WHO? The Hold Steady with Sean Na Na & Catfish Haven.
WHERE? Metro. (Read the NBN review.)
WHEN? October 26th, 2006. Doors opened at 8, started around 9.
HOW MUCH? $16 @ box office. The show sold out the day before.

CATFISH HAVEN: The first opening act was Catfish Haven, which I knew two things about: They had a good Pitchfork review and probably my favorite music video of the year. Naturally, they played their only song I’d heard first - “Tell Me” from the music video - and I loved it. This is not a band that’s afraid to break out the cowbells when it’s cowbell time.

The main dudes in the band (lead singer/guitarist, second guitarist, bass player, drum player) have, collectively and individually, a lot of hair. Grateful Dead beards. Afros. Metal band hair. You name it, they had it.

What they also had were two guest backup singers who were an absolute blast to watch from the audience. The choreographed clapping, stomping, dancing and OOOOOH, OOOOOHing had a number of people dancing along. The people I stood next to seemed to be really disappointed when the backup singers sat out a song, and it’s a shame they were so far back on the stage. Bottom line, go see Catfish Haven while they’re not yet an American band, because they’re not going to be just a Chicago band for long.

SEAN NA NA: Taking the stage next was Sean Na Na, fronted by Sean Tillman, who is also Har Mar Superstar. They got on stage and were basically huge dicks, which is cool, but then they played croony pop songs. I was puzzled. They looked like a rock band, but they didn’t really sound like one - except the drummer; that dude wailed the entire time.

They sure tried hard to be rock ‘n’ roll stars, though - not only did they use lots of crude language (they described the effect The Hold Steady was going to have on us as an exotic, sexual experience, and not one you’re thinking of, trust me), and at one point Sean Tillmann told the audience he liked them so much they could bring him shots and buy his t-shirts. He also tried to get the audience to hold up their cellphones, since they’re more prolific than lighters at rock shows these days, apparently. Luckily for the dignity of everyone involved, his attempt was an abysmal failure. At least he burned some heckler in the audience for requesting “FREEBIRD.” To quote: “Freebird. That’s funny. That’s been funny for… what? 25 years? I was 3 then. I invented it.”

I don’t really know how the audience took all of this banter - I heard someone shout “YOU LOOK LIKE A FAT PAUL SIMON” during one of the lulls between songs. For me, this band kind of takes the worst of a rock band and of an indie pop band, and combines them - I don’t know if I’d dig on their record, but I sure didn’t dig on their live show.

THE HOLD STEADY: Finally, it was time for The Hold Steady. The Hold Steady has been one of my favorite bands since I heard the first song on Almost Killed Me. For some reason, I never got to their second album, Seperation Sunday, but whenever someone blasted it in the car I asked myself why I hadn’t.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I got my hands on Boys and Girls in America, and it all started coming back to me. The Hold Steady is my kind of band. The lead singer, Craig Finn, writes witty lyrics and spits wordplay and literary allusions over a great rock band. But now that I listen to Boys and Girls in America, I started to realize that The Hold Steady wasn’t just my kind of band anymore - it was everybody’s kind of band.

Something had changed. While Finn used to be singing about being an American, now he was singing about America - all of it. The dream, the people, the nostalgia, even the sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. The Hold Steady stopped being a band for music nerds, college DJs, and record store clerks: Anybody should be able to listen to Boys and Girls and hear why Pitchfork gave it the highest rating of the year.

So these are the dudes that the audience is waiting for now. At least the first two floors are packed now, and everyone is excited. The first member of The Hold Steady that took the stage was alcohol: a bottle of Jameson and a dozen beers or so. My spine tingled. This was a sign of good things to come.

Then the other members of The Hold Steady came out - Craig Finn, vocals and guitar; Tad Kubler, lead guitarist; Galen Polivka, bass; Franz Nicolay, keyboards; and Bobby Drake, drums. Before the audience had a chance to go wild, The Hold Steady started playing. From there on out, it was a mess of cheering, chanting and dancing. The Hold Steady is exactly what I’m looking for in a rock ‘n’ roll band: confident, raucous, and obviously having a good time.

And let me say, I introduced every band member by name for a reason - live, The Hold Steady is a lot more than just Craig Finn yelling over some band. Everybody on stage added something integral. Tad Kubler really shredded that guitar and let us know he was shredding it; at one point he gave his guitar to a member of the audience, who immediately started melting faces. Franz Nicolay didn’t hide behind his keyboard; not only did he bust out a harmonica solo, he kept up a constant contact with the audience and his bandmates. Galen Polivka moved around the stage, took all the money out of a wallet (His wallet? Nicolay’s wallet? Who knows.) and threw it into the audience, and even borrowed Bobby Drake’s drums and sticks for a while. And they drank. Boy, did they drink. Not much of that beer made it off the stage.

And Craig Finn. Man, Craig Finn surprised the hell out of me. On record, he sounds like a kind of a cynical, laid-back guy, maybe with a little streak of bastard in him. In real life, though, he’s just wild and crazy. Gesticulating furiously out at the crowd, jerking his hands around and leaning out towards us, Craig Finn was exhorting us, demanding something. After seeing him live, you start hearing the records differently. Between songs, he tried to explain what the songs were about in a way that was both half-hearted and earnest. A couple of times near the beginning, he seemed to be lagging a little on the lyrics, and they never played “Positive Jam,” which I would have killed for. But Finn was still the most dynamic frontman I’ve seen live.

As the set progressed, the band members grew ever more jubilant and loose. Every member of the band played cohesively, and the energy of the audience was tangible. By the time the final refrain blasted over the loud speakers, most of the audience was moving and twisting, singing the new anthem of our generation at the top of their lungs.

Were you there? Want to tell us about it? Love the Hold Steady? Think Catfish Haven is about to take off? Think I’m dumb? Leave a comment.