When the Bottle Rockets booking agent decided on Champaign as an ideal location because it was centrally located between Chicago and their hometown of St Louis, he knew what he was doing. Many longtime fans came from all over for the occasion. We saw the Rockford resident winner of the 15th anniversary guitar awarded on New Year’s Eve at the Beat Kitchen, I saw the two bald-headed guys who had been front row every show in Chicago but were conspicuously absent that night, and I heard one woman say she had come from Buffalo NY. Funny thing about the latter, she wasn’t even a fan of the band. A friend invited her, promising a great time, and she wasn’t lying.
Even though their new Bloodshot release slated to hit the streets August 11 has been done for months, miraculously none of it could be found on the Internet prior to the show. So they had a simple request, no taping. I’m still not sure how fellow Madisonian Tom the Taper managed to deal with the restriction. But I guess if Jon Dee Graham can live with Austin passing a smoking ban, then Tom can live with not taping one show. The band treated us to over half of Lean Forward (when questioned about the title lead singer Brian Henneman laughed, “it’s better than Falling Backward!”) as well as the highlights of a 15 year career. In my mind, it wasn’t as perfect a set list as the New Year’s Eve show which drew almost exclusively from the first three records, but it was a good overview of a career that has seen them maintain a constant level of popularity.
Blue Sky’s lone representative was the melancholy “Baggage Claim,” a post 9-11 ballad about how things have changed, while the underrated Brand New Year added the swinging “Nancy Sinatra” and the delightfully silly “Love like a Truck.” Favorites like “Indianapolis,” “Kerosene,” “Kit Kat Clock” and “Radar Gun” (definitely a favorite of the dude-heavy audience) kept the energy high during the new material, perhaps my favorite of which is a song about taking the bus (“Get on the Bus”). I was a tiny bit disappointed they didn’t play “When I Was Dumb,” but to be fair they didn’t know I was coming, and anyway I am not sure I would have wanted my reaction captured on DVD (or as Henneman called it at the beginning of the night “our movie”).
While some folks seemed to glory in the fact that they would be captured for posterity, Michelle’s reaction was to get buzzed enough that she wouldn’t worry about it. Despite the fact that there were several large stationary cameras and a few more roaming around the stage, most of the time I forgot it was even happening. I was pleased to note that John Boston of Whiskey Bender productions was heading the project. His experience in documentaries (The Two Cow Garage tour-logue “The Long Way Around”) and show recording (the unreleased Chris Mills Hideout residency) should serve the project well.
At two hours and 45 minutes (and 34 songs!) they played well past what had been the deadline, but they didn’t seem to care. They had to be satisfied with the knowledge that they had accomplished their goal- to record a show that captures exactly that thing that makes them such a great live band. I don’t know what it is, but they’ve got it.
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