Jay Farrar, left, and Mark Spencer at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis on Jan. 31 / Photo by Meredith Westin
Ben Gibbard at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis on Jan. 31 / Photo by Meredith Westin.
With only about a month of tour dates total split up a few months apart, plus the fact that they made their record in about a week, Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard could have been forgiven if their gigs behind "One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur" were on the loose, under-rehearsed side. It would've been cool just to see the Son Volt and Death Cab for Cutie frontmen together having fun, or at least what can be perceived as having fun by the permanently stolid Farrar. But the opposite was true at last night's sold-out gig at the Varsity Theater, their final show together. Each of the singers were in fine form and clearly inspired by the Kerouac-derived activities, and their band was spot-on perfect, especially Son Volt pedal-steel/organ/guitar wiz Mark Spencer (Death Cab bassist Nick Harmer and Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster rounded out the lineup).
Looking around the room, one could easily see an audience divide between Death Cab diehards and Son Volt fans. The split was humorously highlighted when a girl in the crowd sweetly shouted out, "We love you, Ben!," which was soon followed by four or five men gruffly yelling, "We love you, Jay!" I'm pretty sure both sides were equally impressed with the 90-minute show, though, and each got to hear a couple songs from the singers' past discographies. Gibbard threw in Death Cab's "You Remind Me of Home" as well as "Couches in Alleys," which he recorded with the Belgian techno act Styrofoam and was clearly a Kerouac-inspired track (first line: "Hey Jack, it's me..."). Farrar also played "Voodoo Candle" and "Feel Free," both from his solo disc "Sebastopol"
The show ended with two smartly chosen and beuatifully played cover songs: Bob Dylan's "Absolutely Sweet Marie," before which Farrar noted, "We finally made it to Dinkytown... Bob was probably sitting around some frat house here reading Kerouac" (very possibly a true story); and then they ended with Neil Young's great "Zuma" nugget "Don't Cry No Tears," which Gibbard said they picked as a farewell finale for their entire tour.
Obviously, though, the crux of the show was the Kerouac record, which they played in its entirety (though not exactly in the same order as on the album, but close). Many of the songs came more to life all the more on stage, especially the Gibbard-sung "Dead Flowers"-ish twang fest "All in One" and Farrar's "Breathe Our Iodine," which the band turned into a long, gritty, organ-rocked jam. Farrar also gave a doozy, devlish performance of "Final Horrors" accompanied only by Spencer on slide guitar. It was all really thoughtfully put together and played with the kind of conviction that made me happy I wasn't at home watching the utterly conviction-less Grammy Awards. Here's how the set list played out:
California Zephyr / Low Life Kingdom / Williamine / All in One / Big Sur / One Fast Move or I'm Gone / Final Horrors / Couches in Alleys / Sea Engines / The Void / Breathe Our Iodine / These Roads Don't Move / You Remind Me of Home / Voodoo Candle ENCORE: San Francisco / Feel Free / Absolutely Sweet Marie / Don't Cry No Tears
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