YOU'RE GETTING SMALLER IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR


Damn, what did they play in the all-important 13th-song slot?

Just back from witnessing the Old 97s burn down the Troubadour. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration -- the performance lacked the wildness of the set I saw them play at the 9:30 Club back home in June 2001 -- but it was still a solid night's work from what may be the World's Greatest Bar Band. No, strike that -- makes 'em sound like a covers outfit, when in fact their songwriting is as good as anyone's in cow punk, if we're still calling it that.

They previewed five tunes from their nearly-finished new record, which they said would be out later in the year. "The Smoker," with a lead vocal by Murray, was the only one they announced by name, though I would guess from the choruses that three of the others are titled "Moonlight," "Bloomington," and "The New Kid." The fifth featured what I believe is Guitar-Man-with-Hitler's-Mustache-for-a-Soul-Patch Ken Bethea's first lead vocal. It started with some line about putting chicken in the microwave . . .

The setlist, before I forget it, was:

01 Victoria
02 Murder (Or a Heart Attack)
03 W. Tx. Teardrops
04 Barrier Reef
05 Rollerskate Skinny
06 Jagged
07 Smoker (new song, L.V. by Murray)
08 Moonlight (new song)
09 Buick City Complex
10 Doreen
11 Salome
12 Crash on the Barrelhead (L.V. by Murray)
13 (Shit, what did they play 13th?)
14 Bloomington (new song, not sure about the title)
15 The New Kid (ditto)
16 Mama Tried (L.V. by Murray)
17 (new song, no idea about the title, L.V. by Ken)
18 King of All the World
19 If My Heart Was a Car

FIRST ENCORE
Rhett solo acoustic:
20 Question
21 Our Love (from his so-so solo record, The Instigator)
Murray solo acoustic:
22 Valentine
Full band:
23 Designs on You
24 Big Brown Eyes

SECOND ENCORE
25 The Other Shoe
26 Timebomb

Posted: Mon - March 15, 2004 at 12:25 PM        

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