Sing it in your head, and then sing it out loud
Hello from CRAZYTOWN, where I have FINALLY finished writing up my promised song-by-song run-through of the Headstones show. First, though, a message from Hugh, who is on Facebook now, and if you are a fan of his and you are not stalking him there then you are MISSING OUT, because he's all over the place with sweet comments and random comments and all the little bon mots and book recommendations and bad punctation he's obviously been hoarding since the demise of the HDRC boards, such as (in response to a comment about how Canada needs more live Headstones as soon as possible):
we are on it as we speak - stirring the pot sharpening knives sending up smokesignals we punched a guy in the head an fifty gold coins fell out of his mouth sooo we are converting that to canadian dollars and building a website where we will fullfill all requests -we put the f in fuckingfun
GAAAAAAAH HOW IS HE SO AMAZING. (Also? I WANT TO BELIEVE that they're going to get back together forrealz and write new stuff and TOUR and BE A BAND AGAIN in the long-term and be healthy and happy with it but I just. I can't quite believe that even this best of all possible worlds is THAT amazing, but even the thought is making my heart crack with hope and joy. But whatever happens down the line, I'm just glad that this happened once, that it could and did, and that it was so amazing, and that the band is apparently as excited about the whole thing as we are. And also, for the people who couldn't make the show (you were MUCH MISSED, by the way), I do think there's quite a lot of reason to hope that these won't be the last Headstones shows ever, even if they just end up getting back together to play a show or three while Hugh is on filming hiatus again.
ANYWAY. If you'd rather not wade through all my ramblings and just want a few recs, my top concert-footage picks are:
Oh My God (partial), which I recced the other day--someone in the comments said that this is some of the best live footage of the Headstones that exists anywhere, and I'd have to agree
Cut, which is hot like BURNING
Fuck You, where Hugh is INCREDIBLY PLEASED WITH HIMSELF and with us for the rousing chorus of overwhelmingly affectionate profanity, with bonus giggly!Tim bouncing around in the background
(and anyone who is of a Hugh/Trent persuasion or is willing to be persuaded into a Hugh/Trent persuasion should not miss Pathetic Pair and SOS, IJS)
And this CHARTattack review of the show is also really really good (and much more concise than mine! hee), and highlights one of the most important things about this band to me, namely that behind what's going on with Hugh being really charismatic and attention-attracting and all that, it gets lost sometimes that this band is really fucking good--it's not just that he can perform, it's that they can PLAY. Really REALLY well. And now that they're all clean and sober, I think they sound tighter and cleaner and better than ever. Gah. MY BAND.
Aaaaanyway. FLAILY THOUGHTS (and the best videos I could find to embed, where applicable) BELOW.
When Something Stands For Nothing - Honestly I don't remember a whole lot about this song, because it was the first one and my brain kind of shorted out when they walked onstage and now there is just a big sparkly burned-out spot of glee overload in its wake. I do remember Hugh playing the harmonica, which was NGGGGH. And I do really really love this song-one of the few really hopeful songs on that album, and the video is so beautiful. Also the "rock 'n' roll and comic books and bubble gum" line is one of my favorites, and it was even more appropriate in this case, what with me wearing my Batgirl shirt, and Sonia wearing her Bat-logo shirt, and Ma Noir wearing her Bat-logo hoodie, and the guy a few people over wearing his Bizarro Superman t-shirt, etc.. (Headstones: MAGNET FOR COMICS NERDS. Perhaps because they actually ARE comics nerds. Which reminds me that I need to watch Ink again. But anyway: APPROPRIATE.) Hugh also chucked his harmonica into the crowd afterward (after several fake-outs during the song), and the girl behind me ended up with it. SO CLOSE TO HAVING HUGH'S SALIVA AS A SOUVENIR. YET SO FAR.
This video is only a partial, but includes Hugh's entire intro, as well as the crowd going nuts in anticipation… made me all choked up for the memory of that thrill:
Tweeter and the Monkey Man - SO MANY hand gestures during this song. SO MANY. All I remember specifically is that Hugh indicated that Trent was Jan, which was great, but there was a LOT of goodness to be had. Also I am pretty sure Hugh got all the lyrics to this right, which I can't even do most of the time, so: WELL-PLAYED, SIR. And Hugh did the typical "in [fill in the name of current city] everything's legal, man, as long as you don't get caught" thing, which made me very very happy.
Pinned You Down - So this song will now forever be known to me as THE SONG WHERE HUGH SANG WITH HIS FACE IN SONIA'S FACE OMG. And it's funny because it's a really great song, really great beat, and yet I have heard it probably 200 times and I have never understood ANY of the lyrics outside of "pinned you down" and a few other random things. And I was looking around at the crowd and I don't think anyone else knows the lyrics either. This is the one song that Hugh Dillon remembers the lyrics to but nobody else can. MUSICAL MYSTERY. (Either that or he just makes them up every single time, which actually seems more plausible.) Anyway, Hugh climbed down from the stage to hop up on the bench next to the barrier and at one point he leaned way way over in Sonia's face on the chorus and their noses were practically touching and they were both yelling "PINNED YOU DOWN" into the same mic and I was deeply admiring of Sonia's presence of mind/maintenance of consciousness and that's pretty much all I can remember about that song. ♥
Digits - Hugh said that this song is about "climbing the twin mountains of cocaine and heroin, and a lake of Jack Daniels." Okay then! Honestly? I have always thought this song was about sex. I… will probably keep thinking of it as being about sex, because it is Hugh talking about digits and it sounds really dirty and I am really okay with that. However, now that I know the actual meaning behind it, it is a whole new angle on the song. Lesson: I should just assume that all Headstones songs are about drugs until proven otherwise. Regardless: it was still sexy. It is Hugh Dillon's burden to be sexy even when he is singing about his demons. That's just a law of the universe and it's not anyone's fault but IT CAN'T BE HELPED.
