When we saw Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard at Lincoln Hall toward the end of last year, we felt lucky to have been able to see this unusual pair on one of their handful of tour dates in support of One Fast Move and I’m Gone. The pair had united over their love of the writing of Jack Kerouac and together recorded the soundtrack to the documentary Big Sur. It was a bit of a surprise that they brought the show back out on the road again, but they seemed to be having so much fun last time maybe it shouldn’t have been. Round two was not much different from round one. The only real disappointment was that the hilarious John Roderick of the Long Winters who opened the last show had been replaced by the sleepy Sera Cahoone. Without the accompaniment of the adorable pedal steel player who had been with her when she opened for Son Volt, her set was a monotonous drone that did nothing to discourage chatter.
Jay Farrar doesn’t seem to care much about appearances. We often joke that one of his bandmates must have cut his hair backstage before the show because it seldom looks like it was done by a professional. So I was a bit surprised when he came out tonight. “Jay looks weird,” I heard the guy next to me whisper to his friend. Not so much weird as different. He was sporting a goatee and his hair hadn’t been cut in awhile, long strands poked out from under his hat. His usual flannel was covered by a fancy western style jacket with decorative stitching. Gibbard on the other hand reminded me of Glen Campbell in his red checked shirt, his bowl cut bangs pushed to the side. I kept expecting him to break into “Wichita Lineman.” Admittedly, the Tom Waits song “Old Shoes (and Picture Postcards)” which closed the evening was a better choice.
As I noted last time, Farrar seems to really enjoy having another lead singer on stage with him. It’s what made Uncle Tupelo so great, and he and Gibbard sound just as sweet together. I’m sure it was a disappointment to the Death Cab for Cutie fans which probably made up the bulk of the crowd, but there weren’t any songs from Gibbard’s day job other than an obscure 2004 collaboration. Farrar on the other hand brought out “Feel Free” and “Voodoo Candle,” both from his solo records will Son Volt was on hiatus. The biggest Son Volt fan I know (tragically home with a broken elbow tonight) hates the latter, but the way they are playing it now quite definitely rocks. The only song that may have surpassed it was a breathtaking, pounding “Breathe Our Iodine” that had Mark Spencer pulling more sound from his pedal steel than I thought possible. The talented Spencer, looking hotter than I have ever seen him with a slick haircut and a handsome beard, also joined Farrar for a couple numbers as a duo, one the aching “San Francisco” that closes the Kerouac record.
Not to worry, Gibbard definitely got his share of the spotlight. His “California Zephyr” are still the highlight of the record and the live show for me, while “All in One” with Farrar’s gorgeous backing vocals runner up. The rest of the all-star band, which features DCfC’s Nick Harmer on bass and the outstanding journeyman drummer John Wurster, assured that tonight’s show sounded just as good as the acoustically superior Lincoln Hall did. It would be nice if, like Wilco and Billy Bragg’s two volumes of Mermaid Avenue, this collaboration yielded another release, but even if it doesn’t I am glad I got to see it twice.
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