By: David de Young
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| John Swardson w/ Eliza Blue - Photo by David de Young |
Also on the Thursday’s bill were openers Stook and the Jukes, whose contagious down-to-earth good time attitude spread through the club despite the band being both out of practice and short their keyboard player this night. If you haven’t seen Stook play in a while, note he has recently added a new hot shot guitarist named Blair Krivanek whose hot licks also helped spice up the Entry Thursday night.
Closing out the evening were crunk rockers and masters of the drinking song (and drinking), The Evening Rig. They had come highly recommended to me by HowWasTheShow editor Bob Longmore some time ago, but Thursday was my first time seeing them live. Fittingly perhaps, they opened with their classic “Goddamn, I Could Use A Drink,” giving me an immediate taste of their music from both a sound and oft’ thematic perspective. Infused with passion (in much the same way vodka is infused with fruit essence these days) the songs from their debut album Never Been’er rock into your heart and stay there. The band also played a couple new songs Thursday leaving me looking forward to their follow-up album (and their next performance at the HowWasTheShow Six Year Anniversary Party on Friday, June 6th at the Turf Club.)
Something that tied the whole bill together on Thursday was a near total lack of pretension shared across all the bands, and John Swardson’s middle slot with his band Get Gone was no different. They opened with the leadoff track from the album “Scarecrow,” its opening line, “I’m gonna get drunk tonight,” injecting a darkness to that phrase that’s not always there. Later in the song, as Swardson sings “I’m gonna fall down tonight, hear the story told back tomorrow,” you get the very tangible sense that getting drunk isn’t something one does but rather somewhere one goes. And like many other troubling songs on the album, you’re left with more questions than answers.
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| The Evening Rig - Photo by de Young |
A little more upbeat, the song “Ride Along” returned to a motif that cropped up initially at the end of “Scarecrow.” This song is full of something I can only call “Springsteen rock joy” for now, while I try and think of a better phrase. Swardson performed the dark and Celtic song “Senseless Transgressions” with just Eliza Blue, then as the band came back onstage, Swardson joked, “I was worried they wouldn’t show up again.” The full ensemble played the rocker “Home” from the new disc, and I enjoyed watching a couple of Swardson’s friends in the front row laugh at the line “we’re all meeting up at The Mill tonight.” I know that in a country rock song that sounds like it might be a typical line about small town life, but I’m pretty sure there’s a double-entendre there that references the pizza place in Uptown Minneapolis called the Green Mill. It was fabulous to watch Eliza Blue play fiddle with her eyes on Swardson, as if making extra sure she remained in touch with every nuance. The two performers have great chemistry, and I hope to see them perform together again soon.
“1989” was another rocker, followed by “Beautiful Day,” both songs from Swardson’s earlier album. I thought the latter song had a bit of a “Taxman” beat and groove, with some Cramps (“Garbageman”) thrown in. Some of these songs – if you can imagine it – are like southern rock meeting 80s punk and sitting down for a serious late night chat over drinks on a dark and smoky screen porch.
They closed the set with the southern rock slowness of the album’s title song “Silver Dust” with its Skynyrd-worthy wailing guitar solo. The supportive crowd managed to get Swardson to do one encore.
See the full photo set from this show here.
Location Info:
7th Street Entry
Artist Info: John Swardson, Stook, The Evening Rig
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