Judy - I believe this was the song that Hugh prefaced thusly: "You motherfuckers have done well unplugging yourselves from your screens this evening and fucking tippy-toeing in on your hind legs. I like it! Thank you so much for showing up!" FUCKING TIPPY-TOEING IN ON YOUR HIND LEGS. WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN, I LOVE HIM. (And the "I like it!" was pure Joe Dick, all wicked and sharp and smiling. Eeeeee.) Aside from that, my primary association with this is that it's one of Sal's favorites so I was really really hoping they'd play it. Also this was one where Hugh screwed up the lyrics a bit, which meant that he repeated verses and extended the song-afterward, Sonia was like, "Hugh did NOT want to stop singing that song." Heeeee. Also he provided his own reverb on the end by saying "Judy" several times in a row, which. I LOVE THAT HE PROVIDES HIS OWN REVERB. HE'S SO HELPFUL THAT WAY. ♥
Cut Me Up - Speaking as someone who at one point spent quite a lot of time yelling this song very loudly and angrily in my car, it was kind of a treat to hear it in this venue and exorcise some of that baggage a little bit. Though there wasn't the usual turnaround at the end of "You've got something to prove to me / I've got nothing to prove to you" into "You've got nothing to prove to me / I've got something to prove to you," which I suspect was more Hugh's creative lyric recall than a deliberate artistic choice, but it was kind of interesting nonetheless. (Also there are more than a few songs where Hugh sings slightly different lyrics than are what on the studio version, but he sings them consistently; apparently at some point he just decided THOSE WERE BETTER and those became the actual lyrics. Dear Headstones: THE LYRICS IN YOUR LINER NOTES ARE UNHELPFUL. BUT I LOVE YOU ANYWAY.) Also, not specifically pertinent, but: I loooooooooooove the guitar slide at the beginning of this song. LOVE.
Pathetic Pair - O HAI MY NEW FAVORITE HEADSTONES SONG. I have never been a huge fan of this song, though it's funny and all, but. Hugh introduced this by saying that the song was about two people sitting around and arguing and being so fucked-up drunk that they couldn't even operate the remote control, and "a long time ago, Trent was in therapy and said, 'You should make that into a song.'" (Trent laughed, and then promptly shook his head and mouthed, "Nooooo" to the audience. HEE.) So, like, Hugh seemed (to me) almost sort of vaguely sheepish about doing the song, but he owns it, of course, and then he sort of driiiifts toward Trent (AS HE DOES) and then they SANG INTO THE SAME MIC and THEIR MOUTHS WERE REALLY CLOSE TOGETHER and my brain kind of exploded and seriously-I mean, tinhat aside-I think they honestly did that song JUST BECAUSE it means something to them. I mean, I can't really describe it, it was just that a) it's a weird song to do at a concert and b) they've never done it before this tour and c) the way Hugh set it up made it seem like it's PRETTY CLEARLY about them and then they SANG IT TOGETHER WITH THEIR MOUTHS REALLY CLOSE TOGETHER and GRINNING on "like a low-burning hatred, raging but dull" (omg largest space between words and actions EVER?) and Hugh kind of left his hand on Trent's back right afterward and kept LOOKING at him and I don't even know what to do with the fact that this is the world and I am living in it.
And now we interrupt this broadcast to bring you the Overly-Literal-Hand-Gestures report: typically adorable, including determined jabbing at an imaginary remote control, and slicing methodically up his arm on "severed perfectly," and he delivered most of it with that wide-eyed expression and deliberate mannerisms that he does when he's being sarcastically condescending (I know he's done it in roles, like when Joe's doing the interview in HCL-I suspect you know what I mean). Man. SO GOOD.
Also good? Whatever the hell is going on at about 1:06 of this video (kanzenhanzai, have I mentioned I LOVE YOU for getting this?):
So yeah. NEW FAVORITE HEADSTONES SONG. <3333
Unsound - EEEEEE. This is Tim's song and always will be, and everyone knows it; he took an incredibly badass extended bass solo literally in the spotlight and it was transcendent. Also Hugh changed "beat the path of the ritual" to "fuck the path of the ritual" several times, in typical Hugh Profanity Wherever Possible style, and also, hearing Hugh wrap his mouth around "last night was a pessimistic skydive / in a foolish narcotic shell" in person was pretty much the hottest thing ever. ALSO they did a brief detour into Mclusky's "To Hell With Good Intentions" during this song, which made me INCREDIBLY happy; I've loved that song ever since I heard it on my HDRC bootleg and it was kind of a neat bridge to hear them do it at a Headstones show, too. And this confirmed Sal's theory that Hugh does, indeed, sometimes say "gonna be dumb" instead of "gonna become," which is kind of great. Also Hugh sang "DAVE!" right on cue. D'AWWWW. (I'm pretty sure they got their old crew back together for this show, at least as much as they could-Hugh went over and hugged one of the stage crew early on in the show, it was ADORABLE. REUNION. TEEEEEEAM. ♥ ♥ ♥) But basically: TIM. YOU WROTE THE GREATEST BASS RIFF IN CANADIAN MUSIC. I LOVE YOU.
