Todd Snider & the Nervous Wrecks
Fred Eaglesmith
Gypsy Tea Room
Dallas
June 23, 2005
The Fred heads were
there. So were the Todd faithful.
The big side of
Dallas’s Gypsy Tea Room was about half capacity so
there was plenty of room to maneuver through the crowd
without getting jostled
(or having to
jostle)
yet still offering a respectable turnout for
Todd Snider
and opener
Fred Eaglesmith.
It was a pretty
good night for train songs, sing-a-longs, talking
blues, rants, and party tunes.
Fred played solo.
While the front of the crowd was singing along to
“Freight Train” and “I Shot Your Dog”, the rear of the
crowd was conversing away.
That’s a common
complaint – people chattering constantly while a solo
performer tries to play, but Fred didn’t seem to
notice. He kept on playing right over them.
He played with real force and the Fred devotees seemed
oblivious to anything else in the room.
When he played his
closer – “49 Tons (of Diesel Locomotive)” - I could
swear some of the talkers quieted down - not all of
them, mind you, but some.
Todd Snider came
out with his full band, the Nervous Wrecks, kicked off
his shoes and started with a couple songs from his
latest CD, “East Nashville Skyline.” He played
the first track – “Aged Like Wine” - solo while the
band stood by. Then they launched right into
Todd's cover of Eaglesmith’s “Alcohol And Pills”.
Todd seemed to be
healthy, sober, and
happy to be
here. He wore a burgundy sport coat with a
loose tie and a hat. The band rocked and the audience
loved it, singing along with most of the songs.
He comes
across much more vividly live than he does on disc,
playing loose and keeping it light while still getting
his point across, falling somewhere between earnest
singer songwriter with a sense of humor and frontman of
a rocking party band.
And the Nervous
Wrecks really rocked. They played all the
favorites, “Easy Money,” “What’s Wrong With You,”
“Alright Guy,” “This Land is Our Land,” and “Try And
Keep It Down.”
Todd played a
couple of extended talking blues songs – “Tension,”
extending his rant about the war on drugs and religion.
Then, later in the set: “The Ballad of The
Kingsmen.” For this, the talkers actually did, for
the most part, shut up and listen. He made it a
pretty amusing little sermon and even worked some Motown into it –
“Let’s Get It On” and “It’s Your Thing.”
His cover of Jerry
Jeff Walker’s “Life’s Too Short” was another high
point. When in Texas, it never hurts to
play a
Texas song.
After that, he
rolled out the best cut from “East Nashville
Skyline,” “Play A Train Song,” before closing the set
with a rocking version of “Satisfaction Guaranteed.”
Then he did
something I haven’t seen anyone do in a long time: he
came back for an encore and played some fuckin' Skynyrd, man.
“They Call Me The Breeze.” Actually, I don’t know if
I’ve ever seen anyone actually play a Skynyrd encore.
OK. So
it’s not “Freebird.” The thought was nice.
After that, in
front of the diehard fans that stayed, the sing-along
really got going with “Barbie Doll” and “Double Wide
Blues.”
Todd and the
Wrecks came back for a second encore and closed
the night by going full circle with “East Nashville
Skyline” - playing the last cut, “Enjoy Yourself."
Not that it seemed
to me there was anyone there who to needed to be told.
-jitter
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