Roky Erickson and Okkervil River
Thursday, March 20, 2010
The Fillmore
Better than: Scraping the carpet for that tab you might've dropped several years ago.
Roky Erickson spent last night on stage at the Fillmore, backed by a rocking Okkervil River and an enthusiastic crowd, who cheered and sang their way through songs old and new. Some in the mixed-age audience might've been in attendance in 1966, when Erickson's 13th Floor Elevators frequented the Fillmore and Avalon. (I had to apologize to one gentleman when I accidentally kicked his cane while walking through the hall. Sorry again about that, sir.)
Erickson and Okkervil River are playing three shows this month in support of the album True Love Cast Out All Evil. Their set of 15 songs included six from the new record, a collection of Erickson originals creatively and caringly produced by Okkervil River main man Will Sheff.
The show opened with a roaring version of "Night of the Vampire" that included a rare Erickson guitar solo and fine fretwork from Okkervil's Lauren Gurgiolo. "The pixie can shred!" exclaimed my guest, referring to Gurgiolo's wailing workout on her Jazzmaster.
After "Two Headed Dog," the group progressed to a jangly "Bring Back The Past" from the latest record and continued to mingle the past with the present, including two more from Erickson's creature feature period: "Stand For The Fire Demon" and "I Walked With A Zombie." The singer didn't contribute a great deal of guitar work to the performance. Throughout the show he made frequent eye contact with bandleader Sheff, and the group leaned heavily on Gurgiolo's guitar talents as she deftly complimented songs with a range of tasty twang and the aforementioned shred.
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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