The Dogs of Record Store Day

Philadelphia's Dr. Dog preceded its sold-out Fine Line gig with a crowded Fetus in-store.

April 18, 2010 at 1:13AM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Ah, Record Store Day. It's exciting just to get to mingle with all the other people who still care deeply about being music collectors. It's even more fun trying to elbow them out of the way to keep the best items for yourself. The Electric Fetus had buyers lining up at 5 this morning for the coveted exclusive RSD items – the Hold Steady vinyl was reportedly gobbled up right away -- but by mid-day the place was still packed. Of course, the store had a big assist in drawing a crowd around 1 p.m. from Dr. Dog, the irrepressibly Beatlesesque Philly hippie-soul-rock band that is also playing a sold-out show tonight at the Fine Line. Man, did those guys rock the house. This wasn't a weak little four-song, stripped-down acoustic set but actually a full-volume, half-hour plus gig comprised largely (and wisely) of songs from the excellent new album "Shame Shame." Even the band's tambourine/percussion player showed for this in-store gig. The only thing missing was the tom-tom drums, which the band made light of, noting how well Eric Slick played without them. I seriously worried about the store's rickety old floor giving way as both the band members and the audience jumped around to songs such as "Shadow People" and the crowd-requested closer "Oh No." Here's the whole set list: Jackie Wants a Black Eye / Stranger / I Only Wear Blue / Station / Shadow People / Someday / From / Mirror, Mirror / Oh No As for my own personal Fetus stash, for anyone who's curious, I nabbed: the 180-gram vinyl edition box set of Wilco's "Kicking Television" live collection, with eight extra songs; Sub Pop's "SP20" live CDs for Haiti relief; the 7-inch split single with Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings doing "Money" and Budos Band doing "Day Tripper;" my first CD copy of "New York Dolls," on sale new for $6.99; plus an old, rare Willie Nelson vinyl LP which includes an early version of "Bloody Merry Morning" (sic).

about the writer

Chris Riemenschneider

Critic / Reporter

Chris Riemenschneider has been covering the Twin Cities music scene since 2001, long enough for Prince to shout him out during "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)." The St. Paul native authored the book "First Avenue: Minnesota's Mainroom" and previously worked as a music critic at the Austin American-Statesman in Texas.

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