Out on the town and barely breathing.
In the end,
I bet no one learns a lesson.
Friday. The Hold Steady. Go!
Venue: Terminal 5. It's my second-least-favorite, after Webster Hall, but, as Craig I. says, it's so much better than Webster Hall that it doesn't really matter.
Seats/Position in Crowd/Up-In-Itness: We were about a third of the way back, which is still pretty close for that venue. Also, we were in my favorite kind of spot, where there's two or three people betwee me and the pit so I can go in if I want, but I don't have to deal with it if I don't want.
OPQ (Old-Person Quotient): Not so great: unseated, loud, late. The fact that T5 is so far West means that you have to add 20 minutes to the end-time, because it takes that long to walk back to any kind of transit. But it's the Hold Steady, so it's worth it.
Opening Act: Murder by Death. The songs they described as their "newer stuff" sounded better, but, like Megafuan that opened for the Mountain Goats, it had a neo-hoedown quality to it. Is that becoming a thing? Hillbillywave?
Setlist: Jesse posted the setlist, as is his wont. It's a strong one: pretty even across all albums (though skewed a little new, which is fine), with a b-side thrown in for good measure ("Girls Like Status," which is good even though I'm always hoping for "Ask Her for Adderall"). It was also a little bottom-heavy, so that everything starting with "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" was totally killer.
High Point: Definitely the show-closing "Killer Parties." By that time, the amazing run of songs at the end had everybody warmed up. But unlike ending with a faster song, "Killer Parites" is slow enough so that people mostly jump around in unison and on the beat. In a venue that big, it was pretty cool to see the synchronized jumping. And the sing-alongness of it was pretty good.
Low Point: For some reason, "The Swish" got weirdly rough! What's up with that? Also, I usually go into the middle for "Hoodrat," and I had to leave immediately after because it was the kind of pit where people were not just going crazy and not caring if they were bumping into people, they were doing two-handed pushes on purpose. Which I understand happens, but it's not my favorite.
Exuberance: High. Almost a little too high?