Review: RANA @ The Mercury Lounge

It’s been a while since I’d felt this kind of serious anticipation for a show: a nervous energy swirled with a giddy “holy shit!” vibe sizzling through the crowd. Everyone packed into the bar waiting for the main event to get rolling with no choice but to order more drinks and make small talk. Finally, Leroy Justice finished up the night, appropriately jamming out with Scott Metzger on stage. Like a dog marking his territory, Scotty was blazing even in warm-up. The build up to the band’s taking of the stage was like a climax into of itself and when they were finally there, I wasn’t sure they’d be able to fulfill everyone’s wishes. There was a nice sized crowd there, and it was a well-apportioned blend of die hard apostles, the in-the-know fans and the “alright, let’s see what’s got everyone walking weak-kneed about” newbs. A few people asked me what to expect, but I think I failed to put it into words… mostly because I didn’t know what to expect. So many possibly worlds, so many ways forward, so many memories playing into the experience. Even with the fluttering butterflies in my tummy, I wasn’t sure if they were really wizards or just the Wizard of Oz, pulling my levers.

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RANA – Ghetto Queen = 06/14/2002

Then, the music began and all doubts went flying away on those butterflies’ backs. Rana was back. Rana was grand. Rana was bad, bad, bad to the bone. They started not with a bang, but a slow-building rumble of thunder – a short, moody stretch of just the four guys playing. It was like the members of a basketball team all shaking hands and slapping butts before the game, nothing fancy, but still each one – Matt, Scott, Ryan, Andrew – saying “how do you do?” to the other three until finally they were ready to roll. And roll they did. Ring in the Sand opened the show proper and by the time they were a verse in, I was beside myself with joy and already hoping that there was another gig after this one and another one after that and… It was quite clear that there had been rehearsals, serious efforts to return to some semblance of professionalism. It would have been easy to dick around and just have fun with a one-off show on a Saturday night in mid-August. But this was a concert, a high-concept piece of art, a well-thought-out construction and a love-letter from the band to its fans and vice versa.

Ring in the Sand is the kind of song you would have found near the end of a long, fiery, drunken night of Rana, not a total rarity, but still a little biscuit for a good doggie and an amped up crowd that’s stuck it out well-past midnight. Well, it was practically midnight by the time they had started and it was pretty much a given that the crowd was going to earn it. We were ready to rage and then some. So, it came as no surprise when they followed up Ring with Backstage Pass which is for even later in the night for an even more amped up audience. The look on Metzger’s face as he made spittle with the lyrics of this one was priceless, pure perfection… it was the look of the Rockphecy coming true. Oops, did I just spill my drink on you? Sorry ‘bout that.

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RANA – Loves It, Automatic = 06/14/2002

Rana was never about note-for-note perfection and sure, the show had a couple bumpy moments, a couple non-quite-spit-shined numbers, a new tune or two that could use some work and maybe a botched lyric in there. But that stuff never really mattered much any way, and in this regard, it was just about as perfect as a Rana show could be after 2+ years on the shelf. Matt was isolated to a single keyboard and seemed to be playing with a renewed sense of self. I can’t recall a time when he and Scott had so much interplay. Indeed, the whole band seemed to be really into each other, into listening to what the other guys were doing, and then going ahead and making it better with their own stuff. As painful as it’s been for those of us who came to rely on regular local Rana shows like rock and roll junkies, it would be hard to argue against a claim that the time away from each other has been great for them. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but it also apparently make the bass guitar grow fonder as well. If that other on-break foursome comes/came back with as much strength and focus I imagine it would be [understatement alert] quite good.

Each song was welcomed with enthusiasm by everyone in the room, like a lineup of long lost, well-loved cousins at a family reunion, it was hugs and smiles from note 1 to the crashing finale of each number. Rana was always oft-described not as a jamband, but as a “rock band that jammed” and they showed a real willingness to let that jam-it-out edge to shine bright, with their comfort level increasing as the night wore on. It’s too much to ask from me to give you any semblance of a song-by-song rundown, but let’s just say they killed it. There wasn’t a moment during the night when I wasn’t smiling and when I turned to so-and-so next to me and they weren’t doing the same. This all came to a head with the show-closing epic Smile which was like closing out a glorious, 12-course meal of gastronomical exquisiteness with an overflowing, 8-scoop ice cream sundae, complete with hot fudge, whipped cream and the cherry on top… actually, make that 20 cherries on top. Specific details may have been filtered out through my liver, but my goodness! these guys weren’t fucking around Saturday night. Also, I’m pretty sure there was a sublime guitar solo or two in there. Whether they were running through a quick rocker or stretching out the taffy, Rana was plenty sharp, to a man and to a song.

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RANA – Livin’ Was Easy (end solo) = 07/11/2008

After we had licked the bowl clean, the crowd, predictably, wasn’t satisfied. It was a bittersweet ovation: sure Rana was back, but for how long? When? And where? And may I subscribe to your newsletter? It was late, they had blazed bright for hours – two full sets of old favorites, repertoire stand-bys and surprising setlist filler – but of course, they had a little more in the tank. The encore reached a head with a scintillating Good Book which jammed as hard as anything had all night. They were older and wiser and played with a new level of maturity… but they still knew to hold something back, to reach down in the reserves for the wee hours of the morning, the magic moments between midnight and sunrise, the time of night that Rana used to rule like benevolent kings. Saturday night, they returned to the throne and showed that the crown still fit. Here’s hoping they’ll keep it on… if only for a little bit longer.

RANA
August 16, 2008
The Mercury Lounge
New York, NY

I: Ring in the Sand, Backstage Pass > Loves It Automatic, Stuck Up a Tree+, Remember My Address, Charm Bracelet, For Some Time -> jam, Ghetto Queen++, Replacements, We Will Not Be Lovers+++, It’s So Hard (Believe Me)%, Buy Sell or Break

II: Waiting to Fall In, I Waste It, Ray Charles Player Piano, Wally, Carbombed Again%%, Nostalgia%%%, I’m Not Orfeo, I’m Comin’ Correct > Not So Mopso, Silver Not Gold -> jam, Mandy Moore, Just Another Song, Livin’ Was Easy, Minka Malinka, Sad and Lonesome, New Juice$, Smile

E: Thank You for Sending Me an Angel -> Good Book -> jam -> Good Book

+ – with instrumental intro resembling “Brother You Don’t Stand a Chance.”
++ – the rap was “In da Club”
+++ – with Lisa Liu on violin
% – very short version; probably shortest since 10/31/01.
%% – the crowd sang the first verse and several lines thereafter
%%% – new song, written by Matt and sung by Andrew, first time played
$ – with new lyric: “God bless the mundane”

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5 Responses

  1. i loved the show, first time I saw these guys was at Wetlands right b4 it closed, and been a huge fan ever since. I was glad someone else was screaming for Silver not Gold (i was able to save my voice 😉 )

    as i said to scottyb after the first few songs…”they are going for the jugular”

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