Chris Connelly and The Bells
Saturday 6/23/01, Sally T's Saint Peters, MOSaturday I drove 6 hours to St. Peters, MO for the Chris Connelly and The Bells show. If I hadn't just driven 6 hours, I'd swear I was in Valley Center (a very small town just north of Wichita, KS where my dad grew up). South of I-70 it's a typical modern suburbia with every possible shopping/restaraunt option that you can imagine, but North of the highway is just a short Main street. All 4 or 5 blocks of it. A post office, a handful of bars and a few other small businesses. That's where the show was. It was perfect ...
Sally T's is downright comfy. It's a nice, small place with wooden floors and a small wooden stage, lots of tables and chairs, a wall loaded with beer bottles/games/misc stuff and a counter with register at the back with all sorts of drinks and food for sale. Cover was $6. The opening local band, The Honkeys, were already playing when I arrived between 9:30 and 10. I headed straight for the merchandise table. Three things surprised me about it: a) the fact that there even was a merchandise table, b) the fact that said merchandise table was full of stuff and c) Luke from Invisible was the tender of said merchandise table. I snatched up five copies of the new "Confessions of the Highest Bidder" spoken word CD. Thankfully, they were still available despite this being the last stop on the tour. There's only 100 of 'em, hand signed and numbered by Chris. I got #s 36, 43, 72, 75 and 92. It's about 30 minutes of Chris reciting his poetry/lyrics from his book over an ambient-ish loop. Very, very cool. I love his writing and that Scottish brogue of his ...
I wish I would have caught all of The Honkeys set as they proved to be really good and a lot of fun. They're a three piece all in white shirts and ties that play really fast instrumental surf-rock stuff. Their own songs were cool, but when they went into Hendrix's version of "Hey Joe", the crowd really got vocal. Me too. The guitar player in particular was amazing - he pulled it all off with confidence and flair. I enjoyed when he put the guitar down on the stage and then attempted to play it with a yo-yo, 'walk the dog' style. They had a merchandise table too with all sorts of crap except, of course, CDs ...
Chris and company set up pretty quickly. This is the stripped down, road version of the band with Chris on acoustic/electric guitar and vocals, Henry Polk on electric bass and MaryDee Reynolds on electric and acoustic guitars and backing vocals. And Chris' old drum machine which I think Henry was triggering. Chris was really casual in red tank top, black jeans and a blue baseball cap (which he removed prior to playing). They were all in good spirits and Chris told a few short stories, such as the first time he came to the St. Louis area (a band member spent the night in jail) and thanked a girl who brought him flowers and the person who organized the show ...
This was the 6th time I've seen Connelly solo. There wasn't anything exceptional about the show - just me, my favorite singer/songwriter of all time and 3 or 4 dozen others in the same room - which for me is exceptional in and of itself. The audience was the usual sort of industrial/gothic/preppie mix that show up for his solo gigs these days, respectful except for the ever present socializers (ie, the ones who talk through the entire show oblivious to the band on stage). I'm always amazed at how many unbelievably beautiful women show up at his shows, but maybe I shouldn't be. Us poets always get all the hot chicks. They played 10:30 to 11:30. This is the closest to a solo acoustic show I've seen as all the others had the full rock band with drummer. The set covered over a decade and five albums:
Heartburn
Diamonds Eat Diamonds
The Early Nighters
Blonde Exodus
Ghost of a Saint
Twilight Shiner
Model Murmur
London Fields
Blonde Exodus IIAll of them were faithful to the original/studio versions with the exception of "Ghost of a Saint" which had a new musical backing and slower, almost bluesier feel. The band played and sounded great, but Chris seemed to struggle a bit vocally on a few songs. I think he messed up the timing of his breathing in "Diamonds Eat Diamonds". That one is tough if you don't do it just right. The female backing vocals are a welcome addition live and she added nifty little riffs here and there. Henry is always solid. Chris had a cool liquid-y effect on his guitar for a few songs. I was hoping that since this was the last stop on the tour, they might do more songs or possibly even some new ones, but it was just the same basic set. But that's ok, I left more than happy ...
My tentative plan was to drive as far back as I could post-show then get a hotel, but I was so wired I drove all the way back overnight, about midnight to 6 am. It was surprisingly easy and a new personal solo road trip record for me: ~850 miles in less than 14 hours. I drank several energy drinks and listened to/sang along with nothing but Connelly CDs 'til I was home ...