Venue
White Eagle Hall
Venue
Vic Theater
The exact origins of Golden Smog are lost in the hazy backwaters of the late 1980s Minnesota music scene. Initially a loose-knit outfit featuring members of notable bands like The Jayhawks, The Replacements, Soul Asylum and Run Westy Run, early Golden Smog wasn't much more than a jokey cover band side project. After a few years of sporadic live shows in Minnesota with shifting lineups and band names, things eventually solidified around a core of Gary Louris and Marc Perlman from The Jayhawks, Dan Murphy from Soul Asylum and Kraig Johnson from Run Westy Run. On Golden Smog, a 1992 all covers EP reflecting the band's penchant for puns and humor, was Golden Smog's recorded debut, complete with fake identities and wacky Chris Mars cover art. With Wilco's Jeff Tweedy now on board, two mid-90s releases, Down By the Old
Mainstream and Weird Tales, put Golden Smog on the map in a big way, featuring first rate original songs and inspired performances, aided by drummers Noah Levy and Jody Stephens, and violinist Jessy Greene. Often labeled as "Americana," these two landmark albums encompassed an impressive array of sounds and styles. It would be 10 years before the next Golden Smog album, Another Fine Day (2006), a sprawling, adventurous work of art that remains a true lost masterpiece. A follow up mini-album came the following year; a greatest hits album was released in 2009.
Golden Smog live shows, and especially tours, have always been something of a rarity given all the conflicting schedules. The last full length tour was in 2006 followed by a handful of one offs and tribute shows in the ensuing years. After several years of inactivity, The Smog surprised everyone in July 2019 with a late night, stealthy full blown show in an off-the-radar event space in Minneapolis' St. Anthony Main neighborhood, hours after The Jayhawks had headlined a festival across the river. The ostensible purpose for this this semi-private show was to celebrate Dan Murphy's birthday. Things fell into place naturally, the band sounded great and a good time was had by all. In April 2022, Golden Smog performed two extremely sold out shows at the vaunted First Avenue club in Minneapolis. These shows originally were scheduled for April 2020 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the club, but the pandemic forced a 2 year postponement. The core 4 members of Gary Louris, Kraig Johnson, Dan Murphy and Marc Perlman were joined for these shows by Jeff Tweedy, Jody Stephens and Jessy Greene, effectively recreating the late 90s lineup from the Weird Tales era. The last few years have seen two more Golden Smog shows, both opening slots for The Jayhawks annual holiday shows in the Twin Cities: a stripped down drummer-less “acoustic” presentation in 2022, followed by a full electric set in 2023 with recent Minneapolis arrival Steve Gorman (Black Crowes) manning the drums, the latest in a long line of Golden Smog drummers dating back to Dave Pirner.
These guys make it look effortless. You could really tell they were having a blast. I spent the entire show three feet in front of Gary Louris, awesome. My ears are still ringing a bit...
The Golden Smog show in Minneapolis on Saturday night was quite a show. I travelled out from New Jersey to see the Smog, and I was not disappointed. These guys play a very loose, friendly show, laughing and joking with each other throughout. You could tell that they were up there playing for the fun of it, not the paycheck. Switching instruments around, playing each other's rigs, they were very versatile and everything sounded great. One of the nice things about club gigs is that you can actually see the band and hear them well. This was no exception. Every song was classic Smog, even a coupla unusual covers (who covers Bread, anyway?). Golden Smog doesn't come around much, if ever, but when they do they are worth seeing. Great vocals from Kraig Johnson, Gary Louris, Dan Murphy, and even Marc Perlman. Everyone shared the limelight atthis show, and everyone had the chance to shine. Very cool.
Kraig Johnson made the show rock! He sang most of the lead vocals- very well, and got a teensy bit Westy near the end. Could have turned up that vibe higher-
Perlman's bass was often out of tune, Louris looked clueless at points, the songs tended to meander during instrumental parts, as nobody really knew who was supposed to be soloing. Louris played a lot of wrong notes, Stephens drumming was often behind, or at best just very repetitive, falling back on the same beats, regardless of the songs-- obviously due to a lack of practice or familiarity with the songs. Worst of all was the mix-- - nearly impossible to hear Gary's vocals, the other vocals were ok, but still not loud enough in the mix. There is no excuse for a bad sound mix. On a bright note, the opening band was horrible, not only from a musical standpoint, but they kept apologizing for murdering their songs or being too nervous. Not what you expect or deserve from a band in this venue. The true bright spot was Murphy. He was excellent in terms of singing, guitar playing and stage presence. Never appreciated him enough before, he was really in the zone and made the night worthwhile.
Lame, very, exceedingly, superlatively. Self-satisfied, smug, self-congratulatory, and boorrrinng.
Great as usual! Only wish they would play more often and Tweedy and Pirner could have made it. That said, it was good fun to see Kraig, Jody "f'ing" Stephens, Marc, Gary and Dan together shaking it loose. Also, Jim Boquist was bouncing around with them too, which was a treat. Thanks GS for a really great weekend...please do it again soon!