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Written by Laura Hamlett Tuesday, 06 December 2005 04:06

Chicago–Minneapolis–Madison, with Tommy Keene and Caroline's Spine

It was Labor Day weekend. What better time for a road trip? Not to mention Tommy Keene was playing the final two shows on The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down tour, and we wanted to catch at least one. So why not make a weekend of it, go all the way to Minneapolis where we could visit some friends, then catch Caroline’s Spine in Madison on the way back down?

Soundtrack on the drive from St. Louis to Chicago:
• Buffalo Tom: Let Me Come Over
• Ash: Free All Angels
• Tommy Keene: Songs From the Film
• Nude & Rude: The Best of Iggy Pop
• Morrissey: Live at Wembley

Friday, August 30
First stop: Chicago
Tommy Keene, Schuba’s

Traffic was a little heavy, but road construction (miraculously) at a minimum. We made it all the way to Schuba’s—including stops for lunch and gas—in five hours. We had dinner at Schuba’s Harmony Café, met my college roommate and her husband for a drink, then grabbed a table in the club. By now, it was 10:00; we were tired, having been up late the night before with the magazine. Keene wasn’t scheduled onstage for another two hours, following two opening bands.

The first, The Boggs, was a foursome from New York City. They had been described as doing for Bluegrass what the Pogues had done for Irish music—in other words, start with the basics and then break all the rules. Their instruments included lead banjo, steel guitar, bass, and drums, with all of the front three lending lead or accompanying vocals.

The Boggs’ sound is this: frantic pacing, rapidfire picking, and a texture of strings over a strong and crazy beat. The vocals were hard to make out—whether due to the lead singer’s inability to enunciate, the venue’s not-so-great sound quality, or a little of both—but were dark, deeply mired in religion and redemption.

Next up was an apparently popular Chicago band who were derivative, clichéd, and, in a nutshell, everything I don’t like about music. There was absolutely nothing unique about their sound, their look, or their posturing, and even less to say about their pedantic and pandering lyrics. (They reminded me of Spinal Tap, in fact, the difference being that Spinal Tap was meant to be bad.)

Finally, at nearly 12:30, Tommy Keene took the stage. Keene always begins his shows with a song played over the P.A.; on previous tours, it was his own “People With Fast Cars Drive Fast,” an instrumental which always gave the audience the cue that the band members were about to take the stage. This year, inexplicably, he’d chosen the Broadway song, “Ed Sullivan.”

Tommy Keene setlist – Chicago:
• Begin Where We Begin
• Long Time Missing
• Man Without a Soul
• Down Down Down
• Hanging Over My Head
• Nothing Can Change You
• The Biggest Conflict
• Big Blue Sky
• The Final Hour
• Underworld
• Highwire Days
• Circumstance
• Turning on Blue
• Places That Are Gone

True to his word when I interviewed him back in June, Keene accented this tour with some of his “C” songs—as he describes them, songs that weren’t singles or crowd favorites, songs he doesn’t normally play in concert. These included “Down Down Down,” a lovely ballad from his 1993 EP, Asleep on a Rollercoaster, and a couple of tunes from 1989’s Based on Happy Times, his last Geffen release, “Nothing Can Change You” and “The Biggest Conflict.”

He also graced the crowd with the playing of “The Final Hour,” his 16-minute epic rock opera from his latest release, The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down. Before the song, Keene seemed to take a deep breath, smiled, then turned to his bandmates—the usual suspects: Brad Quinn on bass, John Richardson on Drums, and Steve Gerlach on second guitar—and ask, “Ready?” And they were; truly, it was breathtaking, even more impressive live than on disc.

My only complaint that night is that the show was cut short by the bar’s curfew—that, and the drunk and passionate Chicago cop (a longtime Keene fan, apparently) in front of me, who alternated between buying drinks for himself and the band or clutching his head at the beauty of it all. (Seriously.)

He was right on one count, though: a Tommy Keene show, though increasingly rare, is a beautiful thing. You’ve gotta catch it when—and where—you can.

Saturday, August 31
Second stop: Minneapolis
Tommy Keene, The 400 Bar

Soundtrack on the drive from Chicago to Minneapolis:
• Paul McCartney & Wings: Wingspan
• Big Country: Steeltown
• Weezer: Pinkerton
• The Judybats: Down in the Shacks Where the Satellite Dishes Grow
• The The: Soul Mining
• Miles Hunt: Live at the Knitting Factory, NYC
• Nadine: Lit up from the Inside
• Wayne: Music on Plastic

The 400 Bar is a bit rundown, in a bit of a questionable neighborhood. The whole place needs a fresh paint job, and most of the staff could use an attitude adjustment. Beyond that, it’s a wonderful space for a small club, good acoustics and a healthy variety of beer on tap. Again, we grabbed a table and set out two stacks of Playback St. Louis: the July issue (with Tommy Keene on the cover) and the current issue, September (with Josh Rouse), just back from the printer. The house music suddenly changed and we were treated to Rouse’s latest album, Under Cold Blue Stars, in its entirety. The stars were certainly in alignment tonight.

