Live: Drive-By Truckers, the Dexateens – 5/10/08 at the 9:30 Club

Awesome show. Great, great show. Completely different from the night before. Amazing. Absolutely great.

The band opened with “That Man I Shot.” They played “Bob,” “Steve McQueen,” and “18 Wheels of Love” (!!!). DBT played “18 Wheels of Love” with the start-the-song story intact and then followed it up by concluding the story with the present-day tales of Chester and Patterson’s mother. DBT also played a righteous version of Alice Cooper’s “I’m Eighteen.”

They ended the set (before the mind-blowing encore) with a take on “Let There Be Rock” that was completely different from the night before. While the song was an emotional power-punch of a glorious rock’n’roll anthem on Friday night, Saturday transformed the song into a joyous celebration of a song. Shonna Tucker did not sing any songs for Saturday’s show.

Remember those Cadillacs that Patterson Hood parked in between without a scratch? Well, what made the performance of “Let There Be Rock” even more special was that the friend’s who’s parents owned those Cadillacs was at the show, in the VIP balcony above stage right. Even the man’s life-saving sister DD was there.

The biggest difference between Friday and Saturday’s shows was that there was more stage banter at Saturday’s show. Patterson gave a telling introduction to “Puttin’ People On The Moon” and he told of how he twisted his ankle on stage the night before. Plus, they played “18 Wheels of Love” (!!!).

Openers the Dexateens again rocked the house. It looked like most of the sold out show’s crowd showed up before DBT, in time to see some of the Dexateens, and the applause the band received was something close to uproarious. They did their Southern-tinged rock and played well. They too talked more than they did the night before, although the Dexateens’ setlist was basically the same.

Both bands reunited for another closeout jam in the encore, playing “Buttholeville,” “State Trooper,” (Bruce Springsteen) and “People Who Died” (Jim Carroll). (same as Friday)

These two nights have provided the most euphoric rock shows ever.

Thank you, Drive-By Truckers. Thank you.

– R.H.

Live: Drive-By Truckers, the Dexateens – 5/9/08 at the 9:30 Club

It’s f__kin’ great to be alive!!

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What a great, great show. The Truckers gave it their all. Every ounce of their energy for one of the best rock shows I have ever seen.

You can put the Drive-By Truckers into whatever country subgenre you want, but when it comes down to it, they are just pure rock ‘n’ roll. They are, without a doubt, one of the best present-day rock bands in America, if not the world. Heck, they’re even better than some old classic rockers. These guys are good.

“Baby every bone in my body’s gone to jumping/like they’re gonna come through my skin/If they could get along without the rest of me, it wouldn’t matter if they did,” sang Mike Cooley on “A Ghost To Most,” one of the many great tracks on 2008’s superb Brighter Than Creation’s Dark. The set list spanned their entire career and contained hit after hit. Brighter Than Creation’s Dark is such a charming record, that songs off of it were often highlights. But every song was a highlight tonight.

When Cooley finished playing “Checkout Time In Vegas,” (from BTCD) the band then played the three following songs on the record straight afterward. “You And Your Crystal Meth” was brilliant and even darker live. “Goode’s Field Road” proved just why it’s an excellent song, and everyone already knew that “A Ghost To Most” is a classic.

As the Drive-By Truckers played, it was hard for me to see any effect pedals on the stage for their guitars. Then I realized, they don’t need any pedals. The only effect they need is “Southern Fried.”

I did see some pedals toward the back of the stage, but they were scarce and that was just fine. The guitars were in fine, fine form.

Touring member on the keys, John Neff on pedal steel and a third guitar, Brad Morgan on drums, Patterson Hood on guitar and vocals, Mike Cooley on guitar and vocals, and Shonna Tucker played bass with an endearing enthusiasm. Shonna sang one song during the show, her best one off the last record, “I’m Sorry Huston.”

Morgan is a very talented drummer. This was obvious right away with rockin’ opener “Puttin’ People On the Moon.”

The Truckers put so much energy out on the stage. I don’t know how they can top it tonight (as in the tenth) (two dates at the 9:30 Club this time around, the ninth and tenth of May). I’m sure they will, but last night was pure rock awesomeness. Great setlist, great energy, great, great rock music. I really cannot use the word “great” enough. Or the word “rock.”

DBT classic “Let There Be Rock” had a shining moment as the third to last song in the righteous encore. The best song I have ever seen performed live. Absolutely amazing.

And the final rock-out jam of the encore had DBT pull openers the Dexateens (who played a well-received and joyously country-rockin’ set to start the late night off (doors at 9)) back on stage (along with another guitarist friend) to play “Buttholeville” and whatever other song I could not tell by ear (thanks to the mass of instruments pervading the sound system) (the vocals were inaudible at this point. Throughout the night, the vocals were hard to hear in the club). It wasn’t pure rock fury. It was pure rock soul.

The musicians traded swigs from the Jack Daniels bottle all bitter and clean, and the show ended with one hell of bang. Patterson Hood lying on the stage, 10 other people playing music around him. And then he popped up for another round of soul revealin’ rock.

Great show. Great band.

– R.H.