The Hold Steady | Mohawk Place, Buffalo

Mohawk Place couldn't have been a more perfect place for The Hold Steady to play. The classic-rock/blues/bar band sound is perfect this small venue in the B-lo which its main function is, well a bar. As I was waiting for them to take the stage, I saw these fellows carrying large amounts of shots into the alley next to the stage, and I could smell the alochol as they brought it by. I had heard these guys liked to play a little wasted, but I figure a musician can only drink so much before he can't play his instrument anymore, right? Wrong. These guys stepped on the stage fairly drunk, and consumed a pretty good amount of Corona and Pabst Blue Ribbon during their hour and a half set, which included TWO encores. Halfway through the set all of the band did shots, except guitarist/vocalist Craig Finn, "I don't do shots on stage anymore because the last time I did shots on stage I started talking about Uzbekistan, and I can't even point it out on a map."


These guys had the crowd into it the entire time, and Finn has such great stage presence. His stream of consciousness vocal style and great lyrics about hoodrats, Holly, Charlemagne, and various religious figures is great, and is not lost at all live. The band played songs mostly from their latest effort, Separation Sunday, but also included songs from their first album and from their first release on Vagrant(???) Boys and Girls in America, which drops in October.


I was amazed at how well these guys could play smashed and in it being so warm in the venue, as Craig Finn authorized it as the hottest Hold Steady show ever.


Funniest Drunk Moment of the Night: When the band went into "Hornets!Hornets!" several dudes in the audience were yelling the opening lines to the song before Craig was, as he was doing it rather slow. Craig tells them to wait a minute, and the next time they do, except one guy, who gets a "shutup!" from another crowd member, to which he replies, "can't help it!" To which Craig Finn responds, "that's what she said," and proceeds to guitarist Tad Kubler the most drunken high-five I have ever seen. This might be one of those you-had-to-be-there kind of things, but I thought I'd share.


Also amusing, keyboardist Franz Nicolay looks like a cross between Wario and John Lovitz.