I didn’t find out until shortly before the day of the show that The Gossip was the secret opening act (they were billed as “Pie Ghosts”), but managed to get some tickets online before they sold out. I hadn’t seen The Gossip since 2004 or so, and I kind of wanted to see them, despite not having listened to any of their albums since Movement. We showed up early and settled in in the balcony (which was a good choice, since the floor was getting mobbed). Asss were, despite their unbelievably terrible name, pretty good. Nice rhythm driven textural stuff. Good use of skronky sax and distorted and looped vocals.

The Gossip took the stage and started in on one of the worst sets I think I’ve ever heard. Apparently, since I saw them last, they’ve become a disco band. A disco band that likes to inexplicably insert covers of completely unrelated songs into the middle of their songs. I think, over the course of a roughly 40 minute set, we got five or six semi-covers, plus, of course, the inexplicable (but very faithful) closing cover of “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” Also, I should probably mention that Beth Ditto’s stage patter consisted mostly of how she had just peed on herself and how excited she was to see her absolute favorite punk band, The Yummy Fur. She went on and on about what a seminal punk act they were that I started to wonder if there was, in fact, another Yummy Fur than the one I knew about. I mean, I guess there’s a bit of a post-punk influence in there, but I would not really describe them as “punk.”

Anyway, The Gossip finally cleared off the stage, and it turned out The Yummy Fur were the band I knew. Really excellent set. They sounded great, especially for a band that hadn’t played together in years prior to this tour. The only real weirdness was the crowd. Obviously, the people that came for The Gossip was fairly different than the people that might otherwise come to see a semi-obscure British indie pop band from the 90’s. Different enough that it led to fistfights. Certainly made for a lively evening, but I probably would have enjoyed the show more without the guy who, I assume due to Ditto’s attempts to convince the crowd a punk act was about to come on, tried moshing through most of the songs (and yelled out “Play something I can mosh to” in between songs). Still, the crowd really wasn’t as obnoxious as they could have been, and, as I said, the band was great. I could have done with Beth Ditto’s time-killing interruption mid-set to talk some more about how much she liked the band. You’d think she’d be more interested in hearing them play some songs, but what do I know?

I was actually pretty excited to see The Dutchess and the Duke, as I liked their album from last year a fair bit. They played pretty much all of the album, but they didn’t seem overly pleased to be there. The less interesting songs I was able to ignore on the album were harder to ignore live, and the whole set was kind of a disappointment.

We ended up following friends right up to the stage between sets, so, once the Vaselines came on, we were thoroughly packed in. I’ve never been to a show at the Doug Fir that was that crowded. I pretty much had to stand sideways throughout the whole set to avoid being crushed. The Vaselines took the stage fairly quickly and opened up with “Son of a Gun.” They proceeded to play pretty much their entire catalog, plus a couple new songs that would not of sounded out of place on Eugene’s solo albums (which is to say, they kind of sounded like Grant McLennan songs). The biggest problem with the show, aside from the claustrophobic atmosphere, was the clowns in the audience who felt that they needed to join in on Frances’ lewd between song banter. Since the band spent a whole lot of time tuning (or waiting while Stevie from Belle and Sebastian fiddled with pedals), there was a whole lot of time for Frances to fill. Anyway, a very long set, and, since they played every song they had, quite a lot of material I usually skip over. I might have just been a little crabby by the time we got to the end (and the interminable version of “You Think You’re a Man”).

I’m not really sure how I feel about this show. On the one hand, I’m glad Mecca Normal is still doing the same sort of vaguely uncomfortable rock they’ve been doing for as long as I can remember. It’s fairly impressive that Jean Smith is still interested in spending her spare time getting up in front of a crowd and staring at them disconcertingly while reciting intensely personal lyrics. Admirable, but I’m not sure it entirely makes for a pleasant evening’s entertainment. The new material is very heavy on stories from her efforts at online dating, which would be fine if they were delivered in anything remotely resembling song structure. Mecca Normal’s never really been a pop band, but the songs at least used to have choruses and hooks and such. Now it’s basically David Lester playing a riff (and, I should point out here, he is still one of the most entertaining guitarists to watch – no one dances with his guitar the way he does) while Jean recites spoken word about her dating life. They wrapped with “I Walk Alone” and “Throw Silver” which were nice to hear again. And, really, I do enjoy watching Jean Smith leap off the stage and scream “I Walk Alone” at unsuspecting bar patrons in the adjoining room.

I arrived slightly late for this show, so I missed the first couple Brian Dewan songs, which is unfortunate, since I’ve been wanting to see him play for about fifteen years now (his first CD, Tells the Story, was a fairly good size hit at my college radio station). By the time I got there, he was well into his set, playing solo with an accordion to accompany his vocals. The crowd did not seem into it at all, which is unfortunate, because he’s a pretty great and bizarre performer. He did a song based on “Goosey Goosey Gander” which was punctuated with a fantastic stagy laugh. Another song was, I presume, inspired by Dean Kamen’s works in robotics called “The Boston Arm.” He then invited a few members of Nana Grizol to back him up for his last couple songs, which he played on electric zither. Generally pretty great.