Fuck You - I LOVED THIS SO MUCH. Hugh prefaced it by saying, "So, since we're kind of a community band, this is a self-help thing you can use… so if somebody's Blackberry-ing while you're talking and not looking at you, or if they're being condescending, or if you don't fuckin' like 'em and you gotta listen to a lot of shit, sing this motherfuckin' song in your head. And then? SING IT OUT LOUD. Why don't we all do it together? Let's see if this fuckin' works." *MILLION BILLION HEARTS* (And dude, I swear to god Hugh actually sings this song in his head-and sometimes out loud-when people piss him off. Like a few years back when people on the HDRC boards were bitching about the new album not being out yet, and doing the "I am such a huge fan of this thing that I'm leaving the fandom because I'm not getting it in a timely fashion" thing, Hugh posted saying they were working on the album, and thanking people for their support, and then to the people who had flounced, he was like, "There's a little song I'd like to dedicate to you, you might know it, it's on Nickels For Your Nightmares, track 10…" AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.)
ANYWAY. Most gleeful, affectionate 3000-person chorus of profanity EVER:
Losing Control - Man, this song is chill-inducing; it just rocks so hard and never lets up. Hugh also sang the rhythm on the "losing con…trol!" differently than on the album (he sings it half a beat earlier, live), which is something I've heard a lot on bootlegs, so I guess it's one of those cases where he just decided it would be better that way, but it is mildly disconcerting! Hee. DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO LEARN THAT RHYTHM PROPERLY, HUGH, GEEZ.
Cut - I had no expectation that they'd play this song and god DAMN it was sexy. Hugh whistled. A lot. I'm probably pregnant now. With sexy whistling babies. THANKS HUGH. And Hugh mentioned that "we wrote this song when we were 23, at my apartment," so THERE's a fic in my head. Also the guitar solo in this song isn't one of Trent's most complicated or technically impressive, but it's so fucking hot. Hot hot hot, all sliding slyly from note to note and pulling you right along with it, helpless. Ngggh. Also Hugh's manic grin about halfway through the video below is KIND OF AMAZING.
Reframed (Every Single Failure) - Unsurprisingly, people seemed to have A LOT OF FEELINGS about this song (including the woman standing in front of me who, I believe, devil-horned almost every single word), and so did/do I, so it was a fantastic, shouting, empowering ride. Plus Trent's guitar solo. GUH.
Come On - I looooooooooove this song, and I was SO THRILLED that they did it. "Lean into the curve"? NGGGGGH. Also it made me think about how much Hugh would love the incredibly awesome perfect amazing Flashpoint vid that gwyn_r made for me to this song because she's incredibly awesome. I would BET MONEY that Hugh would adore that vid. I'm just going to choose to believe that he's seen it somehow, since we ARE apparently living in the best of all possible worlds.
Oh My God - Oh man. Where to start. So they swung into the first part of this song and it rocked SO HARD; this song basically exists to be played live and to create a framework for covers, and I was ASSUMING they'd play it but I wasn't sure and I was so so happy they did. And they did their typical thing of adding a few extra beats of vamping between the "oh my god I'm gonna die" and the next parts, and after they did the first couple of verses and they got to the transition to the covers, Hugh stood center stage with his arms crossed and trying to look stern and forbidding but clearly just on the edge of cracking up, and he stood there and stood there and STOOD there for at least 30 seconds, maybe more, while Trent and Tim and Dale played and played that one note over and over and over again and Tim and Trent looked at each other across the stage and laughed and Trent took his hand off the frets because he clearly wasn't going to be needing them anytime soon and time just stretched and stood still and then finally, FINALLY Hugh released them with the next words and it was KIND OF AWESOME. And then they detoured into Sympathy For the Devil, which was AMAZING, holy shit, a thing I never knew I needed in my life until it happened. And then the Black Keys' "Tighten Up," and then Straight Outta Compton, and dude, it still mystifies me that a middle-aged white dude from Ontario can absolutely KILL that song, but Hugh did and it was really REALLY impressive. (I mean, it makes total sense to me that Hugh loves rap, of course he does, it's exactly his thing, but somehow the fact that he could pull that off so convincingly-I've heard it on bootlegs, but never seen it clearly-was kind of a revelation.) And then at the end, Hugh says, "The reality is… quite frankly… an alternative proposition… OH MY GOD I'M GONNA LIVE," and we all shouted it with him, and it was chill-inducing. Damn I love that song, because it illustrates one of the things I like best about the Headstones: even their despair tends to turn around, and become a call to action instead of an invitation to give up. I love that so fucking much.
Partial but oh-so-very-hot video:
(full version from a different person--also with good video--here)
Three Angels - This was all I wanted from this concert, and it was… I don't even know how to describe it. I've seen live footage of this song and seen how it connects everybody in the audience, how everybody yells every word just as fervently and with as much heart as Hugh does, and I've wanted for years to be a part of that. It was a transcendent moment. Hugh also did his usual intro of this song that it was for a friend of his who died; he mentioned that this guy took them in when they were homeless, essentially, and helped them write Cemetery and (IIRC) Losing Control. I also noticed that Dale chose to play during this song (which he doesn't, always) and that felt right, seeing as he loves this song and this was the last show for a while. ♥
And for a Brynn's-eye view, you can see my partial recording here… it's only the first verse, since I wasn't sure if the recording was going to work and I didn't want to be distracted throughout the whole song, and so it's not much, but it's mine, you know? I watched it about 900 times on the plane ride home. Trent also makes an ADORABLE face around 16 seconds in, AWWWW.
Rawhide - I guess this is how you follow Three Angels: by being REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY ADORABLE, and totally changing the mood. ♥ (Also? Hugh actually kind of SINGS on this song. It's GOOD TIMES.)
