The Hold Steady @ Magic Stick 5/15/07
By Art Michalski
As the thunder rolled through downtown Detroit, the Brooklyn via Minneapolis band The Hold Steady provided a poignant and strong 85-minute set of straight ahead rock and provided relief from the nasty weather outside.
The much celebrated critical darlings lived up to their hype and bounced back and forth between jangly pop-rock and Bruce Springsteen-esque tales of the state of current affairs. Playing material from all three albums, including their latest Boys and Girls in America album, the group soaked in the love from the nearly sold out crowd at the Stick.
Lead by jovial lead singer Craig Finn, the group busted into newer songs such as the single “Chips Ahoy” and the very enjoyable roots rock sounding “Stuck Between Stations.” Along with pogoing keyboardist Franz Nicholy, Finn and the rest of the band displayed more of their chops on older tracks like “Charlemagne in Sweatpants” and “Stevie Nik.”
Finn approached the songs much like a storyteller would, and didn’t resort to screaming or trying to act cool, in order to win over the fans. His approach was more laid back and humorous. Ripping into everything from the current hardcore rock scene (which Finn was a member of many moons ago) to trendy people, it was a relief to see a singer connect with his fans.
On the track “Chicago Seemed a Little Tired Tonight,” he sarcastically dedicated it to the people who move to Chicago from other cities in the Midwest and wouldn’t shut up about their town (believe me, you and I all have at least one friend who cant stop talking about how great Chicago is). It was ironic that as the song was playing, the Bulls had wrapped up a win against the Pistons; but it was fitting at the time.
The band seems to draw comparisons to Bruce Springsteen, among others, for their narrative storytelling which seems to be one of their strengths. As far as honest-to-goodness rock music, you couldn’t get much better than the set The Hold Steady puts on.
The humorous titled Cincinnati band the Heartless Bastards opened the set with a 40-minute set, that rivaled the headliner in fan fervor and crowd response.
