Search And Destroy: Afghan Whigs

the first time I saw them since they released both of their reunion records (and the first since the death of Dave Rosser.

this would mean that you last saw them before Rosser joined the band

which apparently almost scuttled the whole tour).

they toured for three months after his death last year (and two months before it, without him), with his amp onstage and illuminated in tribute. did he have a special connection with Built To Spill?

(I'm not going this time due to disinterest in both Ed Harcourt and BtS)

I can't remember if Rick was in the band both shows I saw. I guess he was? Anyway, Dulli last night said they almost didn't make it out on the road again, and implied is was due largely to the loss of Rosser. And at the end he said something like "have a good summer, maybe we'll see you next year," which implies some time off.

Regardless, I just meant it's the first time I've seen them minus Rosser, not that I ever saw them with him. I could be misremembering, but they seemed to make a bigger deal about his death than about Rick leaving, and there were a few references to Rosser from the stage.

Inasmuch as the nu-Whigs.2 is just The Greg Dulli Experience, Rosser has been a much bigger part of his 21st century life and music than McCollum. and he & Curley seemed firmly relieved to move forward without Rick.

caught the Whigs/BTS in Toronto last night, first time seeing either. The Whigs set was sadly short - only 12 songs, only 2 of them pre-reunion ("John the Baptist" and "Going to Town," with a "These Eyes" interpolation). Dulli acknowledged the attack that had taken place earlier in the day which was nice. It is truly remarkable that his pipes have not aged a day. I can't imagine how awesome they must be with additional players cause they sounded massive with just guitars and keys.

as for BTS, I have to echo Josh's complaints upthread. The three-piece setup as very dull to watch. If you had told me in advance I'd be bored by this setlist I'd never have believed you.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/built-to-spill/2018/danforth-music-hall-toronto-on-canada-23ec1cff.html

the one surprise of the Whigs set was "The Killer" which I gather got its first/only airing of the tour and was as grand as you'd expect

the whigs were the best i’ve ever seen them* at the brooklyn date. they covered david gilmour’s “there’s no way out of here” and it was one of the least whigs-ified covers i’ve ever seen them do, they played it so straight. would like to echo simon’s comments about dulli being in incredibly good voice rn

i was actually enjoying bts (nb: i was high) but the crowd demographic shifted so significantly from the relatively diverse whigs crowd to a thick wave of jam band bros. as someone who normally spends most of any given concert freaking out, the guy in front of me was freaking out at every guitar solo way too hard (i think what annoyed me was that he only seemed to care about his experience of the music without being remotely conscious of how distracting, irritating, and disrespectful of other people’s space he was being. also i was high). i left early

* without rick

I'm extremely jealous you got "Omerta"!!!

oh i also finally fucking saw “omerta” live. only og whigs tracks we got were “debonair,” the slow “going to town,” “john the baptist,” “somethin hot,” and “omerta,” but honestly the new stuff sounded so amazing and they were playing so hard that i didn’t mind at all

xp lol

i was at that brooklyn show too, sorry for freaking out at all the guitar solos brad :(

just kidding, that thankfully was not me

honestly if BTS had gotten stopped at the border and the Whigs got to play the whole night I would have died of ecstasy

anyway, i'll echo brad's sentiments that the show was a ridiculously powerful experience. greg went to the piano about halfway through for 'it kills' and once he got back up to the guitar for 'john the baptist" the show reached a level of intensity i've rarely seen at a rock show.

built to spill was very good, i thought. i saw them in 2016 at brooklyn bowl and they sounded very thin and very disinterested, but in last week's show it sounded more comfortable and like they figured out how to play as a three-piece. (that brooklyn bowl show also happened during a Mets WC playoff game, so the crowd was even more distracted than usual at that venue, which might've affected their performance. also they had to follow hop along)

greg went to the piano about halfway through for 'it kills' and once he got back up to the guitar for 'john the baptist" the show reached a level of intensity i've rarely seen at a rock show.

god for real. everything aligned during "john the baptist" that night. it sounded even better than when they played it at the first reunion show

I think BTS was extra underwhelming in context coming after that tbh, like after that maelstrom you're not at least gonna give us two guitars? c'mon man

it didn't feel weird to me that there was a profound energy difference between the whigs opening and bts closing, it felt like a really pleasant comedown after the overwhelming intensity of the whigs. also doug's solos were generous and interesting! i sorta wish they had a second guitarist myself but dude can kinda do it all himself

experience still fundamentally ruined by the dude in front of me shouting "DOUG!" in the exact same way deadheads shout "JERRY"

hahaha

it helped that the BTS setlist was ridiculously strong and Keep It Like a Secret-heavy

The jam band bro element of the Built to Spill fanbase has long perplexed me

i had a much better time watching them with a crowd full of beer nerds last year

y'all are lowering my expectations :/

Are there any good Whigs bootlegs out there? I've been enjoying the Twilight Singers' Live in New York and I'd love a similarly comprehensive Whigs set to listen to

there are millions of them, nu-Whigs & old, and they sell some soundboard recordings at the merch desk (edited to single CDs)

I only spotted merch for the openers at the show I was at :(

presumably they only run 500 max, at quick-dupe places: I saw them late last year and they only had one of the seven that buyers have catalogued here (three new releases added this week): https://www.discogs.com/artist/89572-The-Afghan-Whigs

I was expecting a new Whigs album tba soonish but I guess we'll have to settle for...the first-ever proper Dulli solo record? Out in feb

https://youtu.be/qRmop7fxrgs

oh man that song sounds great

who's in the band? is it all dulli?!!??!

it's so bouncy!

it's pretty much all Dulli apparently

I suppose there was Amber Headlights, but I guess an album previously shelved then released isn’t exactly the same (think AH was originally a Twilight Singers album)

it's pretty much all Dulli apparently
this warms my heart, greggers steppin' out by himself
and he sounds happy!

yes, Amber Headlights was an unfinished Twilight album abandoned when Ted Demme died.

I suppose there was Amber Headlights, but I guess an album previously shelved then released isn’t exactly the same (think AH was originally a Twilight Singers album)

― Master of Treacle, Tuesday, December 3, 2019 9:50 AM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it ended up turning into blackberry belle, "follow you down" aka "cigarettes" being the only holdover iirc

glad he's still got it, this rules

was waiting for a soaring post-chorus / bridge bit that never arrived, pleased to have my expectations defied by this cool lean tune (although he does do a great soaring middle eight/whatever you call it)

can't do it every time or it won't feel special! :)

First track was the appetizer, this one's the meal

https://youtu.be/XEOKt6kyFN4

jeez... shaping up to be even better than in spades

which i listened to the other day and is still a very great record

the guitar in this new song is so "rhiannon"

goodbye motherfucker

the guitar in this new song is so "rhiannon"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yw6apMYRXo

many songwriters slacken as they age but Dulli's recent songs (incl the last Whigs record) are so lean and precise, not an ounce of fat on 'em

otm

i still can't get over what a good song "oriole" is and its replayability is largely due to how little it repeats itself and how cinematic it comes across anyway

Lots of interesting musical plugs in this longish interview

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/greg-dulli-talks-solo-album-random-desire-and-its-influences-in-bv-interview/

Great piece, made me google a bunch of stuff.

Jaimie Branch! Dulli is one of the musicians I’d most like to sit around and listen to records with. :)

Love the love for Doves, it never occurred to me but I see why they would gel with him.