Pere Ubu in DC

Last week, I saw Pere Ubu on their "Coed Jail" tour. Only songs from the their first five albums plus the early Hearthan singles were played. Even though Dave Thomas is the only member from that time period, with the exception of guitarist Gary Spierko, replacing Keith Moline for this tour, this is the band's most stable lineup (20 years and counting) and as one would expect, they played flawlessly. The appeal of this tour was that there would be songs played that haven't been played in decades, if ever. Unfortunately, no "Birdies" that was my first introduction to Ubu (from "Urgh, A Music War), a performance that was a genuine "what the hell is this?" moment and intrigued me enough to keep my eye out for them. Lucky for me, "Cloudland" came out soon after that and made me a fan for life (I can't imagine, I would've been so smitten, if it had been one of their later albums).

As for the performance, unlike the other time I saw them, this was a well rehearsed set and there was no spontaneity. Some of the highlights of Thomas' scripted dialogue was that the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland was the inspiration for "Heart of Darkness"; "The Long Walk Home" was written by Lou Reed after a Velvet Underground tour stop in Texas, when he and Junior Walker (who was coincidentally staying at the same motel) went to go see ZZ Top (hmm, somehow I doubt that). The music was great, too many great songs to single out as standouts. Keyboardist Robert Wheeler coaxed some amazing sounds out of the theremin. I see theremins showing up more and more nowadays but no one plays it like he does. Spierko was an able replacement and bassist Michele Temple and drummer Steve Mehlman laid down a solid groove. As for Thomas, he's one of kind. Unlike that last time I saw him, he sat down the entire time, still seems to have the energy to perform, however.

One weird note. During "Final Solution", a woman pushed her way in front of me and started waving her arms and dancing around. Fine, I guess, she's a big fan. But then she kept turning around and motioning to her friends behind to take her picture. Finally, she just turned her back on the band and while dancing posed for pictures. Of course, when the next song started, "West Side Story", not the 'hit' that "Final Solution" is, she quickly scurried back.

The opener, Obnox - a duo from Cleveland, played a mixture of garage rock and hip-hop. Last time I saw these guys, the frontman spent a lot of time stating how he was one of the first black punk rockers. This time, he didn't mention that but did spend an inordinate amount of time talking.

Setlist:
Heart Of Darkness
On the Surface
Petrified
Real World
Rhapsody in Pink
The Modern Dance
Navvy
Small Was Fast
Codex
Rounder
The Long Walk Home
My Dark Ages
Dub Housing
Misery Goats
The Fabulous Sequel
The Vulgar Boatman Bird
Over My Head
Caligari's Mirror
Heaven
Sentimental Journey
Humour Me
Encore:
Final Solution
West Side Story

I've seen Rocket From the Tombs (one of the greatest shows I've ever seen, for a variety of reasons), but never Ubu. Someday...

Thanks for the report!

I last saw Ubu at the Hopscotch Festival almost three years ago. A thrilling show since they were touring behind "The Lady From Shanghai." Dave Thomas was sitting most of the show then, unlike the first time I saw them in 2002. Yes, "Cloudland" was quite an earworm. Has an avant-garage band "selling out" ever yielded such sweet fruit? In an alternate universe, it's a "classic rock" album. But I'd say the same of "Shanghai." I need to get "Carnival Of Souls." I wonder what old film their next album will be titled after?



Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

This makes me hungry! What a setlist! Thanks for the report, Heff. Pity they're ignoring the West Coast on this go-'round.

A couple of friends of mine are heading to Cleveland to see them this weekend. They invited me, but I can't swing it. It would definitely be cool to see them in Cleveland, though I also think it might be a little crazy.

> ... I also think it might be a little crazy.

Reno, you're saying that as if it'd be a bad thing ...!

Well, it depends. How big a draw is Ubu with Millennials? Because, not to be a cranky old fart (though that is, in fact, what I am), trekking ten hours to Cleveland to stand in a crowd of hip young Clevelanders more concerned with letting everyone in the world know that they're at a show than, y'know, paying attention to the show, sounds pretty miserable to me.

I would imagine that seeing Cleveland's greatest proto-punk/punk/post-punk legends would be a great draw to all the precious darlings who've acquired "vinyls" of their hometown heroes (which they're more concerned with displaying than listening to), and frankly, if I were to find myself in a crowd typical of most club shows I've gone to over the last several years, I would personally set the Cuyahoga ablaze and head out of town.

So yes, I am a crotchety old bastard who has let my annoyance with the entitled behavior of "the kids" completely ruin my concert going experience, to the point I barely bother anymore. In general, I try to keep in mind that every older generation despises younger generations, and thus don't get too worked up over Millennials' taste in music, etc. HOWEVER, I can't overlook the fact that they are, in my experience, the biggest bunch of assholes ever when it comes to concert etiquette.

That's why I end up going to more shows at the geezer auditorium by my house nowadays than I do going to any happenin' club. I didn't really give three fucks about seeing Loudon Wainwright III when he was there recently, but at least my fellow senior citizens didn't completely ruin the show for me.

That turned out to be more of a rant than I intended. But honestly, so many shows I go to are completely wrecked by the audience anymore but that I can't really make a good excuse for traveling three states just to catch a show. If they were playing here, hell yes.

That said, I have been talked into seeing Pat Benatar at the State Fair this year. Yeehaw.

One thing I have been doing lately is to research all I can about an artist before I go see them. For some reason the appeal of the unknown has lost its allure for me. Pere Ubu has been promoting this tour like crazy and as a result I have been able gain more insight into the band (mainly Dave Thomas) than normal research would allow.

