SOUL ASYLUM:

Teenage horde Greet Soul Asylum, Radiohead, Nixons

[Music News of the World] October 13, 1995

[Soul Asylum] ATN Santa Crux correspondent Brant Smith reports: "Please welcome five guys in complete support of Mr. Twister."

So the MC introduced Soul Asylum in Santa Cruz, California on Wednesday (Oct. 11) night, referring to the parking meter-feeding clown that had recently garnered nationwide attention for the seaside college town an hour south of San Francisco.

However, from all appearances, Mr. Twister was not in the auditorium.

Rather, a far-less-than-capacity crowd of giddy young and mid-teens played with each other and repeatedly attempted to sustain a mosh pit that just didn't want to happen. The kids played "keep away" with an inflated condom from the Santa Cruz AIDS Project while awaiting the show to begin.

The crowd sported a few uncomfortable older folks such as the computer engineer from Radius Inc. in nearby Silicon Valley who was with his 13 year-old kid and the boy's friends. Too bad for the boys, who were no doubt horrified to be associated with a balding middle-aged man with a waxed-tip mustache. Too bad as well for the pit, which could have done better than the six eager 13-year-olds that started things off when the Nixons took the stage sometime after 8 PM.

One wonders if more than a few dozen people would have attended the concert if the city's controversial proposed 10 PM curfew was in effect. After all, this WAS a school night and yet the local "alternative" radio station was giving away tickets like chain letters.

Regardless, those in attendance were not to be disappointed. Hailing from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the Nixons, who opened the show, were more at ease with the high octane riffs than their slower songs such as "Sister," which evoked Pearl Jam at a younger, angrier age perhaps. The lead singer (whose name no roadie, nor this reporter, could identify) at one point referred to Soul Asylum as "one of our favorite bands" and the influence shows. Besides this, they liked to bounce their heads.

Hip concert-goers always cheer louder for the second band on a three band bill and Santa Cruz did its best for Radiohead, the British import from Oxford. The Capitol Records pro forma biography describes singer Thom Yorke as "hyperkinetic," and indeed, this retro-punk brit seemed orgasmically spastic in his moments of emotion. At other times, he just seemed to hurt.

"We don't know what we're doing," Yorke gurgled in classic brit punk slur. "These are all fucking new instruments 'cause someone stole the old ones."

Life on the road is obviously tough on this young man with the bad haircut.

Of course, the crowd was waiting for the band's hit "Creep" and Radiohead didn't disappoint. Among the climbing rifts of the song, Yorke ascended screaming, yelling and then wailing. As he sang "...so fucking special...." the 15-year-old girls in white tank tops cried out in joy as this phrase apparently held special meaning for them.

The rather brief seven-song set ended with the title cut from their recent album The Bends.

At one point, Yorke took up a guitar and contributed to a rich loaf of sound with the other two pluckers, Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien. While the guitars roamed the stage, Colin Greenwood's bass spent most of the show communing with Phil Selway's drum set.

Regardless, the instrumentation was strong all around, and Yorke's range clearly finds expression in the live performance that the studio recordings only hints at.

After a decade of being on tour in one form or another, Soul Asylum knows how to put on a show. I stopped counting at 17 songs and that was before the encore (even concert reviewers must dance).

Front man Dave Pirner has an able partner in guitarist Dan Murphy. These two clearly form the core of the band. Murphy's back-up vocals perfectly harmonize with Pirner's scrawny but clear vocals: a difficult task in a live setting. Moving closer to watch from the front lines, my leg hairs vibrate to Karl Mueller's bass. Drummer Sterling Campbell, who joined the band partway through recording the band's break-through album, Grave Dancer's Union," is an eager participant in the magic.

"Shove" incited a huge pit, but there were few takers; the young bare-chested white boys pranced around with challenging gazes. Others on the floor bounced around noticeably, but stayed outside the circle.

Soul Asylum's ability as a concert band is well-known and widely respected, but the band's strongest feature is their writing. Sadly, the lyrics are somewhat hard to catch when performed, leaving one just shy of a complete sentence in many places. Mostly written by Pirner, the catchy melodies and angry crescendos surround lyrics which weave a poetic, gritty tapestry of life in a dysfunctional America.

For example, Murphy dedicated the recent hit "Misery," a catchy anti-capitalist ditty if there ever was one, "to the Reagans." Such messages resonate through-out their work. In this way, Soul Asylum keeps with the anti-authoritarian and anti-corporate roots of rock 'n' roll.

It wasn't until the encore that the band really let its hair down. (Incidentally, Pirner doesn't so much wear his hair as use it; the fervent tossing of his dreads are a Soul Asylum trademark.) Of course, the long-expected "Runaway Train" kept the audience on the verge of serious bodily harm through-out. Here the band played both the song and the audience, who expected a thrashing release, but got drop in tempo after drop in tempo. The experience was exquisite.

Surprisingly, the band followed up with the song of the night: "Sweet Jane." Easily among the best versions of this classic [Editor''s note: Not better than the Velvets, my man], the song was enjoyed by all. Pirner prowled the stage nearly speaking the words (compared with the drowsy murmur of the Cowboy Junkies for instance) while many in the young audience tried to figure out why the song sounded familiar. Put it in a bottle and I'll send cash.

They finished with a brief surf instrumental (this being Santa Cruz, home of world famous Steamer's Lane) and a punk throw away ("Since punk's in this year," said Murphy).

I want to buy these guys dinner.

Copyright © 1995 Addicted To Noise.

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