Table 317 –
close to the center, one of the tables that are parallel to the stage and just
in front of the divider. One of the best seats I’ve had there. Arrived around
4:30 to find a couple dozen or so people ahead of me in line waiting to get in
(and was able to watch the last half-minute of the Michigan State upset on the
iPad of the guy standing in back of me). Wound up with number H29 to get in
(starting point was H17).
There was no
crying at the Birchmere, although (probably by coincidence) Crenshaw opened
with “Calling Out for Love (at Crying Time)” and closed the main set 70 minutes
later with Buddy Holly’s “Crying, Wishing, Hoping” (which he performed when he
portrayed Holly in the 1987 Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba). When they came back, they started their 3-song encore by
honoring the crowd’s request for his only top-40 hit, “Someday, Someway”,
joking that he would make it a special performance by using the Bernie Sanders
guitar pick he had recently been given. He then sent everyone home happy by
doing two more favorites, “Something’s Gonna Happen” (the demo that got him his
initial record deal) and “Mary Anne” from his classic debut album.
As I
remembered from the last time I had seen him (which I found was January 25,
2002, thanks to the wonders of the Internet), Crenshaw and his band play pretty
loud (let’s say a 9). This doesn’t always serve his catchy, melodic material
all that well; I’d suggest dialing the volume back to 7 or thereabouts. At
times he sounded as if he was straining to be heard over the band, and they
also slowed “There She Goes Again” down a little, which removed even more
bounce. For me, the show really caught fire about halfway through, when he
performed some later, less-familiar (to me at least) material: “Passing Through”,
“Move Now”, “Red Wine”, and a great cover of Richard Thompson’s “Valerie”. Four
of the songs in his set that I hadn’t heard before were co-written with Dan
Bern, who also wrote and performed one of the best baseball songs of all time.
As is
frequently the case these days with Marshall Crenshaw shows, his four-man
backing band, the Bottle Rockets, also served as the opening act, playing for
almost a full hour (including all 11 tracks from their latest CD). Good cowpunk
sound (two guitars, bass, drums), with some interesting material, notably “Dog”
and “Building Chryslers” (which I suspect they don’t perform in their Michigan
gigs) from the new CD, plus “Radar Gun” and “1000 Dollar Car” (don’t ever buy
one). They joked that one of their new songs was written with Tom Jones in
mind; oddly enough, Jones’s “Help Yourself” was featured on the playlist during
intermission. And be warned that if Crenshaw’s set was at a volume level of 9,
the Bottle Rockets by themselves pushed the knob to 11 – definitely the loudest
set I’ve heard in my years of Birchmere shows.
By the way,
all three of us at my table were surprised (and not in a good way) that the
Birchmere no longer provides pitchers of water. Instead, they’d be happy to
sell you water in plastic bottles. What is this, Flint?