Smile and Wave - Throughout this song, Hugh kept doing this hilarious fake-smile and Queen-Mum-wave, with his arm at a perfect 90-degree angle and his hand swiveling on his wrist and kind of rotating his torso from side to side like a robot, and it was funny EVERY SINGLE TIME. *dying* And then at one point he waved, then flipped us off, then waved again. HEE. Also hearing Trent and Tim do the cascading "waaaaaaaaaaaave" harmony on this was something I was DYING for, so that was amazing. (I find it amusing that the majority of actual SINGING that happens in the Headstones comes from people who are not actually the lead singer. "Not really a singing kind of band"-as Trent said once-indeed. ♥ And of course I wouldn't trade Hugh's hypnotic staccato word porn for anything.)
(there's also an unmissable clip at around 7:38 here, HEEEE-that whole video has kind of crappy sound but AWESOME video)
It's All Over - I actually don't remember too much about this song, except that I have REALLY good recall of the particular hand motions that Hugh uses in the video for this (including that patented Hugh tune-in-Tokyo move that he does where he puts up one hand and kind of twists it around like he's turning a giant knob of some kind? yeah), so I kept thinking of those the whole time. Heeee. This is also another one where Hugh always changes the lyrics live; instead of "just like I told ya" he tends to say "shit's got no motor" (I think), which I kind of adore. Also I'm pretty sure it was at the end of this song that Trent and Dale had a quick moment of agreeing on how many beats they were going to use to close the song ("Five?" Dale mouthed) and that made me really stupidly happy for some reason. Competence kink! TEEEEEEAM!
So that was their main set, and then, the encore, starring Trent's Most Awesome Shirt Ever:
Cubically Contained - When I heard they'd played this at a previous show, I was a bit surprised (just because it's kind of mellow for what seems to be their typical concert fare), but I guess it was one of their radio hits so it makes sense. I don't have a lot of memory about this, either, except for how singing the "paranoid little fuckers" line along with Hugh brought me a lot of joy. Also I think this might have been the song-it was one of the slower ones anyway-where Dale kept twirling one of his drumsticks between beats, which was pretty adorable. HI DALE. I TRIED TO SEE YOU BACK THERE, I REALLY DID.
SOS (cover) - I flailed about this already, but I'm going to flail again: Headstones lore says that this was the last song the band played live together before they broke up, and the hilarity of the Headstones doing an ABBA cover aside (though I seriously think that Hugh unironically likes this song, which is awesome), it's a really sad band breakup song. So Hugh introduced this as "a song off our next album" (I turned to Ma Noir and I was like, "DON'T TOY WITH MY EMOTIONS, HUGH DILLON"), and then they get into it and Hugh sang "Whatever happened to our love?" RIGHT TO TRENT with these mock-beseeching eyes and outstretched arm and still the gleeful grin, and Trent looks at him and does this AMAZING exaggerated "fucked if I know" kind of shrug and :/ face and Hugh laughs and goes on with the song and IT WAS THE GREATEST THING EVER. I really hope someone somewhere got a clear shot of that. And then there was the "the love you gave me, nothing else can save me" bit with Hugh and Trent singing RIGHT TO EACH OTHER and GRINNING and omg my heart, I can't take it. And even aside from my (seriously overwhelming at this point) investment in Hugh/Trent, that is a really really REALLY fun song live, all fast and shouty on the "since you're gone-GONE!" part, and it was just this perfect representation of how all the woe of the past had been transmuted (reframed!) and it was beautiful and I loved it.
Cemetery - There was a point where this slid down a bit on my list of favorite Headstones songs, I think mainly because I'd heard it so many times, but this TOTALLY revived (ha ha) my love for it, OH MY GOD. Hugh starts it with, "Let's do Cemetery and then go home," and Ma Noir and Sonia said that Trent had been doing this bit where he'd been mock-rolling his eyes like he wanted to be DONE already, and I didn't see that but I choose to believe them because IT IS ADORABLE. (Hugh's grin at Trent right before they start the song would kind of seem to corroborate that theory, though it's not like Hugh wasn't grinning at Trent practically the ENTIRE NIGHT, but still.) ANYWAY. As last songs for a Headstones show go? I can't imagine a much better one. Also Hugh walks off early at the end (as he does) and Trent kind of… contorted his way out of his guitar and started to leave but then he came BACK and was, like, messing with his effects pedals or something, while Tim and Dale kept pounding away, and it was this awesome, protracted finale. The guy who made the video below apologized for missing the very end because his battery ran out, but dude, they WOULDN'T STOP PLAYING, I DON'T BLAME YOU. Heeeeeee. ♥ ♥ ♥
And then it was over and we were stunned and steamrolled (and mostly deaf, but I was already going to send the Headstones the bill for my eventual hearing aid) and honestly it didn't QUITE sink in, didn't QUITE hit me until the next morning, when I woke up grinning and couldn't stop. Everything, everything I could have wanted and more, on every level. (I mean, okay, I kinda wish they'd snuck Marigold in there--that's in my top three Headstones songs, I think, and it is also the soundtrack for me worrying about Trent, since the guitar is so great in it and makes me think of him every time--but I mean, WHATEVER, and MAYBE NEXT TIME. Hee.) It's a week later and I'm just barely coming down from it.
