The Sadies are one of those bands legendary for their live shows. Me, I just don’t get it. Maybe it’s because I have seen the best live band in the world and they just can’t compare, or maybe it’s just that their music doesn’t resound with me the way it does with others. I’d only seen them once before opening for and backing John Spencer and as Heavy Trash. My expectations were probably too high, let down was the only place to go. Whatever the reason that doesn’t mean I won’t keep trying to get it, especially when the opener is someone I adore as much as Chris Mills.
Someone who does seem to get it, as well as appreciate Chris as much as I do, is Sally Timms. Tonight’s show was a command performance in honor of her birthday and the Sadies had flown in from their home in Toronto just to play it. Surprisingly, in contrast to her usual vocal and extroverted behavior, Timms spent the show seated at a table toward the back of the room. No mention was even made of her birthday until the end of the night when the Sadies thanked her for inviting them to play. As an added bonus for the last song they brought her Mekon bandmate Jon Langford up to be their lead singer for one last tune (the Mekons’ Memphis, Egypt”) as the band Eaglebauer, a name they used as a Mekon cover band when they were opening for the legends during their anniversary tour. Watching Langford, who I hadn’t even spotted before that moment, pack all the energy into one song that he would normally exert in an entire show was like watching a tornado touch down.
The rest of the Sadies set was enjoyable if not particularly memorable. Their country flavored rock was occasionally broken up with an energetic instrumental. The band gets most of its charisma from the Good brothers. The better looking of the tall, lanky pair is Travis Good, a wicked guitar and fiddle player who occasionally will take over lead vocal duties. The other is Dallas Good, a charmingly odd looking fellow who usually sings lead and does all of the talking and ends every song with a sincere thank you. The upright bass gave it that timeless country feeling, while the drummer was quick to follow the brothers lead. They were quite good, but I guess I still wouldn’t go too far out of my way to see them and all the superlatives still seem excessive, though I will admit their cover of Neil Young’s “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” was pretty awesome.
Chris Mills on the other hand, I definitely get. I had run into Head of Femur’s Matt Focht on our way in and he admitted that he had never actually seen Chris before. The old school trio that also included long-time bandmates drummer Gerald Dowd and bassist Ryan Hembrey had only played a few songs before Matt leaned over and whispered “He’s a really good songwriter.” Oh yeah, I know. There was a new song in the set, only the second I’ve heard since Living in the Aftermath was released in early 2008. It was pretty terrific but it looks as if the next new release will be a ways off. Other than that there were old favorites like “Fresh, Young Mouth” and of course “The Silver Line” the title track his 2002 release and quite possibly the greatest song ever written. Gerald and Ryan have been his most consistent bandmates over his career, but it had been awhile since I had seen just the three of them. Good stuff.
Chris always has an amusing story to tell and this time it was about a song of his that was featured in the TV show “Criminal Minds.” He had proudly told his parents and in-laws who then told all their friends, and everyone tuned in to see a very disturbing episode about a man who kidnapped and raped women and then killed the babies they had nine months later. Probably not exactly the setting they expected to hear his song “A Beautiful Thing” in, but what did they expect, it is called Criminal Minds after all.
Thanks Sally for putting together such a great show, and Happy Birthday!
Chris Mills
The Sadies
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