Friday Afternoon:
2 pm – Arrived in the city. Took the train from Midway to the hotel. Stowed away the bag. Bit into the first Italian Beef at a tiny little take-out place on Grand Ave. near Michigan Ave. Dingy décor (featuring an faded, autographed 8 x 10 of someone whom I’m imagining is a local newscaster) but absolutely fantastic sandwich. Walked up to Northwestern campus, then along Lake Shore Drive, west over to Rush/State Sts. Stopped in at PJ Clarke’s on State St. Had a Leffe Blonde on draft, followed it with a bourbon. Got a call from a friend who’d just arrived in town. Walked back to the hotel, met friend. In the downstairs of the hotel, met a wonderful girl named Carol who had volunteered to drive a shuttle between venue and hotel all weekend. Carol became new best friend.
5 pm – Arrived at “venue” on West Wabansia. Two stages were set up at opposite corners of a giant parking lot. Food vendors flanked the sides of the lot. Twisted Lizard, Quang Noodle, Whole Foods, and Goose Island Brew Pub had stands selling all varieties of slightly overpriced handheld foods. There was also a vegan food stand run by 5 or 6 kids with long hair tucked into macramé hats. Yep. Beer was provided by Warsteiner and Goose Island Brewery. The Hideout (who officially hosted the event) had a full-service bar for those who needed a little extra kick.
Touch and Go, the birthday label in question, had a stand set up where one could purchase just about every record they’d ever printed, various band t-shirts, T&G stickers and 2 very handsome screen prints made especially for the Anniversary.
The Shipping News hit the stage right at 5. I loved their first record (Save Everything –1997) but hadn’t really heard much from them since then. Their pedigree (June of ’44, Rodan, Rachel’s, etc.) says enough about their caliber of musicianship. And while I’d once seen them absolutely raging at the Black Cat in DC, this show was a bit more subdued and instrumental-based.
Steerage – The Shipping News (from Save Everything)
6 pm - Supersystem played next. Bor-ring. Can’t really figure out why T&G signed them. Watched one song and left to get a beer.
7 pm – Girls Against Boys. Still fucking great. Played the entire “Venus Luxure No.1 Baby” album, start to finish. Last I’d heard, three of these guys were Gina Gershon’s backing band for the movie “Prey For Rock and Roll.” I also hadn’t realized that singer/guitarist Scott McCloud was cross-eyed.
Vera Cruz – Girls Against Boys (from House of GVSB)
8 pm – Ted Leo/Rx. He’s one of my all-time favorite musicians/performers ever. The guy’s really quite infallible in my eyes so there’s no point to me saying much here. His set was mostly new stuff, very sing-songy, melodic and catchy. The new album should be coming out early next year. But the big news, folks, is that Ted and The Pharmacists will be playing at JackRabbit’s on Nov. 22 to mark the 43rd anniversary of the US return to a Federal Reserve-backed currency.
Timorous Me – Ted Leo/Rx (from Tyranny of Distance)
9 pm - !!!.
“Some of you look like you haven’t been outside since the 20th Anniversary. You guys need to get off the internet and get outside.”
– Nic Offer of !!!
File this show under “completely fucking ridiculously awesome.” In less than an hour, Nic Offer managed to insult half of the audience, most of his labelmates, destroy three microphones, and nearly get his neck broken by security. And what did he do all the while? Jazz hands!
Their set was unrelenting from the first delay-drenched notes. In just over an hour, they ripped through “Intensify,” “Pardon My Freedom,” “Dear Can,” some fantastic new song that Offer suggested might be their new single, and “Space Island,” which, when it hit its minor-chord climax around minute 5 or 6, cemented the show as my #1 live show of all time.
The next day, we found out from Carol that some of the other, more old-school bands were pretty steamed about the whole affair. Besides having points taken off for being younger, snottier and more hip than most of the T&G roster, some of the !!! guys (inadvertently, we hope) packed up some of the venue’s cables, plugs and adapters with their gear and took it.
All in all, though, the ill feelings were more indicative of a divided scene than anything else. Label head Corey Rusk has tried to to keep the label relevant while releasing music that remains consistent with the early T&G vibe. And while bands like Supersystem, Enon, Quasi, Blonde Redhead and Ted Leo don’t sound anything like The Jesus Lizard, Big Black, or Shellac, they each have their own distinct edge -- which seems to be more important than anything else. !!! were so edgy, in fact, that out of 25 bands, they were the only ones not to thank Rusk or T&G for the festival. They seemed, rather, to be of the opinion that we -- as the audience -- were lucky to have them.
And while I’d normally be the first one to take offense at such blatant irreverence – especially given the good vibe at the festival and how efficiently run everything was – !!!’s presence, persistence and overall attitude on stage was perfectly in keeping with their whole aesthetic. Showing the smallest sign of gratitude would have betrayed their seemingly indifferent, perhaps even antagonistic, artistic existence.
Dear Can (Maurice Fulton Vocal Mix) - !!!
11 pm – First night was over. Headed back to the hotel, asked one of the valet guys (who seemed cool at the time) for a late-night eats recommendation. He suggested a place called Mother Hubbard’s just down the street.
12 am – Finished the worst bar food ever. Decided that the valet was an idiot. Plan to eat way across Chicago hit first stumbling block.
What happens when 7500 drunk Shellac fans converge onto a concrete parking lot? Find out tomorrow.
Saturday - The New Year
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