I don't really know how to sum this up, so I'll let Hugh do it:
Holy fuck this last couple weeks has been a blast- seeing so many of you guys again has just bin good for the soul - all of us have come away energized and excited by this we have a lot of respect and admiration for those of you who embrace music/life so passionately - particularly diehard Headstones fans who seem to have an incredible amount of fucking heart- empathy and humour -we like you as people - a unique clan who are not big on authority AND have more than a passing interest in rebellion and defiance - we relate -we get it -we know that no matter how tough it gets we will always get back up ...always! - just a matter of time - no bullshit no excuses -u rock - THANK YOU ALL -would of sucked without you-hugh
Yep. That sounds about right.
we are on it as we speak - stirring the pot sharpening knives sending up smokesignals we punched a guy in the head an fifty gold coins fell out of his mouth sooo we are converting that to canadian dollars and building a website where we will fullfill all requests -we put the f in fuckingfun
GAAAAAAAH HOW IS HE SO AMAZING. (Also? I WANT TO BELIEVE that they're going to get back together forrealz and write new stuff and TOUR and BE A BAND AGAIN in the long-term and be healthy and happy with it but I just. I can't quite believe that even this best of all possible worlds is THAT amazing, but even the thought is making my heart crack with hope and joy. But whatever happens down the line, I'm just glad that this happened once, that it could and did, and that it was so amazing, and that the band is apparently as excited about the whole thing as we are. And also, for the people who couldn't make the show (you were MUCH MISSED, by the way), I do think there's quite a lot of reason to hope that these won't be the last Headstones shows ever, even if they just end up getting back together to play a show or three while Hugh is on filming hiatus again.
ANYWAY. If you'd rather not wade through all my ramblings and just want a few recs, my top concert-footage picks are:
Oh My God (partial), which I recced the other day--someone in the comments said that this is some of the best live footage of the Headstones that exists anywhere, and I'd have to agree
Cut, which is hot like BURNING
Fuck You, where Hugh is INCREDIBLY PLEASED WITH HIMSELF and with us for the rousing chorus of overwhelmingly affectionate profanity, with bonus giggly!Tim bouncing around in the background
(and anyone who is of a Hugh/Trent persuasion or is willing to be persuaded into a Hugh/Trent persuasion should not miss Pathetic Pair and SOS, IJS)
And this CHARTattack review of the show is also really really good (and much more concise than mine! hee), and highlights one of the most important things about this band to me, namely that behind what's going on with Hugh being really charismatic and attention-attracting and all that, it gets lost sometimes that this band is really fucking good--it's not just that he can perform, it's that they can PLAY. Really REALLY well. And now that they're all clean and sober, I think they sound tighter and cleaner and better than ever. Gah. MY BAND.
Aaaaanyway. FLAILY THOUGHTS (and the best videos I could find to embed, where applicable) BELOW.
When Something Stands For Nothing - Honestly I don't remember a whole lot about this song, because it was the first one and my brain kind of shorted out when they walked onstage and now there is just a big sparkly burned-out spot of glee overload in its wake. I do remember Hugh playing the harmonica, which was NGGGGH. And I do really really love this song-one of the few really hopeful songs on that album, and the video is so beautiful. Also the "rock 'n' roll and comic books and bubble gum" line is one of my favorites, and it was even more appropriate in this case, what with me wearing my Batgirl shirt, and Sonia wearing her Bat-logo shirt, and Ma Noir wearing her Bat-logo hoodie, and the guy a few people over wearing his Bizarro Superman t-shirt, etc.. (Headstones: MAGNET FOR COMICS NERDS. Perhaps because they actually ARE comics nerds. Which reminds me that I need to watch Ink again. But anyway: APPROPRIATE.) Hugh also chucked his harmonica into the crowd afterward (after several fake-outs during the song), and the girl behind me ended up with it. SO CLOSE TO HAVING HUGH'S SALIVA AS A SOUVENIR. YET SO FAR.
This video is only a partial, but includes Hugh's entire intro, as well as the crowd going nuts in anticipation… made me all choked up for the memory of that thrill:
Click to viewTweeter and the Monkey Man - SO MANY hand gestures during this song. SO MANY. All I remember specifically is that Hugh indicated that Trent was Jan, which was great, but there was a LOT of goodness to be had. Also I am pretty sure Hugh got all the lyrics to this right, which I can't even do most of the time, so: WELL-PLAYED, SIR. And Hugh did the typical "in [fill in the name of current city] everything's legal, man, as long as you don't get caught" thing, which made me very very happy.
Pinned You Down - So this song will now forever be known to me as THE SONG WHERE HUGH SANG WITH HIS FACE IN SONIA'S FACE OMG. And it's funny because it's a really great song, really great beat, and yet I have heard it probably 200 times and I have never understood ANY of the lyrics outside of "pinned you down" and a few other random things. And I was looking around at the crowd and I don't think anyone else knows the lyrics either. This is the one song that Hugh Dillon remembers the lyrics to but nobody else can. MUSICAL MYSTERY. (Either that or he just makes them up every single time, which actually seems more plausible.) Anyway, Hugh climbed down from the stage to hop up on the bench next to the barrier and at one point he leaned way way over in Sonia's face on the chorus and their noses were practically touching and they were both yelling "PINNED YOU DOWN" into the same mic and I was deeply admiring of Sonia's presence of mind/maintenance of consciousness and that's pretty much all I can remember about that song. ♥
Digits - Hugh said that this song is about "climbing the twin mountains of cocaine and heroin, and a lake of Jack Daniels." Okay then! Honestly? I have always thought this song was about sex. I… will probably keep thinking of it as being about sex, because it is Hugh talking about digits and it sounds really dirty and I am really okay with that. However, now that I know the actual meaning behind it, it is a whole new angle on the song. Lesson: I should just assume that all Headstones songs are about drugs until proven otherwise. Regardless: it was still sexy. It is Hugh Dillon's burden to be sexy even when he is singing about his demons. That's just a law of the universe and it's not anyone's fault but IT CAN'T BE HELPED.