PPM - the next album is set to be: Twenty Years in a Montana Missile Silo. Don't know if it is part of their 'Orange' period which contains the last two albums.

Delvin and Toland - According to Thomas, three weeks of touring is all he stand at one time. There is mention of maybe a west coast swing at the end of the year so there is a chance.

Brad - maybe it's the DC area but I don't really see many young people at the shows I go to. If it is metal or punk, I do but for bands like Pere Ubu or the Feelies (who I saw a couple of months ago), the audience is generally made up of people who remember then. I don't think Pere Ubu is considered 'cool' by hipsters today - no commercials use their music.

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I don't think Pere Ubu is considered 'cool' by hipsters today - no commercials use their music.

I would agree in most places. I think in Cleveland it might be a different story, since they're hometown heroes there.

For instance, I think if Drunks With Guns did a reunion show anywhere outside of St. Louis, it would be mainly old folks or the really, really hip who dragged themselves out for it. If they did a show here, it would be a mob scene, split between old coots who remember them and youngsters who've never heard a note by them but know the legends by heart.

Pat Benatar??!! Nooooooooooooo!!!!!



Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

Not my idea, but a friend of mine from college is dying to go and I felt obligated to join her, since she wouldn't go if I didn't join her.

I'm using Neil Giraldo's long term production work with the Del Lords as my cover story to ease my conscience.

> One thing I have been doing lately is to research all I can about an artist before I go see
> them. For some reason the appeal of the unknown has lost its allure for me.

My wife is that way with the opening acts. She checks out their music and decides whether she wants to get to the venue in time to see them, or just blow them off. As she put it (after seeing two crappy opening acts at the same show), "The most valuable resource we have is time! It's bad enough that the promoter has taken our money to show us these two crappy bands, but he's wasted our time in the bargain!"

I saw the Louisville show a couple of weeks back. I wasn't expecting Obnox and basically sat at the bar and drank one extra while they were on, so when Ubu started I went down front and bounced around just as I did at my first Coed Jail tour performance in 1978. David was having a cranky night and started to get into it onstage with the keyboard player, before halting the show and taking the band offstage for re-alignment, and coming back to play the rest of the set successfully. I enjoyed it immensely, but was sad to see David Thomas in such a weakened state. As I heard the old songs I remembered when he'd bounce around the stage like Jackie Gleason, I feel bad he's not up for it these days.

All right west coasters, your chance to see Chaos live:

12.02.16 - Vancouver, BC - Cobalt
12.03.16 - Seattle, WA - The Crocodile
12.04.16 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
12.06.16 - San Francisco, CA - Slims
12.09.16 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
12.10.16 - San Diego, CA - Casbah

Ooh, at The Echo, eh?

When I saw Ubu in the '80s , they probably played many of the same songs they're doing now! Tho of course it's almost an entirely different band now - when I saw 'em it was mostly the orig line up, tho with the late Jim Jones on the gee-tar. Have heard so much about Robert Wheeler, I should check this out. I have a real nutty album Wheeler did with Ubu's previous electronics wizard, Alan Ravenstine, just the two of them makin' like a '50s sci-fi movie soundtrack.

The new band is excellent, particularly Wheeler! Here's a review of the band at a 2013 gig I attended:

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The moods did shift plentifully as the vibrant live arrangements gave lots of space for the instrumentalists to carefully fill. Ms. Temple’s punchy bass was a touch high in the mix, but the overall soundstage was still excellent, and she didn’t obliterate the other players. Youngster Mehlman [the only core member shy of 40] proffered a sparkling mix of percussion that belied a deft touch. My wife was quite impressed with Dave Cintron’s extremely precise playing. This was no stereotypical rock guitar but guitar wielded as precisely as a scalpel. He really won me over too when he busted out an E-Bow, which is a sound I’m a sucker for. Of course, he was sitting in on this tour, so the pressure was really on him to deliver and given that he was playing from charts and that Dave Thomas was just a few feet away, he delivered with excellence.

While the whole band attained a vibe not unlike that of King Crimson in terms of their mastery of control and breadth of sound, they avoided the raw power of Crimson for something more left field. But that left field was most capably fleshed out by the flat out brilliant EMS/Theremin playing by Robert Wheeler. In fact, I don’t think I can say I’ve heard a more exciting synth player in a live setting ever, since if you will recall, the EMS synth he played was bereft of keys with just touchplates, pots and patch cords to affect the sound. He was jumping back and forth between the EMS and the Theremin the entire set as he added brilliant whorls of sound to the band’s sonic fingerprint. His Theremin playing was flat out the best I’d ever heard in my life. He was doing amazing things with that Theremin! Credit to the mixer for keeping his work popping in the mix.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

Ditto on what PPM said. Nowadays, it seems like every other band I see uses the theremin. Wheeler is the only one that I've see that plays it as opposed to just use it for the cool sounds it makes.

He was manning the merch table when I bought the Pere Ubu tour book and he shook my hand and looked me eye and said 'Thank You'. I noticed that he did this with everyone that bought something. The kicker was that his shirt read "Musicians are Scum" - go see `em, Fab.

When I saw Rocket From the Tombs several years ago, David Thomas himself sat on the edge of the stage and sold CDs and T-shirts. He shook the hand of everyone who came up and was very gracious. I've never seen Pere Ubu, alas, but I'm sure it will be great and the band, despite Thomas' irascible rep, will be just as fabulous offstage. Don't miss this chance!

Barring some catastrophe, I'll be there on 12/4. Thanks, Heff!