n 1987, Bo Diddley was discussing “Maybelline” in a Chuck Berry documentary, explained how it was so difficult to sing, a virtuoso vocal gymnastic where Bo never seemed able to catch “Maybelline” at the top of that hill, but an hour into the Replacements eagerly anticipated set at Forest Hills Stadiums, the bands singer and guitarist Paul Westerberg did reach her, before the song puttered out like a stalled Cadillac. “Maybelline” had segued effortlessly out of the delicious clipped rhythm guitar filled “Love Me Till Friday” and they should be jerry rigged but instead the two share a titanic propulsive forward motion. Makes you wonder whether one was a tidy steal of the other but no. “We were playing the other night on TV when Keith Richard puts his arm around me in the hallway and said ‘why don’t you give it a shot?'” I guess when Keith tells you to cover Chuck Berry, you give it a shot.
The surprise was not the ‘Mats decision to cover Chuck but that Paul could actually nail it dead. The singing transmogrifies a car chase into a runaway vocal: it builds through pedal to the metal verses and sharp turns to the end of the track. It’s a sonofabitch. And Westerberg doesn’t even charge it, with his patented mix of introversion and cool, he takes it at just the right pace, let’s guitar breaks save his strength and at the end, where it is obvious to everybody Paul has pulled it off, he blows it off with a “fuck it” as the song tapers away. A mix of sureness, surliness, and stamina.
The Replacements is one of the great American rock and roll bands, they are a one group genre, who took the punk of the late 1970s and added Mid-west cool and country melodies, they were the greatest manufacturer of great licks of all time, and they did it with no sentimentality, no kowtowing (no hit singles) but with so much brutal and pure honesty their influence is essential. Indie rock, to this day, owes everything to The Replacements. But they are all distancing effect and in the midst of a nostalgia tour where they’ve been playing mostly Music festivals, they are clearly not nostalgia merchants.
How dearly loved the band is, how close the audience feel towards them, yet they treat us like an ex-girlfriend who we are having a coffee with for the first time in ten years: we miss them much more then they miss us. Last week the ‘Mats played the Midway Stadium in their home town, St. Paul Minnesota and my friend Philip Poyner had this to say “‘I’m often jealous of my friends in LA or Nashville because of the cool shows they get to see. I’m also jealous that many of them already saw the “cool bands” a long time ago. But tonight I got to see The Replacements in the Twin Cities and it was glorious. Tonight I envy no one!“. The attachment is so sweet natured and yet so unreciprocated! The set was a homecoming for the hometown heroes, a 32 song career spanning tour de force with two great bands opening, Lucero and the Hold Steady, the ‘Mats were the two remaining band members from the Hootenanny era bassist Tommy Stinson and Paul, plus Dave Minehan, guitarist/vocalist of Boston-based band The Neighborhoods, and drummer Josh Freese who I know through his work with one of my favorite bands, the sublime the Vandals. So no, Jacob Fishman, no Billie Joe Armstrong, but 22 years after the fact the prodigal sons return and just did what they did and that’s it.
A week later, Forest Hills gets its turn. Their twelfth concert in 13 months, though only the second time the band have headlined. Consider it the Festival aftermathmatics, where a 90 minute gig can net the band a million bucks, it makes them the Outkasts of post-punks. While I don’t doubt money had something to do with Tommy and Paul reconvening, the real starting part was the duo coming together to record the fine EP Songs For Slim in 2012. The late Bob Stinson’s replacement guitarist Slim Dunlap, a beloved figure on the St. Paul scene for decades, had suffered a major stroke and the EP was recorded to help pay for his medical bills. Drummer Chris Mars was also on one song but he has quit rock and roll and wanted no part of the reformed ‘Mats so he could concentrate on his painting. Admirable, though something akin to refusing to reclaim a cash for life lottery ticket because you can’t bother going to their offices.
Opening bands last night were Deer Tick and the Hold Steady. I caught the last ten minutes of Deer Tick’s set, and it is obvious they are much better when they play their old stuff. The Hold Steady have a similar problem. They’ve recorded two albums this decade and neither are winners though they both have their moments. Finn is a great lyricist but his lyrics move at their own sing-speak-y word drenched tempo and Tad Kubler, when he can’t nail the melody, can’t stop them from sounding all the same. But on stage Finn is like a Sgt Bilko character, acting out every songs, gesturing, dancing, really getting it right: he is two parts conman, one part rock and roll hero. The eleven song set closed with “Stay Positive”. Not a triumph but how could it be?
