Before the beloved Drive-By Truckers took the magnificent stage at the Beacon Theatre on Friday, October 17th, Birmingham, Alabama-based band St. Paul and the Broken Bones tore the place up. With their soulful, throwback rock and roll, tinged with dramatic Southern gospel, this seven-member band left jaws on the floor by the end of their (too short) set. It was clear the audience was greatly disappointed at the unfortunate, and limiting set-up of the legendary Beacon, with its classic theatre seating. It was a shame not to be able to dance the way we wanted to, though lead singer Paul Janeway excitedly told us, “It’s okay to move around, sometimes you just got to shake it!”
They did a slew of tunes off their new record Half the City, including the title track, “I’m Torn Up”, and “Like a Mighty River”, and they had people getting out of their seats from start to finish. Janeway’s baby-faced, smooth Southern beau charm clearly won them over when, at the end of their performance, many in the audience were exclaiming it was the best opening act they’d ever seen in their lives. Word to the wise, though, see these guys somewhere you can really let loose and dance.
As Janeway so eloquently stated, “the best kind of fans are Drive-By Trucker fans,” and the crowd proved him right when they boisterously got out of their seats and remained standing for the Truckers’ entire set. When the guys took the stage, they were greeted warmly, and the most incredible banner of the album art from their latest record English Oceans covered the entire wall behind them. It was a truly spectacular visual that was made all the more beautiful by the changing lights, from red to blue to green and purple.
Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley seamlessly took turns singing songs off the new record, including “Shit Shots Count” (accompanied by the horn players from St. Paul and the Broken Bones), “Pauline Hawkins” (an exceptionally pretty tune), and “First Air of Autumn”. As with all Truckers songs, there’s a dense level of gritty, Southern storytelling going on, and each song feels like its own little book. There are a lot of dark moments on English Oceans, and they were captured well by the band’s ability to give themselves over to their performance whole-heartedly.
Both Hood and Cooley bring their own uniqueness to the songs they sing, and as they switched off, playing classics like “Righteous Path”, “Putting People on the Moon”, “Uncle Frank”, “Primer Coat”, and “Where the Devil Don’t Stay”, it was hard to ever favor one over the other. And that’s a good thing, as their quick and effortless switch-offs made the show flow, and really enveloped you in their performance. Each personalizes their songs in their own way, and Hood even went so far as to tell us a lengthy, but fascinating story of his grandparents and their love affair before launching into the meaty “Box of Spiders”.
Even though they wrapped their set with the rollicking sing-along “Hell No I Ain’t Happy”, the audience begged for more, and their encore included “Birthday Boy”, “Used to Be a Cop”, “Women Without Whiskey”, and the lush, vivid soundscape “Grand Canyon”, all of which left the crowd more than satisfied.
Hood remarked a handful of times how star struck he felt getting the opportunity to play such an esteemed venue, and you could tell he really was pinching himself by the way he (and the band) left it all out there on that stage. “This is like when real life exceeds the one you dreamed of,” he said, and it endeared him, and the band, to us even more.
Live video by Daniel Peiken at www.AthensRockShow.com – uploaded via youtube
Setlist
Righteous Path
Runaway Train (cover)
Shit Shots Count
Putting People on the Moon
Uncle Frank
Pauline Hawkins
First Air of Autumn
Box of Spiders
Primer Coat
Play it All Night Long
Where the Devil Don’t Stay
Hell No I Ain’t Happy
Encore
Birthday Boy
Used to Be a Cop
Women Without Whiskey
Grand Canyon
