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The lineup drew parallels with Brian Wilson and his recent outings backed by Jeffrey Foskett and a collection of Wondermints and other musicians. Erickson and Wilson are making public appearances again after long bouts of psychological difficulties. They both come off a little stiff and distracted at center stage, and rely heavily on support from their bands. Erickson made as much eye contact with Sheff as he did with his adoring audience. To his credit, he didn't require any vocal help: The guy can still sing his ass off. Erickson still appears a little off, but he was more engaging than at his 2007 appearance at the Great American Music Hall, when he would only utter an occasional "Thank you" to the audience.
Before the last song of the set, Sheff asked "Rok" if he remembered playing the Fillmore in 1966. Erickson pondered for a while and couldn't remember. Fair enough, that was 44 years ago. The group then launched into a scorching version of "Reverberation (Doubt)" and left the stage to chants of "Roky! Roky!" before returning for the garage-psych classic "You're Gonna Miss Me" and more chants of "Roky!" as the chandeliers began to glow.
Critic's Notebook
By the way: The show was opened by the tuneful and soulful country sounds of LA's Leslie and The Badgers. Their sophisticated, melodic songs had the crowd enthralled. I thought an epidemic of two-stepping might break out before they left the stage to rousing applause.
Speaking of "You're Gonna Miss Me": This is the last time one of my reviews will be heavily culled and artfully regurgitated by SF Weekly's music editor, Jennifer Maerz, who is moving on to other professional adventures. No more will I shriek "Jennifer, don't you realize that I am a genius!" after she renders my meanderings into coherence for you, gentle reader. Jennifer, We're Gonna Miss You!
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