I just realized that in the past 6 months I have seen three really good artists from the same place.

This would not be a big deal if that place were New York or LA, but Minnesota?

Yes, Minnesota.

Prince, Morris Day, and Saturday night Soul Asylum hit the Railhead at Boulder Station pretty hard.

Soul Asylum played the Mandalay House of Blues back in December, so I was somewhat shocked when I learned that they were playing at Boulder Station. This was a situation where the act was clearly larger than the venue. Not that I am complaining. I shelled out $45 (money well spent) and got second row center seats to the show, and since the people directly in front of me never stood up for some reason, second row seats might as well be have been front row seats. I could reach over and touch the stage. This would not have been as easy in a larger venue.

This was the vantage point from my seat, and you can see the mic about 6 feet in front of me slightly to the left. During the show, there was no digital photography, but 35mm photography was allowed. Huh? People still have film cameras? Really??? Why? Anyway …

I was familiar with SA back in the day, but our paths never actually crossed. All I got to hear were the recordings, which were good, but somewhat softer and “poppier” than the kind of sound we were playing and listening to at the time.

But I was often told that listening to a Soul Asylum CD was like trying to get drunk on Nyquil. You could sort of get there if you could hold down the syrup, but the the SA live shows were the fifth of vodka that you were really after.

I didn’t really get it back then, but as of today, I do get it. This morning I am listening to songs like “Black Gold”, “Cartoon”, Somebody to Shove”, “Just Like Everyone”, “Stand Up and Be Strong”, etc in a whole different light … albeit wishing I had live versions.

The songs that I thought were a little milquetoast on the radio, are hard-driving high-energy in-your-face sonic feasts live. I am serious. They have so much post-grunge feedback and distortion, driving riffs, and pure stage energy that you can’t believe that they are the same songs.

I was standing right between Pirner and Murphy, and got to watch each note played fret-by-fret, chord-by-chord, and to say that they are talented musicians is an understatement. Pirner likes to thrash about the stage, while Murphy never strays far from his effects pedals while seamlessly alternating between rhythm and lead guitar. Dan Murphy is quite underrated as a guitar player, IMHO. He’s about as good as you will find in this genre.

No offense, but after seeing the band live … the CDs suck. They are even harder to listen to now.

I am now searching for live bootleg shows because, in my humble opinion, their produced stuff just doesn’t measure up.

This is the consummate live band. No pyrotechnics, no strobe lights, but pure raw energy that takes you back to the day when bands actually played music simply because they loved playing music … and they played it hard.

There was crowd interaction. Some folks got to go on stage. They took requests. But most of all, the performance wasn’t phoned in just because it was at the Boulder Station. It doesn’t appear that they care if there is one person or ten thousand people in attendance … once the band got in the zone, they just wailed.

Pirner also talked with the crowd, made fun of his sound tech because the tech had just bought an iPhone (Which Murphy interjected “To download porn”) and told some jokes. (A pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel down his pants. Bartender says “What’s that for?” Pirate says “arrrrrr, this thing is driving me nuts”)

And other than “Runaway Train”, there were no real ballads to slow things down. I will, without a doubt, see every Soul Asylum show that I can from now on. Better late than never.

They did one encore. The band came out to sing a psuedo-grunge version of “Rhinestone Cowboy” by Glen Campbell. It was an unusual encore, but they pulled it off well. And it was a sing-along. Most of us up front were singing along as loud as we could as Priner panned the mic in front of us. It was fun at the time, but later in the night I became very disturbed. It occurred to me that I knew the words to “Rhinestone Cowboy”.

8 showers later, and I still can’t scrub the filth and shame off of me.

But I digress ….

As good as Soul Asylum is now in their mid-40’s, I can only imagine what the shows were like 10+ years ago.

I’m sure people from Minnesota know, though. Lucky bastards.

Now, for the weird part.

Out of about 200 people in the Railhead … only about 30 of us stood up throughout the entire show. Few people from the 3rd row back stood up. The people behind me sarcastically remarked “I’m glad we paid for such good seats, the view is great!”.

What … the … fuck???

You paid for 3rd row seats to sit on your fat asses? Get your fat fucking lazy ass off of the seat so you can see!

This isn’t a Broadway play. I hate, loathe, despise, and generally wish anal warts upon dumbfucks that go to rock concerts and do the “Sit down in front!” thing. They bring the crowd energy down, they bum the band out, and just make the atmosphere less fun. If you want to park your ass and watch something, walk over to the Boulder Station movie theater and see “Ratatouille”. What the bloody hell? You REALLY think the band wants the audience to remain seated in an orderly fashion???

Maybe I am dating myself, but back in my day, it was considered a high insult for people to sit down during a gig. When SA launched into “Misery”, I looked back, and half of the audience was just staring, arms-folded as the band hit the amp-overdriven chorus “Put me out of my Misery, I’d do it for you … would you do it for me …”. The small bunch of us near the front were pumping our fists, thrashing, and the chicks were pogo-ing, but most of the audience sat there like they were watching a fucking documentary on the mating habits of the Brazilian tree frog.

The band deserved more. Much more. The fact that they continued at their pace, and basically played to those of us that were into it was very admirable … but I would like to see them again at a general admission venue such as The Joint or the House of Blues. Unless you are disabled or have health issues, it doesn’t make sense to go to a show of this genre and sit down. And it makes even less sense to kill someone else’s buzz by whining that you can’t see. The audience feed-off is part of the show, assholes. Especially in a small venue like the Railhead.

Aside from the shitty audience, the show was great. I have a new respect for Soul Asylum that I admittedly didn’t have before.

Like I said before, better late than never.

P.S. Reader Jon was at the show and got some great cellphone pictures of the show. Check out his pictures at http://tinyurl.com/2gddvv

Thanks Jon!

I also found a YouTube video the band doing Rhinestone Cowboy at a gig in April:

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