Lucero @ The Black Cat
Whenever a band from the South takes the stage – particularly at an indie rock club – conventional indie rock expectations should go out the window. Or, at least, a different type of wisdom seems to apply. Just like no one was terribly surprised when Isaac Brock sliced himself onstage, or when they found out that seeing Cat Power live can be an awkward experience, or that Jeff Tweedy will probably fire a current member of Wilco in the next six months, no one’s ever really shocked to see a Southern band playing loud and long, and stumbling drunk around the stage. In that regard, it was another loud, sloppy night from the South’s latest purveyors of road-tested rock, Memphis' Lucero.
After the promising American Princes and soul-blues-jammers Catfish Haven had warmed things up, Lucero came out to a rowdy, well-lubricated crowd, fists-pumping and ready to roll. The show felt like a sprinter trying to run a marathon, with lead singer Ben Nichols and company trying to go as hard as possible, only to get worn down, take a rest, then do it again for the next song. "I Can Get Us Out of Here Tonight" was the second song and they played it like it was their last – Nichols’s voice wailing like he’d been eating gravel all night, and the piano lifting up at the close of every chorus. "Nights Like These," from their early release Tennessee, was laced with thick organ and proved (to some of us admittedly less in touch with real Southern rock these days) that the Drive-By Truckers – or anyone else for that matter – don’t have a copyright on this type of music.
"What Else Would You Have Me Be?", a highlight, came mid-verse and took a veer towards punk for the third verse, as Nichols’s delivery turned from earnest country bandleader to rock and roll frontman. The best song of the night, "My Best Girl" was much slower and sparser – a sign of things to come.
And then they kept playing, no breaks, through a Pogues cover, a Jawbreaker cover, "Freeze Frame," and a couple Southern gothic confessional tunes we didn’t recognize. They kept drinking too, and deep into the set the particularly inebriated bassist came to the mic and said "D.C., Do you see the light? The light is here! The light is here!" And finally, well after Nichols announced his voice was shot, after you thought things were finally over, Lucero emerged one last time with the country shuffle-cum-stomp of "Heart’s on Fire." They looked exhausted, and Nichols was rasping out of the side of his mouth, but you could tell this was the only place any of these guys wanted to be.
Photo by Adam Smith, from Lucero's myspace page.