Judy - I believe this was the song that Hugh prefaced thusly: "You motherfuckers have done well unplugging yourselves from your screens this evening and fucking tippy-toeing in on your hind legs. I like it! Thank you so much for showing up!" FUCKING TIPPY-TOEING IN ON YOUR HIND LEGS. WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN, I LOVE HIM. (And the "I like it!" was pure Joe Dick, all wicked and sharp and smiling. Eeeeee.) Aside from that, my primary association with this is that it's one of Sal's favorites so I was really really hoping they'd play it. Also this was one where Hugh screwed up the lyrics a bit, which meant that he repeated verses and extended the song-afterward, Sonia was like, "Hugh did NOT want to stop singing that song." Heeeee. Also he provided his own reverb on the end by saying "Judy" several times in a row, which. I LOVE THAT HE PROVIDES HIS OWN REVERB. HE'S SO HELPFUL THAT WAY. ♥
Cut Me Up - Speaking as someone who at one point spent quite a lot of time yelling this song very loudly and angrily in my car, it was kind of a treat to hear it in this venue and exorcise some of that baggage a little bit. Though there wasn't the usual turnaround at the end of "You've got something to prove to me / I've got nothing to prove to you" into "You've got nothing to prove to me / I've got something to prove to you," which I suspect was more Hugh's creative lyric recall than a deliberate artistic choice, but it was kind of interesting nonetheless. (Also there are more than a few songs where Hugh sings slightly different lyrics than are what on the studio version, but he sings them consistently; apparently at some point he just decided THOSE WERE BETTER and those became the actual lyrics. Dear Headstones: THE LYRICS IN YOUR LINER NOTES ARE UNHELPFUL. BUT I LOVE YOU ANYWAY.) Also, not specifically pertinent, but: I loooooooooooove the guitar slide at the beginning of this song. LOVE.
Pathetic Pair - O HAI MY NEW FAVORITE HEADSTONES SONG. I have never been a huge fan of this song, though it's funny and all, but. Hugh introduced this by saying that the song was about two people sitting around and arguing and being so fucked-up drunk that they couldn't even operate the remote control, and "a long time ago, Trent was in therapy and said, 'You should make that into a song.'" (Trent laughed, and then promptly shook his head and mouthed, "Nooooo" to the audience. HEE.) So, like, Hugh seemed (to me) almost sort of vaguely sheepish about doing the song, but he owns it, of course, and then he sort of driiiifts toward Trent (AS HE DOES) and then they SANG INTO THE SAME MIC and THEIR MOUTHS WERE REALLY CLOSE TOGETHER and my brain kind of exploded and seriously-I mean, tinhat aside-I think they honestly did that song JUST BECAUSE it means something to them. I mean, I can't really describe it, it was just that a) it's a weird song to do at a concert and b) they've never done it before this tour and c) the way Hugh set it up made it seem like it's PRETTY CLEARLY about them and then they SANG IT TOGETHER WITH THEIR MOUTHS REALLY CLOSE TOGETHER and GRINNING on "like a low-burning hatred, raging but dull" (omg largest space between words and actions EVER?) and Hugh kind of left his hand on Trent's back right afterward and kept LOOKING at him and I don't even know what to do with the fact that this is the world and I am living in it.
And now we interrupt this broadcast to bring you the Overly-Literal-Hand-Gestures report: typically adorable, including determined jabbing at an imaginary remote control, and slicing methodically up his arm on "severed perfectly," and he delivered most of it with that wide-eyed expression and deliberate mannerisms that he does when he's being sarcastically condescending (I know he's done it in roles, like when Joe's doing the interview in HCL-I suspect you know what I mean). Man. SO GOOD.
Also good? Whatever the hell is going on at about 1:06 of this video (kanzenhanzai, have I mentioned I LOVE YOU for getting this?):
So yeah. NEW FAVORITE HEADSTONES SONG. <3333
Unsound - EEEEEE. This is Tim's song and always will be, and everyone knows it; he took an incredibly badass extended bass solo literally in the spotlight and it was transcendent. Also Hugh changed "beat the path of the ritual" to "fuck the path of the ritual" several times, in typical Hugh Profanity Wherever Possible style, and also, hearing Hugh wrap his mouth around "last night was a pessimistic skydive / in a foolish narcotic shell" in person was pretty much the hottest thing ever. ALSO they did a brief detour into Mclusky's "To Hell With Good Intentions" during this song, which made me INCREDIBLY happy; I've loved that song ever since I heard it on my HDRC bootleg and it was kind of a neat bridge to hear them do it at a Headstones show, too. And this confirmed Sal's theory that Hugh does, indeed, sometimes say "gonna be dumb" instead of "gonna become," which is kind of great. Also Hugh sang "DAVE!" right on cue. D'AWWWW. (I'm pretty sure they got their old crew back together for this show, at least as much as they could-Hugh went over and hugged one of the stage crew early on in the show, it was ADORABLE. REUNION. TEEEEEEAM. ♥ ♥ ♥) But basically: TIM. YOU WROTE THE GREATEST BASS RIFF IN CANADIAN MUSIC. I LOVE YOU.
