Take It To The Bridge And Watch It Burn

Sloan @ Bell House 12/4/2009

Take It Upon Yourself / At The Edge Of The Scene / Believe In Me / Autobiography / It Is Never / Don’t You Believe A Word / Keep On Thinkin’ / Money City Maniacs / The NS / new unreleased Andrew song / The Great Wall / Where Are You Now? / Midnight Mass / Oh Dear Diary / Friendship / Witch’s Wand / Fading Into Obscurity / Everything You’ve Done Wrong / Who Taught You To Live Like That? // The Other Man / C’mon C’mon / Chester The Molester / The Good In Everyone

Sloan “Take It Upon Yourself”

Sloan are very good at things that tend to get taken for granted: Writing large quantities of catchy songs; playing fun no-frills rock shows; somehow having the collective temperament to balance out the egos of four distinctly talented songwriters. As they continue to ease into their elder statesmen role, their unpretentious, craft-driven approach to rock and roll becomes more of a narrative thread, but really, when it comes to these guys the only hooks that matter are the ones in the songs. They’re currently touring in support of Hit & Run, an EP of slick, compact tunes in the vein of their two most recent albums, but the focus of the show is on back catalog, mixing surefire sing-along starters like “Money City Maniacs” and “Everything You’ve Done Wrong” with deep cuts like “The Great Wall” and the Between The Bridges b-side “At The Edge Of The Scene.” I was particularly thrilled that they dusted off “Keep On Thinkin’,” a personal favorite and one of the finest early Beatles pastiches I’ve ever heard. It’s hard to say this without worrying that it will come off as reductive or condescending, but this was a very enjoyable rock show from a super-consistent band of hard-working veterans. Good times.

Buy it directly from Sloan.