The Hold Steady & Two Cow Garage
Wednesday, October 21st – The Big Dipper

After working a 12-hour day at a Children’s Miracle Network Radiothon I met up with Trucker Dave and we were only a few minutes late heading down to see one of the last shows at the Big Dipper.

Because I had to work late, we only saw the last few songs of the very impressive Two Cow Garage. Punk rock with an organ is fucking awesome and Two Cow Garage was fierce fun punk rock. At the end of their set they covered “I Can’t Hardly Wait” by the Replacements. It was faster and I actually liked it better than the Replacements version (I love the Replacements but it is not one of my favorite songs).

Two Cow Garage was the perfect band to open up for The Hold Steady. Between sets, I asked Trucker Dave what he thought and he said, “They were high energy, had a cool early Replacements vibe. I am sure Paul Westerberg wished he was in this band now that he’s sober. They won me over and the crowd.” Jason had a great interview with Two Cow Garage and you can check out the podcast here.

I was so excited to see the Hold Steady. I had a chance to see them at the Sasquatch! Festival in 2007 but because we got to the Gorge so late I missed their set. Now 2 and ½ years later, I finally get to. First, off any band that comes on stage to “Fox on the Run” or any songs by the great band Sweet is all right in my book.

Craig Finn is one of the highest energy lead singers I have ever seen in my life. He had the crowd singing, clapping and dancing through out his entire 75 minute set that included Hold Steady Classics “Sequestered In Memphis”, “Constructive Summer”, “Stay Positive” and his mom’s favorite song “Small Town Girls”.

The five New Yorkers tore the Big Dipper to shreds with their fun, high energy music. The Hold Steady show had everything, a crazy person that jumped on the stage and mumbled words before the guitar tech pushed him back into the audience, a fan that was accidentally hit in the head with a microphone by Craig Finn, fast Hold Steady classics, few slower songs and great stories in between. It was everything you could have expected from the Worlds Best Bar Band (but in all reality one of the best live bands I have seen this year and I have been to over 150 shows).

I asked Trucker Dave what he thought a couple of songs into their set and he said it was “brilliant and amazing”. Then he said, “This will be classic rock in 20 years,” I responded with yeah but it will not suck like The Eagles and B.T.O. With all the great bands that have played The Big Dipper over the years including Mudhoney and Built To Spill the Hold Steady show was right there with those great shows and was a pleasure to have this show close out myself going to shows at The Big Dipper.

It is just too bad that the show was not sold out! And that it was moved to a smaller venue. There should have been 800 people at the Service Station to see this great show. I would like to thank the Hold Steady for playing our great town and hope they enjoyed their first visit to Spokane

Check out more photos from the show here!

Matt@checkitoutmusic.com