TheFranciscos.Net

LoudBomb or Bob Mould?

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing one of my all-time fave singer/songwriters perform. Bob Mould performed live at the Rosebud in the Strip District. This was the second time that I’ve been to see him play – the first during his Last Dog & Pony tour at the Trocadero in Philadelphia. During that gig, he played with a live band and played mostly his Bob Mould songs (rather than his Sugar or Husker Du ones). This time around, I heard that he would be playing songs from his whole career so I was very excited to check it out.

One thing I was wary about was that I heard that he was basically playing alone onstage, switching from an acoustic to an electric guitar every so often. The only backing he received prerecorded tracks that was played when he did songs from his experimental electronica album, Modulate. It sounded kind of strange, especially knowing that Bob’s music is mainly about loud, screaming guitars. Still, I expected a good show from him.

He started with an acoustic set, then proceeded to plug in the electric guitar and play the backing tracks, and then finished with an encore of acoustic songs. Although all in all, the show was pretty good – I felt a bit disappointed because this show didn’t have the power and raw energy that he would have had if he was backed by a full band. The song selection was excellent though – and among my favorites, he played “Your Favorite Thing”, “Wishing Well”, “Hoover Dam” and my all-time fave “See A Little Light”. Among the newer stuff I liked “Sound on Sound” a lot. I walked away from the concert a bit disappointed, but still had a good time seeing Bob play.

One thing I’m looking forward to though, actually two things – one is his next album “Body Of Sound” which accoirding to him will be more like Workbook and Black Sheets of Rain. The other one is that he said he would be coming back to Pittsburgh next year for another gig. Hopefully, this time he’ll bring the rest of the guys in the band. That would be so awesome.

Here’s a link to the Pittsburgh gig discusiion on the Granary Music website.

On another note, the Rosebud was a very nice and elegant club. Full of comfy chairs and ambient light, it was very cozy and served as a great atmosphere to the gig. The buffalo wings were also different (had lots of sauce), but excellent. Definitely a great place to watch one of your favorite acts perform.