Memo to the ‘Mats: if you’re gonna charge $75 for a ticket to a show at a stadium, bring close circuit TV so the audience can actually see you. I had pretty good seats but if there was any nuance to their physical performance, I missed it completely. The band packed 29 songs in 90 minutes in a breathless but off hand performance: it is as if they refuse to kowtow to pathos, to sentimentality, they honor their past by assuming they don’t need a hard sell. The first 25 minutes fly by with even “Waitress In The Sky” given a terse take off by Paul whose voice, probably from too many cigarettes, has become even raspier and who can lean back hard on phrasing. His range is beyond limited and his voice trails off at the end of sentences, not because he can’t be bothered but because he can’t hit the notes but it is a rockers voice and he sounds like he means it but only in so far as he chooses to share it. I prefer his singing on his solo stuff (14 Songs is very recommended). It didn’t really effect the performance, the ‘Mats, who in their earliest incarnations could be a shambles on stage, remain shambolic and also deeply structured. It felt as though there was a hand on the wheel at all time. Then 25 minutes in they reeled off three songs and the evening began to ignite. “Take Me down to The Hospital”, “I Want You Back” and “Color Me Impressed” was the ‘Mats as high risk artists. The middle song has that indelible riff, a tough one the band chose to learn and perform and a Michael Jackson’s vocal performance so great with its mix of youth and desire, it is insane Paul would even attempt it, but he not only attempted it, he perfected it. It made perfect musical sense between two of their greatest songs from their sophomore album.
While it might be true that the ‘Mats could use a piano for coloring purposes, the stripped down band delve hard onto the greatest thing about their songs: how they evolve into one outstanding riff or lick after another. It allows them to ignore genre questions and except for occasional country forays, but not country rock forays, this is George Jones country, the real deal, like ” If only You Were Lonely”, the band played relentlessly powerful subgenre ‘Mats music.Mike Brust noted “it was Paul’s lyrics and pathos that put them over for me—buried in the seriously barely controlled ROCK—“. Yes, but also he seems to HIDE his heart on his sleeve. Only very late, on the singalong “Bastards Of Young”, do they allow themselves to give into the moment. Otherwise Paul’s first comment to the audience is a sarcastic “so nice to have a vocal crowd for once” and Tommy, who is 47 years old, came across as a snotfaced kid of the band unable to MC to save his life.
Creem editor Bill Holdship wondered why some people (for instance me) weren’t big fans: “(It) just bewilders me as to what there is to “get.” There was a time when none of the editors at Mojo got them either, though. Wondering if it’s a cultural thing. Greatest American rock anthems of the ’80s. (Hell, of the ’90s, for that matter.)“. The ‘Mats maybe many things, among them a hugely, hugely influential band, it is hard to think of another who are the primary influence of an entire genre, indie rock comes from the ‘Mats not Nirvana, but they seldom bother with anthems; these are anthems because their fans made them into anthems. They are too cool, too sure of themselves, too proud to wind us up and at Forest Hills there wasn’t one easy gesture, and even when they gave into it, gave into their achievements, they did so with a certain lightness and not for long. They are a rock band who personify take it or leave. remarkably, incredibly, they refused to sell us.
This lack of angst and manipulation respected everyone’s intelligence in a manner American culture never ever does: the impression you get from pop and rock is we can’t feel a thing without a signpost and yet with every reason to provide us with signposts, they refused to do so. It was almost an act of affection as though yeah, they will take our money, and yes they will play the songs and very well, but they will leave us the right to decide for ourselves. I can’t even begin to express how much I admire four men, getting on stage and playing a high octane rock and roll set where everything was left for the audience. The spaces were ours to fill. Nobody does that. Nobody respects us enough to trust in our ability to not have our feelings manipulated.
I’ve never been a big Mats fan,but last night was a revelation. The Replacements, who Lorde covered on her huge album, couldn’t be more relevant then they are in 2014. They are the rock band of the world, and listening to “All Shook Down” followed by “Swingin’ Party” they could have recorded them yesterday, the band is entirely in the moment. The 2010s music scenes epigram is “if being afraid’s a crime we hang side by side”. I may never be the fan so many people are but for sure, color me impressed.
Grade: A
Setlist:
Favorite Thing
Takin a Ride
I’m in Trouble
Don’t Ask Why
I’ll Be You
Valentine
Waitress in the Sky
Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out
Take Me Down to the Hospital
I Want You Back
(The Jackson 5 cover) (First verse and chorus only)
Color Me Impressed
Nowhere Is My Home
If Only You Were Lonely
Achin’ To Be
Kiss Me on the Bus
Androgynous
I Will Dare
Love You Till Friday
Maybellene
(Chuck Berry cover)
Merry Go Round
All Shook Down
Swingin Party
Love You in the Fall
(Paul Westerberg song)
Can’t Hardly Wait
Bastards of Young
White and Lazy
Left of the Dial
Alex Chilton
Encore:
Unsatisfied
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