The Pogues at the Rams Head

Last week, I was lucky again to see The Pogues on their US Tour before St. Patrick's day. This time, they came to Baltimore!
Shane looked better than any other time I've seen him- this time he was upright, and I actually understood 90% of his speech. It was also good to see Phil Chevron play as he was treated for cancer last year.
As a tribute to The Wire, Spider Stacey dedicated "The Body of an American" to Mcnulty, and then asked for no one to give anything away about the last episode.
As usual, the band was on point- the sound at the Rams Head had the best sound of all the times I've seen the band play.
For the finale, when they played "Fiesta", Shane joined Spider in bashing his head with a tray. I hope they decide to come back to Baltimore next year.

Charlie Louvin and Lucinda Williams at Rams Head

Last night, went to the Rams Head downtown to see Charlie Louvin and Lucinda Williams play.
I was more excited to see country music great Charlie Louvin and he did not disappoint. He was classy, funny, and his voice was great. He played "Great Atomic Power", the song that Uncle Tupelo covered which introduced me to their music.
Lucinda Williams was pretty good as well. While I prefer her earlier songs, her voice is still stirring. My favorite part of her set was when she and Charlie dueted on a pair of songs.

Iris Dement at the Rams Head Tavern

Over the weekend, I went to Annapolis to the Rams Head Tavern to see folk-gospel artist Iris Dement play.
I've been a fan of her music since college, and I haven't seen her play in about 12 years. Last saw her in the Sidebar in St. Louis where I had seen Sleater-Kinney play as well.
This was a different venue. Annapolis is really white, especially if you compare it to Baltimore. Also, the Rams Head crowd was much older. I swear I was probably closer in age to Iris than the audience.
Her voice has aged a little, and she can't hit some of her higher notes, but the songs are still beautiful.
I had planned on trying to see Menomena in DC afterwards, but her show was so good I stayed for the whole thing and just went home afterwards.

The Musical Box

Wednesday night, I went with Sunmonkey and the Fraz Bear to see The Musical Box play at the Rams Head in Baltimore.
They are a tribute band that recreates impeccable the shows by Genesis when Peter Gabriel was the lead singer. We saw them perform the Foxtrot Tour set, which, as a fan of early Genesis, was pretty damn awesome.
The audience: 30 to 50 year old men in Rush and Styz t-shirts talking about King Crimson and Ratdog, only occasional wives or girlfriends.
It was pretty fun to hear everyone sing along - particular lines: "the soil, the soil.. ." and "we rock you, rock you little snake".