Flashes of Panic

Saturday night, I went back over to Pearl Street to see the Weakerthans again, another installment of the Great Canadian Supergroup. Unlike the Kathleen Edwards show, which fit comfortably in the ballroom upstairs, this show was crammed in to the downstairs “club room,” and it made it a much less pleasant experience. Apparently there was some private function upstairs.

Unlike at the Paradise, this crowd was content to sing along with every song, rather than shout along out of key, but by the time the headliners started, it was uncomfortably crowded on the floor, and the lower stage (less than two feet higher than the floor, I think) meant that all of us were jostling around trying to see what was going on. I was occasionally worried that the guy in front of me was going to break my nose with his enthusiastic nodding back and forth—not because he was particularly out of line, but because there really wasn’t enough space.

All this really proves that I’m too old and cranky to be going to shows in the club room, not that it was a bad show. The band did well with the available space, played most of my favorites and a few which should be favorites now, and generally seemed to tolerate things. I have to wonder what it feels like to have fans so enthusiastic that their shouted requests start sounding more like demands, and their own sing-along is as strong as the amplified backing vocals. At some point you start to wonder who’s really driving this bus (and, I suppose, whether it matters.)

Openers were Christine Fellows, a frequent Weakerthans collaborator (she sat in at the keyboards during the main set) who played oddly morbid tunes, less gothic than colonially dour; and AA Bondy, a raspy-voiced Guthrie-type who sounded like M Ward sunk in deep depression. (The tickets promised Liam Finn, so I expect quite a few people in the crowd are confused about just who they saw.)

Now Playing: Rose Parade from Either/Or by Elliott Smith

Technorati Tags: northampton, pearl street nightclub, the weakerthans, weakerthans