitted for the sake of the guilty (and innocent), but you should all have an enjoyable read.  

8-) :)

[red]

Also, for those who thought I mentioned these 5 men a lot before last night...you're not going to be happy.  I'm going to say 95% of my posts for a few weeks will be related to the last two nights directly.  You've been warned.  :)

[.Walt]

welcome back man!! oh, i'm ready to hear the stories of the adventures.  8-)

[dragonboy]

welcome back man!! oh, i'm ready to hear the stories of the adventures.  8-)

Bring it on!!!

[red]

For tonight, I'll leave you with this...which was taken sometime around the 3:30am mark in Montreal...

[dragonboy]

For tonight, I'll leave you with this...which was taken sometime around the 3:30am mark in Montreal...

You lucky SO a B!!!  ;)
Great pic K, pleased you had such a great time!

[MarkW]

For tonight, I'll leave you with this...which was taken sometime around the 3:30am mark in Montreal...

Franz looks as fresh as a daisy.  Really looking forward to hearing all about it K.

[bowl of soup]

Just heard a great live version of You Can Make Him Like You on Sirius Left Of Center (if you don't have the sat radio you're cheating yourself).  Not sure when it was recorded and can't seem to find it out there, but it was on the Left of Sessions show where cool acts come in and do a few songs live - so there are more out there.  I do know that they are replaying some of the show on 8/29 at 9 p.m. and 9/1 at 11 a.m. along with Teegan and Sara (?) and selections from The National's session.

Live National and Hold Steady in the same place, at the same time.  I love the shiny things floating in space beeming joy to the universe.

[EC]

For tonight, I'll leave you with this...which was taken sometime around the 3:30am mark in Montreal...

holy fuck.
my guess is that hanging with the hs in the wee hours of the a.m. in montreal means serious partay.  rock!

[red]

NEVER did I imagine such an amazing 2 nights in my life coming at the hands of the kindness, sincerity and generosity of even my absolute favourite band.  The two nights I just experienced many miles from home will have a profound effect on me for years to come I'm sure......  

Toronto was a really great show, lots of energy, nice sized crowd.  To me the sound wasn't very good (as I was warned), but I had an absolute blast.  My favourite song ("Banging Camp") was played as well as 3 non-album tracks which was a very nice treat.  I'll post up the exact set list when I clean out my bags and find the one the nice stage-hand gave me.  Also met with a very nice woman and her boyfriend from THS' board, ending up catching a ride to Montreal with her.  (I really do spend time not on the internet, I swear!)

The time after the Toronto show was spend at a bar with three members of The Hold Steady and three of The Constantines in attendance.  For those keeping track at home, that's a sizable portion from two of my three favourite bands under the same roof as me.  Numerous conversations were exchanged with them all.  Met some wonderful people from Toronto, and other places too.  That night should have somewhat prepared me for what was to come in Montreal, but I don't think I could've ever fathomed the kindness of the band (one member in particular).

Three or so months ago I exchanged emails back and forth with Tad (guitarist) about going about getting a going-away present for someone special to me.  They were busy on tour and that kinda fizzled out.  Before the show (as 36 Chambers was blasting from the loudspeakers!!!) Tad tapped me on the back and handed me their days tour-itinerary signed and personalized for her as well as all his laminates from the past month or so on the road.  T-shirts, the set list and a drumstick were later acquired.  "Don't loose that shit" he told me as he asked me what other songs I wanted to hear as he was making up the set list for the night.  Never has anything so simple as a piece of paper or laminated passes meant so much.  The absolute kindness that that man displayed I cannot measure for all I'm worth, although he seemed very taken back that I brought him a DVD (Fubar).  

AND THE SHOW!!!  Wow, they were truly on fire.  Myself and the rest of the first one or two rows (nearly all out of towners) were absolutely crazy and kept the nodding French-hipsters at bay.  "Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night" was played as Tad promised and two songs into the encore Tad said something into the mic then looked at me in the front row and we proceeded to high-five just before he struck the delicious opening riff to "How A Resurrection Really Feels" (the last of the three I dreamed of hearing).  "Killer Parties" was, as usual, the perfect finale.  The often ad-libbed lyrics of "...and we...are The Hold Steady" closing out the best concert experience of my life.

To tie it up quickly, ending up spending some face-time, high fives and hugs with Galen, Bobby, Tad and Franz at a local bar until the wee hours after the show.  Finally got to ask Franz if the harmonica intro to "Girls Like Status" was a homage to "The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkin Head" and he was very impressed, said only a few have caught that.  

The absolute joy that was exchanged at those two shows (and beyond) between the band and myself was pure unmeasurable, and I don't know if I'll ever experience something like that again.  I was thanked for loving a band so much to fly and see them, but that felt wrong...it was the other way around; I had to thank them for making such a trip so much more than worth it.  

:)  


I'm sorry for the very long-winded nature of this post, believe me I left out a ton, and am still trying to wrap my head around what happened.  Now you can expect even more HS gushing from me...  

[Jenny]

i really need to get my hands on some of their stuff...

did i tell you that my most favorite teacher went to high school with whoever the head singer is?  they went out for dinner when they came to boston and was telling me all about it.
pretty cool

[dragonboy]

So pleased for you Red! Not only an excellent band but f**king great people too by the sound of things.
Thanks for posting  :)

[The DARK]

i really need to get my hands on some of their stuff...

did i tell you that my most favorite teacher went to high school with whoever the head singer is?  they went out for dinner when they came to boston and was telling me all about it.
pretty cool

Impressive! I would kill (okay, that's exaggerating) to have the slightest connection with one of our favorite bands, but alas, no.

[dragonboy]

I would kill (okay, that's exaggerating) to have the slightest connection with one of our favorite bands, but alas, no.

When my band Mr Miyagi make it big you can tell people I gave you shit when you first joined the forum  ;)

[The DARK]

I would kill (okay, that's exaggerating) to have the slightest connection with one of our favorite bands, but alas, no.

When my band Mr Miyagi make it big you can tell people I gave you shit when you first joined the forum  ;)

;D I still remember that old thread...