I really enjoyed Steve Wynn’s gig on Satruday night at Howlin’ Wolf. It was loud and dirty. If you heard before that this his best lineup since the original incarnation of Dream Syndicate – you heard it right. The gig was a part of a larger festival deal with excellent Viva Voce and Richmond Fountain (also good) before Wynn and Shellac after Wynn. This means that all gigs were somewhat abreviated and Wynn’s gig was only about 50 minutes long. Wynn decided to include two brand new songs and it’s quite peculiar that those two were my favorite, even though in general I prefer songs that I’m able to singalong at the gig. It’s a cheesy habit, but it helps me get into the groove. I wanted more, but the crawd obviously came to see Shellac and Wynn, Linda and the boys left the stage without returning.
Did you scream “Merritville!”? I would have. If I was drinking.
I saw him live once, touring with Come (which is one of my absolute best bands of all time) I think.
He didn’t play Merritville for me. Did he play it for you?
I didn’t have to scream, I bumped on him and Linda at the bar. We had a long and pleasent conversation. I asked if he’ll play Shelley’s Blues pt2 as that’s Sarah’s favorite song. But he said they haven’t played that one in ages and that they’re not ready to do it. Merritville is indeed one if his best songs. He skipped that one too, but it was one of the highlights on the acoustic gig that I saw in ’96. He was touring with Come, but the organizers had money only for Wynn’s solo acoustic gig.
Good to read this one! I’ve heard good things about Viva Voce’s shows, too…and I’ve been enjoying their CD a lot over the past few weeks, especially the track: “Yr Epic Heart.”