I wasn’t overly familiar with Nana Grizol, but I’d heard they were supposed to be pretty good. There were certainly a lot of them (two drummers!) which seems especially unfortunate in a club like Backspace (which struggle to have decent sound on a normal-sized band). Anyway, they were all right, but I get the sense their songs didn’t have choruses so much as they had bits where the horns kicked in.

The Music Tapes went on fairly quickly, since it was effectively Julian backed by Nana Grizol. I haven’t seen the Music Tapes in about ten years, so I was kind of surprised they were still doing the singing television and giant metronome. I guess once you invest the time in building a giant metronome, you are hesitant to get rid of it. First few songs were pretty much as I remembered, but perhaps a little less engaging. The crowd was totally into it, but I just spent most of the set wondering if I was just less cynical when I was in my early-to-mid twenties than I am now.

Anyway, after a fairly short set, Julian went out into the crowd and played a Christmas song on the saw. He’s certainly gotten a lot better on the saw since I saw him last, but the choice of tune was a little odd (even if it was prefaced by a story explaining that saws don’t experience time the way we do so see nothing wrong with playing Christmas songs in February). After that, he had everyone write down their happiest memory on slips of paper and put it into a coffee can which was taken outside and lit on fire. Everyone then lined up to jump over the fire, which took quite a while. It wasn’t really clear if the show was going to continue after that, but I’d had enough so headed home.

I’d been looking forward to this show for months, so I was not happy at all to suddenly feel my lymph nodes swell up Friday evening. I spent all day Saturday lying on the couch watching movies and napping so that I could overcome the feeling that I’d been hit by a bus. Just before the show, I loaded up on Sudafed and hoped for the best.

The venue had apparently been just used for some sort of theatrical or operatic thing, as there were a lot of very fancy looking people slowly departing when we arrived. It made for an odd crowd at first, but eventually they all left, leaving behind a sizable group of aging indie pop types. Also frat boys. I can’t remember if I mentioned this in a previous review, but BOAT seems to have attracted a small group of frat boy superfans. They’re very enthusiastic to say the least.

Anyway, the Galactic Heroes went on first. I’ve never actually seen them live before, so I was very excited. Given their reliance (on their albums) on fairly complicated (or at least varied) orchestration, they were surprisingly good at playing as a standard four-piece rock band. Weirdly, dropping the xylophones and clarinets and such actually made the songs sound less samey than they occasionally do on the albums. Sadly, this is likely their last show (at least for quite a while), but it was excellent. It should also be noted that the frat boys recognized Ricky from his various times playing with BOAT, so they were enthusiastic for this set as well.

BOAT came on next. I should point out here that everyone pretty much used the same equipment, so set up time between bands was extremely short. Always nice. Anyway, BOAT came out and played a set very heavy with new songs. They sound good. It’ll take a while for me to really come to love them, but still good. The frat boys went nuts in general. One of them had made a large amount of confetti, which he was carrying in his pockets and flung into the air when he got excited. I’m assuming he wasn’t actually trying to be like Rip Taylor, but, given his involvement with the Jackass crew, maybe he was. Which is even weirder. Anyway, seeing clouds of confetti fly into the air actually enhanced the set somewhat, so that’s good. Here’s BOAT covering Dear Nora’s “Make Me Smile,” which is pretty much the best thing ever.

Up next were Tullycraft, who played pretty much the same set they played when I saw them in Seattle. It’s hard. Jenny is clearly having a lot of fun, and she seems perfectly nice, but I really don’t like her singing. I find she drowns out Sean (this soundguy at least understood that you can pretty much turn her mic off and she’s still louder than Sean), and that her vocal parts are very similar from song to song. Perhaps even more frustrating is the tendency to largely play material from her time in the band. I don’t want to be the guy who insists that a band play only material from their first album, but I am apparently that guy. Still, they did play “Skyway,” so that was good. I know I should resign myself to the fact that I’m not going to be hearing them play “Wish I’d Kept a Scrapbook” anytime soon, but it’s hard.

Last up was Dear Nora, who were playing with their original lineup. It didn’t sound quite the same as the one time I saw this lineup play (maybe six years ago?), but it was still enjoyable. They played mostly songs from the first album or before, which was nice, but they seemed a little more sedate than on the record or in my memory. Still, the harmonies were nice, and I am very fond of Katy’s voice (and actually have a pretty high tolerance for her guitar wankery, which did creep into one song), so I have very little to complain about, except for her attitude toward her older songs. Now, I entirely understand how embarrassing songs like “Up on the Roof” must be, but I don’t think she really appreciates the way that those songs perfectly capture that particular coming-of-age period in life. Yes, it’s awkward and over-simplified, but it resonates with everyone who went through difficult late-teenage years in any fashion (which is to say everyone). I know it must be depressing to be significantly older and still have people asking you to play those songs, but, still, they’re great songs, even if she’s no longer in that place.

