Old 97's 2014 Setlist (Annotated And Spotified For Your Pleasure!)
still messed up
After years in the wilderness of pop maelstrom, overreaching, eclecticism, and middle age blahs, Old 97s have roared back with their current, best album of the year contender. And as we ready ourselves for the June 3rd gig at Webster Hall with more anticipation than certainly any time this decade, let’s take a look at the setlist…
If My Heart Was a Car – Very early rickety tickety country romp topped with a metaphor Rhett gets all of – B+
Streets of Where I’m From – Deep album cut off an album without many – B
Dance With Me – Terrible choice off an average average album, where is “No Baby I”??? – B-
Longer Than You’ve Been Alive – Flat out masterpieces recherchez of a life on the road – A+
Brown Haired Daughter – Country ballad that depressed the fuck out of me – C
The Ex of All You See – Terrific singalong worthy of Titus Andronicus – A
Busted Afternoon – Rhett gets caught cheating and then there’s a looooooong goodbye – A
Give It Time – Wonderful little rocker, an Old 97s blueprint song – A-
Nightclub – The piano intro comes right out of the club Rhett wouldn’t mind burning down because his 22 year old girlfriend is having a birthday so far away – A
Wasted – This new album? No such thing as a bad song – A
Up the Devil’s Pay – OK, I’m baffled why they’d choose this off Satellite Rides – B
Nashville – Very central song off the newbie – A
Every Night Is Friday Night (Without You) – Very good song off a very draggy album – B+
Question – Rhett’s marriage proposal song – A
Stoned – A real pity he couldn’t have manufactured a better song with such a great title on hand, this is a plodding country rocker – C
Iron Road – Old 97s meet Waylon Jenning? Better on paper than in person, this is Western get in the saddle stuff but not a great song – C+
This Is The Ballad – Waltz about drinking rye whiskey – A
Salome – From one of their better albums but not one of the best songs off one of their better albums – B
Indefinitely – Off debatably their best album (1. Satellite Rides, 2. Fight Songs. 3. Most Messed Up), again a not great choice – B
Champaign, Illinois – A rewrite of “Desolation Road” and why not? – B+
Guadalajara – Doesn’t live up to its name but thrilling enough – B+
Can’t Get a Line – Old 97’s at their most dbish imaginable –power pop all the way – A
Big Brown Eyes – But not here, still this is alt country rock at its best – A
Let’s Get Drunk and Get it On – Replacementish little rocker – A-
Doreen – “Doreeeeeeeeen, last night I had an awful dream…” Their first masterpiece – A
Four Leaf Clover – A powerful head on rave up off a great album – A
Encore:
Career Opportunities – The Clash’s masterpiece, “do you wanna make tea at the BBC, do you wanna be, do you really wanna be a cop?” – A+
Most Messed Up – Look, buy the new one that’s all – A
Barrier Reef – With the possible exception of “I’m Down”, the greatest song ever written about impotence – A
Timebomb –And they’ve ended with this many times and lemme tell you, I never caught em watching the clock – A