Fuck You - I LOVED THIS SO MUCH. Hugh prefaced it by saying, "So, since we're kind of a community band, this is a self-help thing you can use… so if somebody's Blackberry-ing while you're talking and not looking at you, or if they're being condescending, or if you don't fuckin' like 'em and you gotta listen to a lot of shit, sing this motherfuckin' song in your head. And then? SING IT OUT LOUD. Why don't we all do it together? Let's see if this fuckin' works." *MILLION BILLION HEARTS* (And dude, I swear to god Hugh actually sings this song in his head-and sometimes out loud-when people piss him off. Like a few years back when people on the HDRC boards were bitching about the new album not being out yet, and doing the "I am such a huge fan of this thing that I'm leaving the fandom because I'm not getting it in a timely fashion" thing, Hugh posted saying they were working on the album, and thanking people for their support, and then to the people who had flounced, he was like, "There's a little song I'd like to dedicate to you, you might know it, it's on Nickels For Your Nightmares, track 10…" AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.)
ANYWAY. Most gleeful, affectionate 3000-person chorus of profanity EVER:
Losing Control - Man, this song is chill-inducing; it just rocks so hard and never lets up. Hugh also sang the rhythm on the "losing con…trol!" differently than on the album (he sings it half a beat earlier, live), which is something I've heard a lot on bootlegs, so I guess it's one of those cases where he just decided it would be better that way, but it is mildly disconcerting! Hee. DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO LEARN THAT RHYTHM PROPERLY, HUGH, GEEZ.
Cut - I had no expectation that they'd play this song and god DAMN it was sexy. Hugh whistled. A lot. I'm probably pregnant now. With sexy whistling babies. THANKS HUGH. And Hugh mentioned that "we wrote this song when we were 23, at my apartment," so THERE's a fic in my head. Also the guitar solo in this song isn't one of Trent's most complicated or technically impressive, but it's so fucking hot. Hot hot hot, all sliding slyly from note to note and pulling you right along with it, helpless. Ngggh. Also Hugh's manic grin about halfway through the video below is KIND OF AMAZING.
Reframed (Every Single Failure) - Unsurprisingly, people seemed to have A LOT OF FEELINGS about this song (including the woman standing in front of me who, I believe, devil-horned almost every single word), and so did/do I, so it was a fantastic, shouting, empowering ride. Plus Trent's guitar solo. GUH.
Come On - I looooooooooove this song, and I was SO THRILLED that they did it. "Lean into the curve"? NGGGGGH. Also it made me think about how much Hugh would love the incredibly awesome perfect amazing Flashpoint vid that gwyn_r made for me to this song because she's incredibly awesome. I would BET MONEY that Hugh would adore that vid. I'm just going to choose to believe that he's seen it somehow, since we ARE apparently living in the best of all possible worlds.
Oh My God - Oh man. Where to start. So they swung into the first part of this song and it rocked SO HARD; this song basically exists to be played live and to create a framework for covers, and I was ASSUMING they'd play it but I wasn't sure and I was so so happy they did. And they did their typical thing of adding a few extra beats of vamping between the "oh my god I'm gonna die" and the next parts, and after they did the first couple of verses and they got to the transition to the covers, Hugh stood center stage with his arms crossed and trying to look stern and forbidding but clearly just on the edge of cracking up, and he stood there and stood there and STOOD there for at least 30 seconds, maybe more, while Trent and Tim and Dale played and played that one note over and over and over again and Tim and Trent looked at each other across the stage and laughed and Trent took his hand off the frets because he clearly wasn't going to be needing them anytime soon and time just stretched and stood still and then finally, FINALLY Hugh released them with the next words and it was KIND OF AWESOME. And then they detoured into Sympathy For the Devil, which was AMAZING, holy shit, a thing I never knew I needed in my life until it happened. And then the Black Keys' "Tighten Up," and then Straight Outta Compton, and dude, it still mystifies me that a middle-aged white dude from Ontario can absolutely KILL that song, but Hugh did and it was really REALLY impressive. (I mean, it makes total sense to me that Hugh loves rap, of course he does, it's exactly his thing, but somehow the fact that he could pull that off so convincingly-I've heard it on bootlegs, but never seen it clearly-was kind of a revelation.) And then at the end, Hugh says, "The reality is… quite frankly… an alternative proposition… OH MY GOD I'M GONNA LIVE," and we all shouted it with him, and it was chill-inducing. Damn I love that song, because it illustrates one of the things I like best about the Headstones: even their despair tends to turn around, and become a call to action instead of an invitation to give up. I love that so fucking much.
Partial but oh-so-very-hot video:
(full version from a different person--also with good video--here)
Three Angels - This was all I wanted from this concert, and it was… I don't even know how to describe it. I've seen live footage of this song and seen how it connects everybody in the audience, how everybody yells every word just as fervently and with as much heart as Hugh does, and I've wanted for years to be a part of that. It was a transcendent moment. Hugh also did his usual intro of this song that it was for a friend of his who died; he mentioned that this guy took them in when they were homeless, essentially, and helped them write Cemetery and (IIRC) Losing Control. I also noticed that Dale chose to play during this song (which he doesn't, always) and that felt right, seeing as he loves this song and this was the last show for a while. ♥
And for a Brynn's-eye view, you can see my partial recording here… it's only the first verse, since I wasn't sure if the recording was going to work and I didn't want to be distracted throughout the whole song, and so it's not much, but it's mine, you know? I watched it about 900 times on the plane ride home. Trent also makes an ADORABLE face around 16 seconds in, AWWWW.
Rawhide - I guess this is how you follow Three Angels: by being REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY ADORABLE, and totally changing the mood. ♥ (Also? Hugh actually kind of SINGS on this song. It's GOOD TIMES.)
