And now I may die

This past Sunday night I got to see The Breeders play the second to last date on their Last Splash XX tour at One Eyed Jack's. Because I am a person of certain age who has certain tastes in popular music, this was kind of big deal for me.  It was a big deal for a lot of other people too, apparently. The show sold out easily.

I can't decide if this says something about The Changing Nature Of Life In New Orleans or if this is what happens to every moderately successful group making its triumphant 20th anniversary nostalgia tour of its most successful album but I can say that twenty... or even ten years ago.. this band might not have even played New Orleans let alone draw this big of a crowd.  It wasn't easy to see from where I was.  I held my phone aloft and took a photo just so I could be sure I was there.



The show was great, though. The tour is supporting the 20 year re-release of the classic Last Splash and so the meat of the show is that album played straight through in its entirety. That was augmented by Safari as an opener and then a couple of encores consisting mostly of songs off of the Pod album including this cover of Happiness Is A Warm Gun.

The crowd was ok. I could have done with a little more room to move, especially when a fight broke out about five feet away from me while the band was playing, I shit you not, "I Just Wanna Get Along." But otherwise, it was a fun night. 

This may sound weird since Kim Deal is such an icon but I actually think she's a little underrated as a musician. Below is a documentary about the Deal sisters from the early 2000s sometime, I think when they were about to put out Title TK.  I really enjoy these interviews shot in the most casual of circumstances with the Deals knocking around their slightly messy East LA apartment. Asked to talk about their approach to music, they end up talking mostly about their OCD ticks.  It's charming and utterly unpretentious.  It also reveals something kind of intimate and genuine about Kim's talent.







Anyway, I'm glad I got to see this act when I did.  Among other things, it means that, stretching back to last September and going on into the coming February, I will have seen Guided By Voices, Yo La Tengo, The Breeders, and Neutral Milk Hotel play in New Orleans. Because it is currently 1994.  Or that plus twenty years.. or... what year is it?