Showtime #9 - The Walkmen

When i used to go out i'd know everyone i saw/ now i go out alone if i go out at all... those words, those fucking words, see way back in good old 2004 when this album came out i was in the middle of what would amount to a three year fucking meltdown, a fucking shambling wreck, you see just a year or two before i was one of the biggest players living in this quaint hamlet of mine and then i made a deal with a woman and walked away and thought that we'd all live happily ever after but as we all know shit doesn't quite ever work out that way and after having the rug pulled out from under me, having the teeth kicked in, having the old heart ripped out and punted around i went on the mother of all benders, a bender that lasted years and i only hope now that i was young enough to not sustain any permanent damage cuz now i'd like to add a few years on the back end but hey the problem with youth they say is... well we know how that goes...

And so when this song came out i was all over it, me and a bunch of other hipster kids of course, but to me it had this meaning, see i had been a fucking rock star, i'd been what all the kids wanted to be, i was the guy who walked into bars and everyone knew, i was the crazy fucker that the bartenders loved cuz i brought business to their dives and quadrupled their tips on a Tuesday night, i was the guy the strippers went out of their way to pay attention to cuz i was well mannered and a generous tipper, i was the fucking King of North Oakland and a few other neighborhoods to boot and like i said one day i walked away and believe me i was under no illusions as to what would happen, 99% of the people i knew i'd never see again, everyone wants to be your best friend when you're the fucking man but when you walk away they smile and say they'll call and catch a drink with you but they won't and truth be told i told them as much, i'd smile and as they protested but i knew... what i didn't tell them was it didn't matter anyway cuz i knew who my friends were and 99% were just fucking customers, people who lined my pockets and let me live like a fucking king for much of my mis-spent youth and then when it was over? I'd go out alone if i'd go out at all...

And i won't go into specifics but back in those days as i tried to piece together what was left of my sanity and heart  i was the last guy you'd want to hang out with, a coked-up fucking nightmare, i'd sit on bar stools and spill my guts to any poor sap who had the bad luck of sitting next to me, of course then i thought it was just nice to have someone to talk to, someone who understood where i was coming from, what i know now though is i was just some fucking idiot, a coked-up drunk moron trying to figure out how it all went wrong and why i was sitting there with a broken heart, rambling on and on, i'm sure most people wanted to tell me to shut the fuck up but my size and the menace that flickered about my face probably kept them from doing so, i know i would have abhorred having to sit next to myself back,  either way i went from knowing everyone to being alone, alone in every sense of the word, isolated even from myself and in a what can only be called cliche i was glad i had music to listen to, it helped, there were times i'd sit parked out side my apartment singing this song and beating on the steering wheel, it helped me feel better, maybe provided just a small bit of perspective in my fucked up head...

And so it was finally at the end of September that i got to see this band for the first time, yeah i know it took me awhile to get around to the whole point of this post, but you see this is a band i feel like i've grown up with even though i started listening to them when i was around 31 or 32, seemed every time they were in town i was somewhere else or seeing a different band, last time they came with Japandroids, a show i'd have loved to seen but instead was at the life-changing Greg Dulli show, that intimate little gathering the still brings a smile to my face, but don't get me wrong the Walkmen are a damn fine band, a group of tight and talented musicians led by a lead singer with some great pipes and one of the most under-rated drummers in rock and roll, they played on a Sunday, the day after i saw another band (post to come) and though i was still feeling the effects from the night before i was glad i dragged myself out and made it to the show to finally see them, in a nutshell they are professionals, don't take their audience for granted and gave a damn, fine performance... the band has 7 long players and i can honestly say that 4 are fucking brilliant, 1 is pretty damn fucking good and one was mediocre but even that one had a few just great songs on it, i discount their covers album but even that is interesting in it's own way (a track by track over of Nilsson and Lennon's album Pussycats) and so in short if you haven't heard them you should and if you haven't seen them you should and here's hoping they come back to the Burgh soon cuz i'd gladly give up some of my hard earned dole money for another fine evening of music... that said i looked for a setlist but couldn't find one online so this is not in order and i'm sure i'm missing one or two or maybe even go a few wrong but fuck it it's gotta be pretty close...

Heartbreaker- The Rat- Heaven- We've Been Had- Juveniles- We Can't be Beat- In the New Year- Blue as Your Blood- All Hands and the Cook- The Love You Love- Angela Surf City-Love is Luck- On the Water- I Lost You- 138th St.- Wake Up- While I Shovel the Snow...