"Music is a spiritual expression of what's in your heart. Music as a way of getting rich is a pretty new thing, and I often wonder if the mega-bucks glitzy atmosphere is making the quality of music suffer. You have to work really hard to get around that and remember why you're in it in the first place: because you have to be. It's like an addiction. You can't go a day without picking up your guitar. To me, the only commercial goals that are really valid are, 'Boy, I wish I didn't have to go to work. I wish I could do this all the time." -Trey Anastasio
"Impose rules to make life simpler. Break them to make life more fun." -Jon Fishman
Saturday night I caught an interesting show at the Double Door in Chicago. The performing band was the Twilight Singers who are fronted by Greg Dulli (former lead singer of the Afghan Whigs). They were in town for two sold out shows in support of their new CD, 'Blackberry Belle.'
The show got off to a rocky start due to the band's tardiness. The showtime printed on the ticket stub was 10 PM and most people arrived early. It was our understanding there would be a DJ spinning before the show, so we grabbed a drink at Pontiac until 10:30 PM. After drinks and smokes we headed over to the show only to be greeted by a still spinning DJ. To our surprise the band made the crowd wait until after midnight before coming on stage. Needless to say, everyone was pissed! Not only did we have to wait two solid hours in a smoky club, but the DJ was horrible. In between and during songs, the crowd yelled obscenities to both the DJ and the Twilight Singers. At around midnight the crowd broke loose in a chant of "Bullshit!" Once this chant started the band quickly arrived on stage and acted like nothing was wrong.
I will admit the first two songs kicked most of our asses and made us forget our anger towards the band. It was a great show...when they played music. In case you are not familiar with Greg Dulli he likes to hear himself talk. Of the two hour set, Greg wasted a good 30-40 minutes yakking about unimportant, boring bullshit. During their encore an audience member yelled to Greg, "Shut up and play. You're not Jim Morrison." This was by far my favorite quote of the evening. Greg reminds me of Ryan Adams to some extent. Although he's a great musician, he's a complete jackass. It bugs me when a musician's personality falls short of matching his music. Greg loves to sing about loneliness and fallen apart relationships. After seeing him live I don't feel sorry for him. I'm not surprised he's single.
It's true that most of this review was negative, but the music, when played, was excellent. I highly recommend downloading a tune or two from the Twilight Singers. Their sound is reminiscent of the Afghan Whigs' '1969' CD.
Among those in attendance at Saturday's show was none other than, Jimmy Chamberlin, of the Smashing Pumpkins.