By: Jesse Norell
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Hum - Publicity Photo from their website
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I’ve said many times, there are only three bands I would drive anywhere in the country to see for the first time: Sunny Day Real Estate, Muse and Hum. While Sunny Day Real Estate is yet to reunite, Muse came to the Metro in Chicago spring of ‘04 (and to Minneapolis in November) and on October 15th, I finally got to see Hum, albeit at Rockfest in Champaign, Illinois. I thought an outdoor show in October would be risky, but the weather was perfect.
Rockfest was a free afternoon festival sponsored by Budweiser, and it seemed all of the other bands were selected because they made some reference to drinking in their name. Thus a series of hippie, alt-country, jam bands opened for super-heavy grunge/indie rock legends Hum. As a result, by the time Hum was to play, the natives were restless. A radio DJ from Chicago was onstage talking about how people had come from 36 states to see this band, which could hardly be heard over the chanting of, “Hum! Hum! Hum!” and ultimately, “F--- you! f--- you! f--- you!”
Hum came on at 10:45, opening with “Little Dipper,” the first track on You’d Prefer an Astronaut – my least favorite of their songs. This worked out well, though, as it took the sound tech the entire song to figure out that Hum plays very loud and sings quietly. They ripped right into “The Pod,” the next track from that same album – one of my favorites. Although Hum is known for being one of the loudest bands in the U.S. and I was a mere 20 feet from the stage, my earplugs had to come out for this song and stayed out for the rest of the show. “Iron Clad Lou” came next, which was one of the hardest rockers and a definite highlight.
I had heard that Hum mostly stood in one place while performing, but the band was definitely excited to play after breaking up five years ago. Singer Matt Talbot frequently hunched over, locked his elbow and dug into his guitar. Drummer Bryan St. Pere (who looks a little like Patrick Warburton) twirled his sticks as if that were as important to the song as hitting his 8 or 9 cymbals.
Talbot was all smiles after nearly every song. He seemed sincerely flattered and awestruck that so many people came from far away to see his band. “I love you all,” he said. He introduced “Suicide Machine” as one of his favorite songs, which may have been the only one not in a drop-D tuning.
Their major hit, “Stars,” came second to last, but they did not play it begrudgingly or as though they were tired of it. Closing the set was “I Hate it Too.” They jammed for a long time on the closing 2-chord riff and guitarist Tim Lash pulled off the crazy harmonic riff just like on the album. There is so much noisy, hooky riffing on their CDs that it was interesting to hear which ones they chose to play live.
The band left and overhead music came on, but fans would not go without an encore. The band came back on and informed us they would only play two more because, “That’s all we learned.” They played the opener on Downward is Heavenward, “Isle of the Cheetah” (which finally shut up some guy who had been yelling for it for over an hour). Then they finished the evening with my favorite Hum song, “I’d Like Your Hair Long.” Talbot was distracted because he broke a string, but it was still a wonderful, rocking end to the evening. I spoke with Talbot after the show and hopefully helped convince him they should come to Minneapolis.
Hum Setlist – Champaign, IL - 10/15/05
1. Little Dipper (You’d Prefer an Astronaut)
2. The Pod (You’d Prefer an Astronaut)
3. Iron Clad Lou (Electra 2000)
4. Ms. Lazarus (Downward is Heavenward)
5. Inklings (Unreleased)
6. Green to Me (Downward is Heavenward)
7. Coming Home (Downward is Heavenward)
8. Suicide Machine (You’d Prefer an Astronaut)
9. Afternoon with the Axolotls (Downward is Heavenward)
10. Stars (You’d Prefer an Astronaut)
11. I Hate it Too (You’d Prefer an Astronaut)
- Encores
12. Isle of the Cheetah (Downward is Heavenward)
13. I’d Like Your Hair Long (You’d Prefer an Astronaut)
Location Info:
The Highdive
Artist Info: Hum
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