Me and Liz went to see Lucero at the Paradise Thursday night. A couple of pina colada margaritas, burritos and a big starbucks for me and we were ready for a late night with the hipsters.
Titus Andronicus opened up. What can I say about them? The less the better. They're from New Jersey. They were loud. They played indy punk. There were potentially one or two good songs in there. Did I mention they were loud?
Lucero is a band Liz discovered, I believe on Last.fm. Could have been Pandora. They're from Little Rock by way of Memphis. They are somewhere between alt-country and Southern rock (not really sure the difference anymore). They're more Murry Hammond than Rhett Miller, but don't take it too seriously. Here's my top ten list:
1. Slide guitar on 90% of the songs. I don't know why but I love the slide guitar. It makes everything better.
2. After Titus left the stage, I told Liz that I felt bad for opening act at the Paradise because they have to pack up their own equipment - no roadies. Then these fat redneck guys come out and start setting up for Lucero. Turned out they were the band - no roadies. How cool is that?
3. The personality of these guys is your crazy Southern uncles. A bunch of guys you meet in a bar at one in the afternoon and spend the day shooting pool and drinking beers and doing shots (it's been a while for me.) At one point, they pulled a fan out of the audience to sing a Replacements cover and I came off as fun, not staged.
4. The Paradise was packed (but not sold out). But when the music started, there was a phalanx of 100+ people pumping fists and singing along. Bear in mind this is a band that I have never heard on the radio. But you got a 100+ rednecks in Boston singing along?
5. Lead singer Ben Nichols has a great voice and a great accent. More of a growl than singing, his drawl is out of my youth (Little Rock/Memphis) and makes me feel at home. But the banter is superior. Funny, amusing and comfortable, but not staged. Sure the excessive drinking helped. But nice guys. They wrote a song called "shut up play your guitar" which is either self-referential or down to earth sentiment.
6. "Whats next? How 'bout a drinking song? Oh who am I kidding? They are all drinking songs." nothing to add here.
7. Hard working. They hit the stage a little after 10 and played until 12:20. Going to bed at 1:30 wasn't good for us but worth it.
8. Solid musicianship. They are not eddie van halen or the best rehearsed band. The drinking didn't help either. But top to bottom, they can all play great riffs.
9. I don't know what their songs are about. They're about war, family, girls, love and drinking (see above). Not exactly sure the specific content, but I do enjoy listening. Next time, I'm going to learn the words so I can drink beer and sing along.
10. Did mention the slide guitar?
So two and a half hours of ass-kickin' tunes. Highly recommended. When they come to your town, spend your $15 dollars. It's worth it. A couple of videos:
Update: blog with pictures from Boston show (and downloadable mp3)
http://ryanssmashinglife.blogspot.com/2009/04/live-photography-lucero-in-boston.html
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