The Hold Steady @ McCarren Park Pool

The Hold Steady; The Loved Ones; J. Roddy Walston & The Business
@ McCarren Park Pool
Brooklyn, NY - June 29, 2008

The first Jelly NYC Pool Party of The Stay Positive Constructive Summer of 2008 was also the Tad Kubler Birthday Bash. The man himself provided some of the most intense solos I've seen him do, on all sorts of guitars, and it really made the concert. Well that, and the fact that the stormy skies let up just in time for the entire set.
THS played pretty much all of the new record and as of right now, half of it seems to be a bit on the sloppy, slow side. But as with all things Hold Steady, it may just take some time to get into. The stuff that does work already - the title track "Stay Positive", "Constructive Summer", "Magazines", "Sequestered in Memphis", "Lord I'm Discouraged" - work swimmingly (bad pool party reference). "Slapped Actress" has adequately replaced "Killer Parties" as the finale. The rest of the set was filled in by great renditions of already great material - "Stuck Between Stations", "Multitude of Casualties", "Chips Ahoy", "Banging Camp" and so on. A really rocking version of "Same Kooks" was a bit of a more-than-pleasant surprise, as was "Arms and Hearts", one of a bit too many ballads played this day but it worked very well.

The Loved Ones were a terrible mall punk band that weren't just Warped Tour bad, they were BEYOND Warped Tour bad. I'd rather see Paramore. I'm not joking. Like Dude, they were like, 30 Seconds to Mars bad. That's BAD.

J. Roddy and the Business made an impressive showing at the Langhorne Slim release party (and it certainly may have impressed Craig Finn of the Hold Steady because he was at that gig, liked them, and now here they are opening for his band). Could their brand of 70's-homage southern arena rock hold up for a second showing? Ehhhh. It worked for the first few songs but how much of this can one take? I figured they'd make for a good opener for the Hold Steady and they did but I wouldn't be in any rush to see them again.