Last night I saw Paul Westerberg for the first time since the Replacements called it quits. Times have certainly changed. The audience, for one thing, didn't seem to be there to watch and/or provoke a trainwreck, instead there was a vibe close to hero worship (deservedly so, IMO). And Westerberg, amazingly enough, was genial and seemed to be enjoying himself. There was no warm-up band, just Westerberg and his Only Friends playing an extended set of great tunes.

He dipped into the Replacements catalogue with a surprising lack of reserve. "I Will Dare", "Little Mascara", "Left Of The Dial", "Kiss Me On The Bus", "Valentine", "Can't Hardly Wait", "Alex Chilton", "Skyway", "I'll Be You", "Someone Take The Wheel", and "Merry Go-Round" all made it into the set. He even croaked the first couple lines of "Beer For Breakfast" in response to a fan's request.

It struck me that, when placed side by side, Westerberg's songs have been incredibly consistent over the last two decades. "Making Me Go", "Looking Up In Heaven", "High Times", "Knockin' On Mine", "Psychopharmacology" - they're all songs that could've fit proudly on any Mats album. Of course, the flirtation with chaos is missing in his solo work, but maybe that's a simple matter of survival. Besides, that old chaos did make a brief appearance last night when Westerberg couldn't stop laughing while performing the hushed "Crackle And Drag" ("It's not funny," he said. "It's tragic as hell.")

Covers last night were Billy Joe Shaver's "Live Forever" ("You're gonna miss me when I'm gone" seemed to be the sentiment of the evening), the Partridge Family's "I Think I Love You", and Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water" (done as a lark - and only up to the first chorus).

And after the perfunctory encore, PW earned a real encore - which I don't think I've witnessed since the '70s. The house lights came up, the club's canned music started playing, and it was time to go - but the crowd kept cheering (a true rarity for laid-back Vancouver folks). Westerberg came back out and ripped into a bluesy stomp I didn't recognize, playing slide guitar and then harmonica, and as the band kind of collapsed around him he yelled what seemed like a total non-sequitur ("Glockenspiel!" - some kind of in-joke, I imagine), then led the crowd in the old Fish cheer, and then just muttered "good night", dropped his mike and left. Very odd way to end the night but, still, sorta perfectly Westerberg.

Anyway, I recommend everyone see him on this tour. Give the guy some love. We will miss him when he's gone.

awesome - can't wait for Saturday.

March 4th for me...& I'm even more excited now. Hot damn.

I'm seeing him in a 300 capacity bar 3 minutes from home.

I had a similar feeling watching Come Feel Me Tremble He's a survivor still writing some quality music.

If you can't catch him in concert this a great video/doc.

I for one have enjoyed his new material, but others keep holding him to the Mats' fire. Glad you enjoyed it. He'll never make it to SoFla so I guess i'll just keep poppin' in that video from time to time.

[Harry?...1,2,3,...]

where's a good place to start with the replacements? they have some stuff on emusic, and being a fan of westy, i thought i'd try some out.

http://www.obner.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3240&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=replacements

Paladisiac - if you want to start, I would start with:


Let it Be
Tim
Pleased to Meet Me

can't go wrong with these - get progressively more and more "produced"

I MIGHT go. I don't know any of his solo stuff so I haven't bought a ticket yet. You don't think it's sold out yet, is it?

thanx chase & rparis. the poll reitterated what paris said.

i think emusic has "let it be". not sure about the others.

[EDIT: the only 1 of the "top 3" emusic has is "let it be".]

Just found this cell phone footage of Westerberg having fun with "Crackle And Drag" at the Vancouver show.

<----- Never heard a Replacements or Paul Westerberg song that I thought was worthy of the all the hype I've been subjected to over the past 20 years...

Just curious as to how old you are? I mean if it's good music it shouldn't matter, but the Replacements were the shit if you first heard 'em in the 80's.

Steve

I'm 34 now. I clearly remember hearing Pleased To Meet Me in the record store I worked at in 1990. I don't know if this was too late to get into them but by this time they were so revered and after listening to this I was like...ehhhh.

I also think that the Clash are just okay...

With Pleased to Meet Me you probably were a little late to the party. The 'Mats are one of the three or four bands that I point to as having a large impact on my life. For a kid in North Carolina (i'm 37 now) trying to break out from the constant radio barrage of Lynard Skynard and Molly Hatchet, the boys from Minneapolis were a pefect kick in the ass. If you weren't around in the time it would be hard to understand just how refreshing their music was. That's not to say that they were the only band out there making this type of music that would begin to define me and my taste, but they were the ones who grabbed me...and they haven't let go yet.

If I were going to delve in at this late date I'd start at the start paying close attention to the Twin/Tone releases, plus BOINK! and Tim. That's not to say that you may not like the later, more polished (read: over produced IMO) stuff, but if you find the spark and magic of what they were about it's easier to do in the early stuff...not as many layers to dig through.

Don't even get me started on The Clash

Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash
Twin/Tone Records TTR-8123 (1981)
Produced by Steve Fjelstad, Paul Westerberg + Peter Jesperson

Stink
Twin/Tone Records TTR-8228 (1982)
Produced by Steve Fjelstad, Peter Jesperson + The Replacements

Hootenanny
Twin/Tone Records TTR-8332 (1983)
Produced by Paul Stark, Peter Jesperson + The Replacements

The Shit Hits The Fans
Twin/Tone Records TTR-8443 (1984)
Cassette only -- Recorded live at The Bowery, Oklahoma City 11/11/84

Let It Be
Twin/Tone Records TTR-8441 (1984)
Produced by Steve Fjelstad, Paul Westerberg + Peter Jesperson

Tim
Sire Records 25330 (1985)
Produced by Tommy (Ramone) Erdelyi

Boink
Glass MGLA016 (1985)
UK Import Only -- Compilation of songs from the previous records plus "If Only You Were Lonely" and "Nowhere is My Home"

Pleased to Meet Me
Sire Records 25557 (1987)
Produced by Jim Dickinson

Pleased to Meet Paul Westerberg
Warner Bros. WBMS-148 (1987)
Interview with Paul and Pleased to Meet Me songs. Promo

Don't Tell A Soul
Sire/Reprise Records 25831 (1989)
Produced by Matt Wallace + The Replacements

Inconcerated
Sire/Reprise Records PRO-3633 (1989) Promo
Recorded at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 6/89

All Shook Down
Sire/Reprise Records 26298 (1990)
Produced by Scott Litt + Paul Westerberg

Don't Buy or Sell, It's Crap
Sire/Reprise Records PRO-4632(1991) Promo
Includes "Satellite", "Ought To Get Love", "Kissing in Action", and "Like a Rolling Pin"

(discography copied from www.theskyway.com)