Lucero

Went to a concert recently. Hadn't been to one in a while.

The band was great. Lucero. A friend turned me on to them. I don't know what you'd call them. Southern rock funneled through punk? Vice versa? I listen to them and it's immediately summer and the window's down in the car. They make me want to hit the road without a clue of where I'm headed. They played for about 2 hours. Their encore consisted of them looking at each other and wondering what songs they knew to play. At one point, they started playing until they realized they had played it before.

It was the most rock star concert I've been to. Copious amounts of alcohol both on stage and off. Tattoos galore. Good music. Yes, I suppose there were things missing. There was no disdain for the audience, no destruction, no nudity. Well, I take no nudity back. There was a random girl who walked on from backstage and made donuts with her tummy for the benefit of the lead guitarist. And then there was the smashed couple. They were fun to watch. The girl made like she was going to take her shirt off for the benefit of her man who looked too drunk to know what was going on.

I'd forgotten just how drunk people can be. There was one dude who was probably 6'5'' who loved the band and since he was drunk and that tall, could go anywhere and profess it. It was fun to track his progress through the crowd. He looked like he was wading in the shallow end. There was also an all-out brawl. It took 5 guys to separate the two.

Two other bands played that night. The first was fine. They played country/rockabilly (?). They were a little too unaffected by it all. All their songs sounded about the same, which could be worse since it's a good style, but come on. What annoyed me most was the rhythm guitarist. He would sing backing vocals but wasn't harmonizing. This kind of music needs that.

I was a little apprehensive when the second band trickled on stage: a keyboardist who had enough facial hair to make a wookie feel inadequate, he wore a beret; a girl with a bari sax; a fairly normal if linebackerish drummer; a guy in a dark pinstripe suit with a red tie and net hat with "DANGER" handwritten across, crazy, curly hair sticking out. Their appearance screamed irony and pretension. I saw Chuck Prophet open for The Old 97's and he annoyed me all to heck. I was prepared for the same: an act like they didn't enjoy being onstage that would comment on the rock and roll lifestyle.

Imagine my surprise when they opened with "Valentine" (not the Old 97's song), a song they had played with regularity on XRT about a year ago. I didn't remember who sang it before, but I will now: Bobby Bare, Jr. From the chorus, I gather it's a song about a guy who killed his Valentine. It's catchy. But most importantly, they played it without irony. Their whole set, too. It was strange. Cognitive dissonance. But they were good. Great songs, consummate musicians, but most importantly for me, they were enjoying themselves.

I can't stand when bands pretend or are truly not enjoying themselves. You're playing rock music in front of adoring fans. You're providing a vicarious experience. Don't rob us of that.

Anyway two good bands that understand. Check 'em out. Lucero comes around to Chicago every November