Smile and Wave - Throughout this song, Hugh kept doing this hilarious fake-smile and Queen-Mum-wave, with his arm at a perfect 90-degree angle and his hand swiveling on his wrist and kind of rotating his torso from side to side like a robot, and it was funny EVERY SINGLE TIME. *dying* And then at one point he waved, then flipped us off, then waved again. HEE. Also hearing Trent and Tim do the cascading "waaaaaaaaaaaave" harmony on this was something I was DYING for, so that was amazing. (I find it amusing that the majority of actual SINGING that happens in the Headstones comes from people who are not actually the lead singer. "Not really a singing kind of band"-as Trent said once-indeed. ♥ And of course I wouldn't trade Hugh's hypnotic staccato word porn for anything.)
(there's also an unmissable clip at around 7:38 here, HEEEE-that whole video has kind of crappy sound but AWESOME video)
It's All Over - I actually don't remember too much about this song, except that I have REALLY good recall of the particular hand motions that Hugh uses in the video for this (including that patented Hugh tune-in-Tokyo move that he does where he puts up one hand and kind of twists it around like he's turning a giant knob of some kind? yeah), so I kept thinking of those the whole time. Heeee. This is also another one where Hugh always changes the lyrics live; instead of "just like I told ya" he tends to say "shit's got no motor" (I think), which I kind of adore. Also I'm pretty sure it was at the end of this song that Trent and Dale had a quick moment of agreeing on how many beats they were going to use to close the song ("Five?" Dale mouthed) and that made me really stupidly happy for some reason. Competence kink! TEEEEEEAM!
So that was their main set, and then, the encore, starring Trent's Most Awesome Shirt Ever:
Cubically Contained - When I heard they'd played this at a previous show, I was a bit surprised (just because it's kind of mellow for what seems to be their typical concert fare), but I guess it was one of their radio hits so it makes sense. I don't have a lot of memory about this, either, except for how singing the "paranoid little fuckers" line along with Hugh brought me a lot of joy. Also I think this might have been the song-it was one of the slower ones anyway-where Dale kept twirling one of his drumsticks between beats, which was pretty adorable. HI DALE. I TRIED TO SEE YOU BACK THERE, I REALLY DID.
SOS (cover) - I flailed about this already, but I'm going to flail again: Headstones lore says that this was the last song the band played live together before they broke up, and the hilarity of the Headstones doing an ABBA cover aside (though I seriously think that Hugh unironically likes this song, which is awesome), it's a really sad band breakup song. So Hugh introduced this as "a song off our next album" (I turned to Ma Noir and I was like, "DON'T TOY WITH MY EMOTIONS, HUGH DILLON"), and then they get into it and Hugh sang "Whatever happened to our love?" RIGHT TO TRENT with these mock-beseeching eyes and outstretched arm and still the gleeful grin, and Trent looks at him and does this AMAZING exaggerated "fucked if I know" kind of shrug and :/ face and Hugh laughs and goes on with the song and IT WAS THE GREATEST THING EVER. I really hope someone somewhere got a clear shot of that. And then there was the "the love you gave me, nothing else can save me" bit with Hugh and Trent singing RIGHT TO EACH OTHER and GRINNING and omg my heart, I can't take it. And even aside from my (seriously overwhelming at this point) investment in Hugh/Trent, that is a really really REALLY fun song live, all fast and shouty on the "since you're gone-GONE!" part, and it was just this perfect representation of how all the woe of the past had been transmuted (reframed!) and it was beautiful and I loved it.
Cemetery - There was a point where this slid down a bit on my list of favorite Headstones songs, I think mainly because I'd heard it so many times, but this TOTALLY revived (ha ha) my love for it, OH MY GOD. Hugh starts it with, "Let's do Cemetery and then go home," and Ma Noir and Sonia said that Trent had been doing this bit where he'd been mock-rolling his eyes like he wanted to be DONE already, and I didn't see that but I choose to believe them because IT IS ADORABLE. (Hugh's grin at Trent right before they start the song would kind of seem to corroborate that theory, though it's not like Hugh wasn't grinning at Trent practically the ENTIRE NIGHT, but still.) ANYWAY. As last songs for a Headstones show go? I can't imagine a much better one. Also Hugh walks off early at the end (as he does) and Trent kind of… contorted his way out of his guitar and started to leave but then he came BACK and was, like, messing with his effects pedals or something, while Tim and Dale kept pounding away, and it was this awesome, protracted finale. The guy who made the video below apologized for missing the very end because his battery ran out, but dude, they WOULDN'T STOP PLAYING, I DON'T BLAME YOU. Heeeeeee. ♥ ♥ ♥
And then it was over and we were stunned and steamrolled (and mostly deaf, but I was already going to send the Headstones the bill for my eventual hearing aid) and honestly it didn't QUITE sink in, didn't QUITE hit me until the next morning, when I woke up grinning and couldn't stop. Everything, everything I could have wanted and more, on every level. (I mean, okay, I kinda wish they'd snuck Marigold in there--that's in my top three Headstones songs, I think, and it is also the soundtrack for me worrying about Trent, since the guitar is so great in it and makes me think of him every time--but I mean, WHATEVER, and MAYBE NEXT TIME. Hee.) It's a week later and I'm just barely coming down from it.
I don't really know how to sum this up, so I'll let Hugh do it:
Holy fuck this last couple weeks has been a blast- seeing so many of you guys again has just bin good for the soul - all of us have come away energized and excited by this we have a lot of respect and admiration for those of you who embrace music/life so passionately - particularly diehard Headstones fans who seem to have an incredible amount of fucking heart- empathy and humour -we like you as people - a unique clan who are not big on authority AND have more than a passing interest in rebellion and defiance - we relate -we get it -we know that no matter how tough it gets we will always get back up ...always! - just a matter of time - no bullshit no excuses -u rock - THANK YOU ALL -would of sucked without you-hugh
Yep. That sounds about right.