Suicide Commandos in their 1970s hairday
Steve Almaas, Dave Ahl, Chris Osgood
Gorgeous weather graced the Concrete and Grass festival Saturday in St. Paul's Mears Park, a terrific, greenly urbane spot for an outdoor concert. The ecletic, free festival (Irv Williams, Dessa, Communist Daughter, Minnesota Opera, Molly Maher, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra) closed with a fun, sometimes fierce reunion performance by Suicide Commandos, the Twin Cities seminal punk band of the mid 1970s. In the tradition of the Ramones, this trio tore through 25 songs in 65 minutes. (Standing in front of me with his wife rockin' out, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman took off his tie midway through the city-sponsored set.) It's a good thing that guitarist Chris Osgood, drummer Dave Ahl and bassist Steve Almaas (who lives in New York) switched off on lead vocals. These guys were spent at the end of their fast-paced performance. There were plenty of covers, many originals and several highlights, including the Commandos' tight, explosive signature "Complicated Fun" and delightfully punked-up interpretations of Frank & Nancy Sinatra's "Somethin' Stupid" (Osgood dedicated it to his mom, who was there, but Ahl sang it) and Ike & Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High." Here is the Commandos' set list: Weekend Warrior/Attacking the Beat/She/Cliché Olé/ Monster A-Go-Go /Are You A Boy? /Tent/I'll Wait/ Real Cool/Little Red Book /Fireball 500/Nervous Breakdown > Slow Down/MotorBikin'/It's My Life/ You Can't/Bits n' Pieces/Talk Talk/Burn It Down/ Wild in the Streets/ Seven Deadly Sins /Match-Mismatch/ I Need a Torch/Complicated Fun ENCORE Somethin' Stupid/ River Deep Mountain High
