Full of longing but empty of desire.

I saw The Real Tuesday Weld last night at The Someday Lounge. It was a spectacular show, though I vaguely regret being quite so intoxicated afterward.

When going into the show, I was excited to find out how much of the music was controlled by the little buttoned box, and how much was played live. The five members of the band were really, really good. Jacques, the clarinetist (who introduced himself to me as Jack) really became the center thread of the music so well. Don, the bass player, hammed it up a bit at the back of the stage, and stepped forward to provide some backing vocals. Clive, the guitarist, just seemed the epitome of quiet cool. Jed, the drummer, was as understatedly impressive as you'd hope from the percussion-- it was easy to get lost in the sound, and then look back to Jed and see how hard he was working to make it happen. Psychonautical sleights of hand indeed. He also got a tattoo in Portland.

And Stephen-- Valentine-- the Clerkenwell Kid. Acting, reacting, cringing to the stories he was telling and the images projected behind the stage, flirting with the audience. Great stuff.

Special for Portland, the rendition of 'I Love the Rain' was a crowd favorite. My own personal favorite was the stunning live version of 'Ruth, Roses and Revolvers'-- the drums and bass took a different, more insistent tone than on the more lighthearted album version. 'The Ugly and the Beautiful' was a close second in my book, and I'll be taking another listen to the album version.

I had a few drinks with the band afterwards, but to be completely honest I was stupid-drunk, and quite certainly stammered a lot and circumlocuted about nothing, but had the time of my life notwithstanding. TRTW's merchandise guy, [Francis?], traded me their new album for the tradeout of his canned beer for pint of Rogue Dead Guy.

I'm hoping to score a few photos from the show, and they'll go up here if that's possible.