Soooooo….I love the Old 97’s. I have seen them, at the Old High Point, at the Old Cicero's, at the Duck Room, the Pageant, Mississippi Nights, Bonnaroo, Off Broadway, the Old Rock House and more...likely many more. It is just kind of something you do when they are in town...you go see them. I think they remind me of my early 30’s. I thinked I peaked then and I didn't even know I had a peak.
They came on May 24th to “The Ready Room” with The Heartless Bastards and BJ Barham of American Aquarium. The Ready Room is on Manchester in The Grove and I want to love it. I want to love it so much but, after several attempts to love it with several bands I love… it is a shit show. It is just horrible. It has, no ambience. It has horrible sound quality and the sight lines and “space” are questionable in both planning and execution. The only redeeming thing about the place is that they schedule quality acts (good booking) and they have a very professional bartending staff that can really rip out the drinks and the beers in a timely manner and this is no small deal.
I come here not to praise The Ready Room but to bury it. You really cannot believe how bad it is until you go and hear a band you love. I saw Lucero there last year and had the exact same impression but I forget (I am old). You get there and there is no street presence or marquee on the place. It is like walking up to an AAMCO or some body shop. It is a cool neighborhood. Sanctuaria is right across the street. They could help create environment but...they don't.
I mean...cmon. AT least try. You walk in and they basically have a card table set up where they take your ticket and give you your 21 and up wristband. Then you enter the bar and the venue and room with the stage in it are on your left. The floors are cement. The walls are cinder block. Bar area has a 30 foot cinder block wall which separates from the music room. They say it can accommodate 750 but they probably do 500 comfortably. The ceiling is… warehouse ceiling. There is no baffling or material to keep anything from getting lost or just bouncing around sound wise. Additionally there is no place to go but outside to get away from the sound. It is just a horrible venue with no personality and no one should pay there and no one should go see a show there because it disappoints in every way.
Even their website is boring.
They doubled down on stupid at the Old 97s show. It was a Tuesday night. Doors at 7, show at 8 but 3 acts. 3 acts on a school night is the type of stupidity I formerly had to deal with at Off Broadway. New management has made that place a pleasure to go see a show. But they always had three acts and always started late. So on a Tuesday night Barham goes off on time and I only caught the end of his set but he was great. Good voice and deeply, DEEPLY troubling lyrics.
His lyrics are what I cheerfully refer to as “gun in his mouth” type lyrics but a great, mournful voice and good guitar. I will need to check out his band… but that is not the point.
He got done and The Heartless Bastards went on. I have nothing against this band. Cool name. Two girls in the band. One of them is lead singer. Good band, good guitarist, good singer. I don't know any of their names and I never will because I don't care. They came out and played their set. No eye contact. No stories. No relationship building with crowd. Nothing about the band stands out or should stand out. They are really talented and I don't care and they played a set like they don't care. Eminently missable. But they kept playing and they kept playing. Way more than 45 minutes. You cannot play that type of music and Americana songs and be shoe gazers. They played for two full beers and I know because I left the floor and went and stood back by the bar because they bored and annoyed me. They remind me of a less interesting and less talented Continental Drifters. By the time they got off and did the equipment change it was 10:30 before the Old 97s went on! I am too old to have the headliner start at 10:30 on a Tuesday. This is stupid.
But Rhett Miller and the boys came on and did what they always do. They rocked it, sweated it and chatted it up in a sing along for all to see and participate in. Rhett whipped his hair and although they started without the typical, “Hi y’all, we are the Old 97s from Dallas Texas”... they still brought it. I have seen these guys play so many times and Rhett Miller play so many solo shows that I should be bored. Other than the shitty sound at The Ready Room, the band plays its straight ahead, rollicking music which provide a plate for you to eat up Millers 2 ½ minute poems. Just to get a feeling of what they look like and sound like...watch this. Another great song. Kind of a long intro but it is worth listening to as well.
Everyone in the band is great but Rhett Miller with the lyrics, the boyish charm and the good looks drives every show along with Ken Bethea’s relentless guitar. It is not pretty guitar but it attacks and he has been throwing his ass into it for so long that it is a beautiful thing to behold. I really cannot say enough that you need to go see these guys the next time they come but hopefully they will not come to The Ready Room, because it ain’t ready and never will be.
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