Glad and sorry

Glad I got to go; sorry it's over. Tuesday night was the long-awaited return of Golden Smog to Chicago. I'd been looking forward to another Golden Smog show since this was announced, and bought my ticket when they went on sale - but recent intelligence reports that Jeff Tweedy would indeed be joining the band this time were certainly very tasty icing on the Smog cake. (Ew.) My second Golden Smog show in Minneapolis was a lot of fun, but I had been determined that someday I would see the full band together. That someday turned out to be September 19th, 2006.

Doors were fairly early; we were let into the Vic a little before 7:00. XRT was set up to tape the show, something I'm definitely looking forward to hearing. Tim O'Reagan opened the show with his band, including Jim Boquist, Peter Anderson on drums, and another guy whose name escapes me, but Tim first introduced as "a young Robert Redford". Sandy got her first of many shout-outs that night from Tim. The band played a nice variety of songs, ranging between tracks from his recent album, the Jayhawks' "Tampa to Tulsa", a Stealers Wheel cover, and an Everly Brothers tune.

And then it was time for Golden Smog. Any questions about whether Jeff would be brought out later as a "surprise" or just play throughout the night were put to rest when he walked onstage with everyone else to open the show. He is an full-fledged band member, after all. They launched into "Looking Forward to Seeing You", and we were off.

I enjoyed the night immensely. Plenty of old favorites, including songs I'd never heard played with a full band - "Lost Love", "Can't Keep From Talking" - and some I've heard plenty, like "If I Only Had a Car". The new songs were well-represented as well, and Jeff kind of took a backseat for many of those, sometimes leaving the stage or just jamming on a tambourine in the background. Several songs were helped out by a three-man horn section in the back, cleverly dubbed "The Chi-Town Horns" by Kraig. They played a couple of songs that I'd never seen live at all, like "Listen Joe" and "Long Time Ago". (Soundchecks don't count.) "Listen Joe" was particularly gorgeous, with Jeff really outdoing himself at the end on guitar. Gary reminded us that Golden Smog started out as a cover band, and accordingly we were treated to "Glad and Sorry", "Easy to be Hard", "Starman", a wonderful rendition of "Dang Me" - dedicated to Sandy - with Kraig on lead vocals, and a blistering "Revolution Blues". The final song was "Until You Came Along," and everyone from both bands piled onstage ... and then some. Blake joined in one one chorus, sharing a microphone with Gary and Kraig. Peter Anderson shook an orange like a maraca. Jeff sat on a stool in the keyboard nook and harmonized. I strongly believe that all concerts should end with a singalong like that. If they must end.