All in all an excellent show. Certainly the best show I’ve been to in quite a while.

I’ve had a lot of bad luck lately with reunion shows, so I was a little hesitant to go check out whatever version of Ya Ho Wa 13 is currently performing. Not only has it been many years since the albums, but, without Father Yod, it seemed like it wouldn’t really be the same thing. Fortunately, they announced a free in-store performance at Jackpot, and we braved the snowy roads to go check them out. The current lineup is a trio, and produce a pretty good, full sound. They’re perhaps not quite as bizarre as they were back in the day, but they’re still a pretty good psychedelic rock group. They only played three or four songs, all improvised, one inspired by a word suggested by audience (“marshmallow”). Very enjoyable, but I didn’t really feel a need to go check out the expensive evening show.

I arrived a couple songs in Devon Williams’ set, but I’m pretty sure I got the gist of it. 18th Dye set up pretty quickly and proceeded to play an awesome set. I had always been a fairly casual fan of 18th Dye. They struck me as enjoyable, if unmemorable, melodic indie rock. I sort of lumped them in with Sportsguitar.

But I was pleasantly surprised to really enjoy their live performance. The drumming is superb. The dual guitars are impressively dense. Sebastian is perhaps not the most dynamic live performer, but Heike more than makes up for it by totally rocking out for pretty much every song. There wasn’t much of a crowd, but everyone there seemed very excited and managed to coax them back out for an encore. They seemed pretty pleased that someone called out a request for a song off their new album (“Soft the Hard Way”). I’m fairly sad I didn’t go seem them thirteen years ago, but hopefully I’ll get the chance to see them again sooner than that.

I didn’t really intend to go to this show, but it happened to fall on a night when my brother was in town. He and I hadn’t been to a show together since Coachella in 2003, and he’s an absurdly big hockey fan, so off we went.

We arrived for the last song and a half from Legion of the Fruit of Loom. They were slightly less annoying than their name might suggest, sort of a more metal-sounding, less jazzy Primus. Not really my thing.

Pure Country Gold were a two piece garage rock band. The drummer was fantastic, and the singer/guitarist was decent, but didn’t have the kind of go-for-broke attitude I think a two piece garage band needs to really pull it off. I think you need a certain kind of craziness to do that properly. Even if, on record, you sound like the Oblivians, it’s not a very engaging show if you just stand still and sing. The crowd seemed to dig them, though.

The Hanson Brothers certainly have their schtick down. The ref comes out first, provoking a wave of profanity from the crowd. The rhythm section comes out next, does some arguing with the ref, then the rest of the band comes out. Rob Wright does an impressive job in his idiot role, to the degree that he manages to maintain a steady string of drool from his lip throughout the entire show. Nicely done. It was an incredibly long set, but high energy, lots of things thrown back and forth between performer and audience. The schtick started to wear a bit, but nice for an old-timer like me to see guys significantly older than me still getting up on stage and acting like morons.

Since we were waiting for friends (and we had the tickets) we ended up watching Nodzzz from outside the club. Fortunately, Backspace has large front windows and poor soundproofing, so I don’t think we missed out on much. I thought Nodzzz were excellent, and picked up their record.

Eventually we went inside. Backspace is an odd venue. I don’t entirely get what it is most of the time. Coffee shop? Gallery? PC Gaming Joint? It’s got a big counter, art on the walls, and (perplexingly) a treehouse directly in front of the stage. Not really an ideal space. Anyway, Vivian Girls set up, soundchecked, then left for a long while. Somewhat maddening. I’d missed them on their last trip through Portland, but my friends have been raving about them. This set was enjoyable, but not as life-alteringly good as I’d been led to believe. I guess they’ve become a little more polished than last time through, which just makes me regret missing them more.

Love is All did nothing for me at all. I was sort of iffy about their recorded material, but I had been holding out some hope that their live show was more engaging. It left me cold. And had far too much saxophone.

I feel bad saying bad things about bands, but I really don’t understand the thinking behind having Graves play this show. I’m not a big fan of dinner jazz, so they’re clearly not my thing, and I have no idea why someone thought they’d be a good band to open for BOAT and Aquaduct. Anyway, we spent most of their set outside, wandered off to get some drinks, etc., then went back in for BOAT. They played as a four-piece (with Ricky on guitar, sax, and keys), but this was probably the first time I’ve actually been able to hear the sax parts (most likely because I was standing about one foot from Ricky). It’s a nice touch, and I look forward to hearing the sax-enhanced tracks on the upcoming album. Didn’t stick around for Aquaduct, since it was late and I’m old.