The Hold Steady

Sunday 8th March. Bush Hall, London. The Hold Steady. Always look forward to a Hold Steady gig, great songs, great band and the sheer enthusiasm of frontman Craig Finn almost guarantees a good show. It’s been thirteen years since I first saw this band in a small club in Portsmouth and tonight for the final show of the London Weekender they are playing a similarly small venue and one of my favourites in London, Bush Hall.

Whilst the fine album ‘Thrashing through the passion’ is only six months old the shows over this weekend have not been a hard promotion but have taken in tracks from throughout their career. The Electric Ballroom shows drew heavily from the masterpiece that is ‘Boys and Girls in America’ but tonight the showcase album is debut ‘Almost Killed Me’ and it’s nice to hear a lot of these old tracks for the first time in a long while. Not far behind is five tracks from ‘Stay Positive’ from 2008. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that the vast majority of the set draws from the albums with Franz Nicolay in the band and I’m glad to say that he’s back with them. It’s a far more rounded sound when he’s around and he plays with such a joy on his face it’s infectious. That to be fair can be said of the whole band who are constantly smiling and joking around throughout the night.

Whats clear tonight is there is a real hard core fan element in the house. They create a rarely seen mosh pit in Bush Hall, know all of the words and with The Hold Steady there are a lot of words and sing at the top of their voices. I will be hard pressed to hear a louder noise than this crowd sing shouting the ‘Wo-ah-oh-ee-ah-oh-ee-oh’ chorus from ‘Chips Ahoy’.

It’s a relentless hundred minutes with the band rattling through 24 songs with little rest bite. The only lighter moment is the nice start to the encore with just Craig and Franz on stage. That said the twin guitar attack of Tad and Steve really rock this small room and my ears were ringing for hours afterwards which doesn’t happen to these old ears very often these days.

On a night that took me down memory lane some of the highlights included ‘Sequestered in Memphis’ and ‘Yeah Sapphire’ from ‘Stay Positive’ but of course ‘Chips Ahoy’ stood out and shook this venue to its rafters and I feared for the floor that was bouncing and creaking under the weight of the whole crowd pogoing around.

A great night what certainly blew away the cobwebs on a Sunday night.

Keep on rockin y’all

Friday 9th March. Electric Ballroom, London. The Hold Steady. It’s almost a full pack of the walker gig cartel tonight with six of the eight of us out tonight for some no nonsense rock and roll with The Hold Steady. It’s been ten long years since we have seen them live and eleven since a brilliant gig at the same venue in 07. Expectations levels are high.

Over here celebrating over ten years since their classic album ‘Boys and Girls in America’ was released we welcome back Franz Nicolay into the fold on keys, sharp suit and pork pie hat.
We welcome them on stage to the backdrop of the Pink Panther theme tune and then it’s straight into ‘Stuck between stations’. Touch paper lit, no delay and we’re off like a rocket, kicking rock n roll’s ass for the next two hours.

Craig Finn is a mesmerising front man, non-stop movement, constantly gesturing, arm waving, and holding church to all of us who are The Hold Steady. It’s a breathless start taking in classics like ‘Sequestered in Memphis’ and of course ‘Chips Ahoy’ and I think I’m still getting my voice back from that one.

The band are on top form tonight with three guitarists beefing out the sound but of course leaving enough room for Nicolay’s keys which really completes the classic Hold Steady Sound. One of our group compared them to the E Street band fronted by Bob Mould. I would probably add a touch of David Byrne to Finns manic persona out front.

The set is well paced with a few moments of relative calm before they unleash another killer tune. There’s highlights throughout the set and in addition to those tracks already mentioned ‘Southtown Girls’ and the two closers of ‘Stay Positive’ and ‘Killer Parties’ provide the perfect send off to the night.

On the journey home with ears still ringing and throat sore its testament to a great night. Let’s not leave it another ten years till we do it again

Till the next time keep on mother fu(k!n, kick ass rockin’ y’all

I'm an unabashed Hold Steady Fan. The reason I like The Hold Steady is because their songs tend to hit a nerve with me. Craig Finn creates characters with depth and his writing has a humor to it that is the icing on the cake. The Hold Steady songs are like rocking little novellas. The music is guitar driven rock and roll. The Tad's solo's blaze in a way that truly satisfies ones inner air guitarist. I took a friend who was not familiar with the band to the show and we both commented on the fact that fans of The Hold Steady FRIGGIN LOVE The Hold Steady like, A LOT. The show was solid. They played a nice mix of classic favorites and news stuff. The Waiting Room is a great venue. The sound was perfect, the bar tenders where cool. The opening Band, The Josh Berwengar Band was solid, fun, loose and a great opener for the Hold Steady. The Hold Steady Kicked off their show with a fist full of classics. The crowd knew all the words to all the songs and where not shy about singing along. Finn is a likable, smart but funny front man in the Elvis Costello mold who clearly loves what he does and loves his audience.
The Hold Steady's music matters to me. It has been go to music in good and bad times. I find the joy, the love the fun of these shows to be well worth the cover of admission. Go see The Hold Steady Live.

I saw The Hold Steady five years at a small, standing-room-only venue in Charlottesville, VA. Since then, I've been craving a chance to see them again. Craig Finn is great onstage, drinking a PBR and amplifying all the emotion you hear in the record tenfold as he stands before you gripping his guitar. I got close enough to reach out, making songs like Slapped Actress and Hurricane J incredible. Go see them. They'll play all night, they'll come back for the encore, a small mosh pit will break out, you'll get close enough to the stage to see Finn sweat. It's a show I've relieved again and again.

I'm an atheist. Given how much Craig Finn enjoys singing about emerging from the river really high and born again, you'd think the religious overtones would turn me off.

Not so: a Hold Steady show is a religious experience even for the nonbelievers. Get just the right buzz on, get to the middle of the dance floor, and you'll never feel more connected to a group of strangers.

It's the church of rock 'n' roll, and there's a magnificent lyricist at the pulpit backed by four bishops of rhythm.

The Show was great... I thought they'd be really good live and they exceed my extraordinarily hard scale 'cause I've seen like north of 3K bands live...

I tell people they sound kinda like bruce springsteen, but las night watching them perform I realized they're some weird mashup lovechild of the Boss, the Eagles, and Elvis Costello...

Great mix of older and newer material. It was their second night but the energy still felt fresh. Fun to have six pieces up there (yea keyboard!). Union Transfer is the perfect size for them--big enough to hold the crowd (two nights sold out), small enough to have a great seat anywhere in the house.