I am very delayed in writing about this show, but it’s not because I didn’t dig it. It was great in fact. So travel back in time with me to April 20th.

Otis tipped me that Bob Mould was coming to town.

I wanted to see Bob Mould because he was a favorite of Dalton’s and he had tried repeatedly to get me to listen to Bob, and was successful on a couple of songs, but I kept mixing Bob up with Frank Black. So, when I finally came around, and he came to town… it had to happen.

I arrived at The Majestic at a reasonable time (no 3 hour wait like Buckethead) and  I managed to get a poster in the downstairs hallway, and then as luck would have it a poster for the upcoming Buckethead show too!

I chose a padded balcony seat and settled in. The floor below was filling fast. Otis and Amy were coming to meet me, so I spread out as wide as I could, trying to look imposing. It worked for a while.

The opener Negative Example, played 4 or 5 songs.

Then a stage switch and Fury Things came out. They are a 3 piece band out of Minneapolis and their intensity was way up.

Their style was fast but not out of control, and the melodies were great. The guitarist had a way of stepping off mic to do his solos and doing some unbelievable body gyrations while still shredding his solo. It was a fun combination to see/hear. I tried to get a picture of his movements, but static shots do not do it justice.

These guys were great and I would recommend them without hesitation. I knew I would be visiting the merch table after the show.

After they broke down the Fury Things stage and put Bob’s Mould’s set up I noted that even the benches in the balcony were full. Otis and Amy made it and squeezed into the space I could save without a fight and were primed for Bob.

He came out to a roar of applause and wasted no time.

The first thing I noticed about his style was the “caged animal” prowl he had. Bob stepped off mic and stomped, prowled and paced in a small circle around his mic stand like he was angry at his guitar or the floor. The following picture is a mess, but it does represent the intensity pretty well.

The music was fantastic. I really wasn’t sure what to expect since I knew he had some mellower stuff and some that I knew like “Black Sheets of Rain”.

I don’t think he let off the gas during the whole show.

I didn’t know all the songs, but I knew some and he even did a Sugar song “A Good Idea” from “Copper Blue”. Dalton loved that one.

I alternated between taking pictures and sitting doing a small head nod to the music.

Bob played the hell out of his time on The Majestic stage, and for not knowing just what to expect, I was very pleasantly surprised. I figured I would like it, but I loved it. I have some Sugar CD’s in the stuff I got from Dalton. I guess I should dig them out.

The band was tight and some songs I recognized and some I didn’t, but they were literally all good. They even did “Love Is All Around” a Husker Du B-side. It was great. I also recognized “Makes No Sense At All”. I am so glad I was able to go to this show.

After the show, we hit the merch table.

Despite really digging the Bob Mould, I was really interested in the Fury Things merch. The crowd was pretty big, but it looked like they had 2 albums on vinyl. I bought 1 and Otis bought the other in what we thought was a crafty ploy to get more music. Joke was on us, turns out the display albums were just front and back. Sigh. So we ended up with the same album.

As we were buying them Kyle Werstein, the guitarist for Fury Things came to the merch table and we asked to get them signed. He was totally cool and friendly and he even took the albums over to his bandmates (bassist Devon Bryant and drummer Andrew Carson)who were trying to get a beer at the now approachable bar. They signed and he brought them back to us. Now that is pretty damn good service.

The album, entitle “VHS” is now framed and on the wall of my music room.

They have 2 previous albums I have checked out on Spotify. Good stuff.

So, as an event, this one was a huge success.

Bravo!