For the first time in just over a calendar year, Memphis’ Lucero – better known as my favorite band of the last couple of decades – made their way to the northeast corner of the country. The headlining festivities on this occasion took place Tuesday evening at the cavernous Big Night Live – better known as not my favorite place to see a rock show. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just that with the epic stage lights and sprawling VIP area and fancy bathrooms (are you supposed to tip that guy that hands you 2.5 paper towels?!), it’s more of a “night club” than a “rock hall.” But I digress; this is a review of the show and not of the venue, so without further ado…
Jason Boland and the Stragglers kicked off the evening in fine fashion. The red-dirt country sextet (Boland on vocals and guitar, Grant Tracy on bass, Nick Gedra on fiddle, AJ Slaughter on pedal steel/lead guitar, Andrew Bair on keys and Jake Lynn on drums who was allegedly on drums but not entirely visible from my vantage points) hail from various parts of Texas and Oklahoma. They’ve released ten albums and performed hundreds of shows over the last twenty years, but prior to last week, they’d never played a show in Boston.
And so given that my home turf is not exactly known for being a hotbed for country music of the “red dirt” variety – or really of any variety that isn’t preceded by the word “bro” – and given that the swanky venue is probably a better fit for the likes of Marshmello or Deadmau5 (both of whom are performing there over the next month) I have to say I was presently surprised by the number of people filling the place, primed and ready to sing along by the time Boland et al took the stage and dove in to “A Tornado And The Fool” from their most recent album, 2021’s The Light Saw Me. The band’s 65-minute set was pretty representative of their entire catalog, with a fun little revved-up section that included “Dee Dee OD’d” and “I Guess It’s Alright To Be An Asshole” – perhaps my favorite Stragglers song – in the middle for good measure.
Shortly after 9:30pm brought the familiar sounds of Chuck Berry’s rendition of “Memphis, Tennessee,” Lucero’s walk-out music for as long as I can remember. Rather than ease their way into their portion of the evening’s festivities, the fivesome ripped into “No Roses No More,” a snarling, barn-burner from their 2001 self-titled debut record. I’ve developed a very deep appreciation for that song over the years after seeing it live so many times, but I’ve never seen it kick off a set. It has show-closer energy, particularly when the bridge wanders into dueling guitar solo territory, and so it’s an incredibly high bar for a band to set for themselves, particularly on a Tuesday night.
Oh, but don’t worry…they met or exceeded the bar at every turn. “No Roses No More” led into “Buy A Little Time,” from the band’s most recent release, Should’ve Learned By Now, which dropped earlier this year on Thirty Tigers and their own Liberty & Lament label. The band played four tracks from Should’ve Learned By Now on this night (“Macon If We Make It,” “One Last F.U.” and “Nothing’s Alright” were the others) and while they did feature a few of those tracks on last year’s jaunt up to the Northeast, this was my first time hearing them in a live setting after having ten months or so to process the album versions. It’s safe to say they fit nicely amidst a twenty-two-song set that was pretty representative of their twenty-five-year career.
Speaking of which; this year marked the 20th anniversary of the band’s seminal That Much Further West record, and the band denoted the occasion not only by remastering and repressing the record on vinyl but by playing full-album show in Baltimore a couple nights before the Boston date. As such, the show staples “Tears Don’t Matter Much” and “That Much Further West” were joined by the less frequently played “When You Decided To Leave” and the almost-never-played “Coming Home” in the set, both of which were welcome additions. It’s pretty awesome when you’ve seen a band as many times as I’ve seen Lucero and they can still break out a song you haven’t heard live before, and that was certainly the case with “Coming Home” on this night.
Couple other non-sequitur notes…
Thankfully, the lighting guy took it down a notch or four during Lucero’s set. It was darker, sure, but about 250% less seizure-inducing, so that was helpful.
Due to an unfortunate pre-tour incident involving the Gibson SG that’s been his primary gig axe of late, this run marked the return of Brian Venable’s one-of-a-kind Perkins Flying V. What a majestic creature it is.
Speaking of BNV, the man himself had his own cheering section on this particular show. They were quite vocal for most of the night. I forget where we landed on a name for them…Those Venable Bros, maybe?
“And We Fell” into “I’ll Just Fall” made me chuckle.
John C. hamming it up during the intro to “On My Way Downtown” never gets old to me, and I wish he did it more.
Speaking of never getting old, Ben’s “she had a weakness for writers and I was never that good with words anyway” continues to hit like a sledgehammer, particularly coming from arguably my favorite songwriter.
Highly underrated moment, but the show getting out at the same time as the Romeo Santos concert at the adjoining TD Garden made for a super interesting cross-section of fans pouring out onto the street at the same time. Bachata fans go all out.
Check out more photos from Lucero and Jason Boland & The Stragglers below. This tour wraps up November 18th in Lawrence, Kansas. Ben Nichols heads to Florida for a few Bikeriders Tour makeup dates next month, before Lucero regroups in Memphis for the triumphant return of their Family Christmas Party at Minglewood Hall. More details available here.
Lucero Slideshow
Jason Boland & The Stragglers Slideshow