This evening’s opener was a five-piece called Sixth on the Bill, an alt-rock/alt-country quintet recently relocated from North Dakota to Minneapolis. Halfway through their set, the charismatic lead singer (self-introduced as “the artist formerly known as Cordell”) strapped on an accordian and said to the audience, “You know what time it is?” “Accordian time!” the crowd yelled. Cordell smiled and, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, responded, “Well, sure.” They were talented and enjoyable; we hope to hear more of them in the not-so-distant future.

Tommy Keene setlist – Minneapolis:
• Begin Where We Begin
• Long Time Missing
• Man Without a Soul
• Down Down Down
• Hanging Over My Head
• Nothing Can Change You
• The Biggest Conflict
• Big Blue Sky
• The Final Hour
• Silent Town
• Highwire Days
• Good Thing Going
• Back to Zero
• Turning on Blue
• Places That Are Gone
• Compromise
• My Mother Looked Like Marilyn Monroe
• All Your Love Will Stay
• Kill Your Sons

The Minneapolis show was the best Tommy Keene show I’ve ever seen. It was the last night of the tour, Keene and the band were tired but relaxed and happy. Keene chatted and joked more than usual, at one point even asking for requests from the audience. He played more songs than the night before, and probably would have continued playing had he not again run into the bar’s curfew. Though not a sellout, the club was respectfully packed, with everyone seeming enthusiastic and grateful (though not annoying, as with the night before).

Tonight’s highlights were the always haunting “Silent Town,” the romantic “Good Thing Going,” and the classic “Back to Zero.” It was also a treat to hear Keene’s cover of Lou Reed’s “Kill Your Sons,” a song he’d recorded for his Geffen debut, Places That Are Gone.

Sunday, September 1
Final stop: Madison
Caroline’s Spine, Taste of Madison

Soundtrack on the drive from Minneapolis to Madison:
• 16 Horsepower: Sackcloth and Ash
• Doves: Last Broadcast
• Caroline’s Spine: Attention Please
• KCRW: Sounds Eclectic Too
• Gooding: Life Itself
• Bullets of Orange (self-titled)

We were misinformed. Caroline’s Spine’s Web site listed their set as beginning at 6:00 p.m.; in reality, that’s time of the Sunday night curfew for outdoor events in Madison. Luckily, we arrived with time to spare. We found rock star parking, got lunch (a slice of pizza and a microbrewed pale ale), then wandered over to the WJJO stage where the Spine were headlining. As we began to hear the strains of the music from the stage, we realized it was the Spine, finishing what we later learned was their fourth song of the set. Thankfully, we didn’t miss much—but then, any Spine is good Spine.

Caroline’s Spine setlist – Madison:
• Jumpship
• You and Me
• Ready or Not
• Drift Away
• Sorry Now
• Attention Please
• Monsoon
• Nothing to Prove
• King for a Day
• Again and Again
• Trio Pain
• Sullivan
• Rainbow Connection

“Sorry Now,” my favorite of the band’s new material, is always a treat. Bassist Scott Jones was having technical problems, requiring a brief intermission and the assistance of a guitar tech; frontman Jimmy Newquist, ever the crowd-pleaser, quickly covered and said, “Who wants to hear Jason [Gillardi, drummer] play a solo?” The crowd screamed, Gillardi delivered, the problem was fixed, and the show went on—again from the beginning of “Sorry Now.”

As he does on holiday weekends, Newquist was clad in his POW-MIA t-shirt; in remembrance of our country’s heroes, the band finished their set with “a very appropriate song,” “Sullivan” from 1997’s Hollywood Records debut, Monsoon, a song about the five brothers from Waterloo, Iowa who were drafted into WWI, served together (by their request) on the same naval ship, then died together.

Due to time constraints—the band went over as it was, nearly getting fined by the city for missing their curfew by three minutes—the lone encore was the Spine’s rendition of the old Muppets’ song, “Rainbow Connection.” Truly, it is both magical and moving to see a rock band engage so many people this way: hands in the air, singing along, feeling together a part of something bigger than simply individuals in a crowd, out to see a rock band. Caroline’s Spine are that rare rock ’n’ roll band: incredibly talented, enjoying the hell out of what they do, and determined to engage the crowd and give everyone a good time.

Like I said, any Spine is good Spine. Make that great; this is a band that will not disappoint.

A huge thank you to Steve Pompe at ACP Electronics for making the on-the-road tunes possible!