Murat Theater - Indianapolis, Indiana - 8.25.10

The Black Crowes

Murat Theater

Indianapolis, Indiana

August 25, 2010

- Acoustic Set -
Remedy
Jealous Again
Hotel Illness
Whoa Mule
Girl From A Pawnshop
Nonfiction
Drivin' Wheel
Better When You're Not Alone            
Oh Josephine
Thorn In My Pride

- Electric Set -
Soul Singing
Sting Me
Another Roadside Tragedy
Wiser Time
My Morning Song
Feathers
Let Me Share The Ride
She Talks To Angels
Twice As Hard
- encore -
Ain't No More Cane On The Brazos
Hard To Handle

Back to the Double Stacker Slacker Special with a stop in Indianapolis tonight.  What's a Double Stacker Slacker Special you ask?  Well, it's not a caloric gut bomb from Burger King and no, it's not a Pancake Cheesecake Sandwich from IHOP.  The Double Stacker Slacker Special is a 3-hour, two set evening of Black Crowes music that makes doing nothing all day on a Wednesday suddenly feel like a successful and productive day.  

Starting off quick on the acoustic side, Remedy and Jealous Again took care of business right out of the gate, hushing anyone who only came to hear the hits.  They'd get a few more later in the evening but were instantly sated tonight in Indy.  After those two started things off, some hand drumming from Steve and some mellow harp from Chris brought in Whoa Mule, which in Swahili is often described as wimbo sheshe.  In English, that roughly translates as "a really good song."  Feel free to use that phrase to describe a variety of Black Crowes songs if you'd like.  Next time you're at a show and they play one you like, turn to the person next to you, say "wimbo sheshe" and see if they don't smile and nod in approval.  

Next were two tunes that we're guessing were inspired by females.  Girl From a Pawnshop was around in one form or another in late '91 and popped up in Who Killed That Bird Out On Your Window Sill with Rich strumming it between takes during the Southern Harmony sessions.  Nonfiction showed up on August 31, 1992 on High As The Moon for the first time in the bridge between Thorn's Progress and Thorn In My Pride.  Lyrical evolution took place and it went full electric eventually, but the first time most people discovered it was on this episode of Saturday Night Live on December 12, 1992.  Video of the Nonfiction performance is nowhere to be found online, so you may have to refer to your own personal collection if you want to see it again.

Next came Drivin' Wheel, also known as Lost My Drivin' Wheel, which is a tough one to track on Crowesbase.   All we know is it doesn't get played enough.  Incidentally there are three songs the band has performed with the word "wheel" in the title.  Can you name the other two?  Spoiler alert -->  The answer is...The Flying Burrito Brothers' Wheels and Jerry Garcia's The Wheel.  Technically, The Wheel was only performed during the BOAF tour and not with the full band.  And there was also a movie made about Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney called Heart Like a Wheel but that has nothing to do with The Black Crowes.  

*Editor's note:  We neglected to mention the fourth "wheel" song in the band's repertoire - This Wheel's On Fire - written by Dylan and Danko, which has seen two full band performances.  Thank you to Bolshevik for pointing out our error.

Speaking of songs that don't get played enough, don't look now but Better When You're Not Alone finally popped up for the first time in almost two years.  The last time it was brought out of storage was also in acoustic form in '08 at the second Town Hall show in New York.  Once a staple of the Three Snakes tour, this tune sort of sneaked off into the shadows in recent years and now gets brought out sporadically with Rich on the acoustic 12-string.  If you were at the Fillmore on August 10, 2005 or at the House of Blues in Cleveland on July 29, 2008 then you were probably pretty pleased to hear it.

Closing down the first set were Oh Josephine and a 12-minute Thorn, with an electric set to follow that seemed to please just about everyone but a few diehards at home judging things on paper.  Another Roadside Tragedy had an inspired jam that just kept going and going before melting down into Wiser Time.  Morning Song rocked faces off per its usual self, then Feathers floated down and Share the Ride blew in toward the end before reminding everyone to take it easy.

She Talks to Angels and Twice As Hard wound down the festivities and gave a lot of people plenty of opportunities to sing along and annoy anyone lucky enough to be standing near them.  Tapers have been known to throw elbows at these people...and while you can't really get mad at somebody for having a good time, once they start singing lyrics off key at the top of their lungs within 5-7 feet of the taper's rig, all bets are off.  Check out this old photo from a Dead show circa 1984 at the Berkeley Community Theatre (as was pointed out by one of our blog readers, T.  thank you!) ...see those tapers and the people around them and how happy everyone is?  Sure, there could be several reasons for that (it could be because this was the first time the Dead had given the tapers their own section...info again provided by T.) but I bet at least part of it was because everyone in this little area was on the same page with the tapers.  Different times I suppose.  Definitely a different crowd.

So...there wasn't anything that fell under the category of rare and unreleased songs tonight other than Feathers - which if we're being honest was actually released on the '95 Horde sampler cd and got enough playing time in '08-'09 to be moved up a notch from "rarely played" to "occasionally played" status - so while it was a solid evening, the hardcore freaks probably won't be ranking this setlist in the top five by the time we reach mid-December.  Ain't No More Cane returned from a one year absence and Hard to Handle finished off the night, which will now be summed up by the following people...

I was surprised to see the lower section of the theater only 1/2 full when TBC started, but that didn't keep them from putting on a stellar show.  The best song of the night for me was Better When You're Not Alone. I had never heard this live before and it was smokin'.

That's one.  Here's another...

The acoustic set was great, Remedy and Jealous Again sounded pretty good, but they really hit their stride in the middle of the set and finished STRONG with "Thorn In My Pride". It should be said right now, Luther is retarded good. The guy is a savant, he is such an amazing guitar player and adds so many layers to an already great band!

That's two.  Here's another...

i've got to be honest.....i was at the show...i had great seats....7th row center... and after all the shows i've been to in the last 20 years...i don't think i've EVER given them a bad review. but this show.....yikes! i didn't care for it at all. other than feathers and oh josephine.....it was hit after hit after hit after hit...so it seemed.  i thought columbus and cleveland had a much better setlist. detroit and chicago too. i guess i rate the shows more on not only the setlist but the vibe. and i just wasn't feeling it in indy.

That's three.  Here's another... 
 

Roadside was AWESOME. Everyone totally locked in, the axemen in particular of course. Then the outro jam was epic.  My memory was that they kept stretching out the jam (we got a righteous RR bonus solo), probably b/c they were on fire and the energy was just pushing it that way, but it did bleed to a finish before the sonic precursors to Wiser.

And now for your mental image portion of the review...

Hotel Illness was insane.  Steve came out front and beat on the big bass band drum while bouncing up and down....head flyin' and going nuts.  He was sweating and breathing heavy after that!  Hilarious. 

Yes, strange things are afoot with font sizes and colors around here.  That's just the way it is.  To St. Louis we go.  No beer menu tonight.  Drink more water.