Sloan–St. Andrew’s Hall, Detroit, MI, January 20, 2007
Posted by Scotter“I’m baffled.”–Quote from a Sloan fan at the end of the encore.
The Post-Rockist loves Sloan. They’re one of our favorite bands by far. We’ve written about Sloan on two occassions already. Thus, I didn’t feel obligated to write about the show–I was there simply to enjoy.
Sloan’s new album was released in the US a week ago. The fan that I am, I got a copy much earlier and know the album pretty well. Most people at the show probably had not yet purchased the album or hadn’t the time to get to know it. Now, I was sure that Sloan would play a good amount of songs from the new 30-track disc, but wasn’t expecting them to play these for the entire show. They pretty much did.
The sold-out show began with a lot of energy from the audience as Sloan commenced with some low-energy songs from the new album. After five consecutive new songs, they launched into “The Other Man” from 2001’s Pretty Together and “The Lines You Amend,” a classic from 1996’s From One Chord to Another. Finally, we were going to hear some of the classic stuff! Everyone was singing along and pumping their fists and glowing with excitement for what was to come next.
And then Sloan slouched back into the new stuff. This happened three or four times. They’d play a classic, the crowd would get interested and excited, and then back to the new stuff that nobody knew. The two-hour show consisted of only 5-6 songs from past albums .
Hey, I understand that a band wants to play its new stuff in shows. I know that the old stuff doesn’t hold its freshness to its writers the way it holds with its fans. I get it.
But that wasn’t the problem. Sloan played as though they were tired. They lacked verve. They played sloppy. The looked like they were going through the motions. Their experiments to keep things interesting–like using acoustic guitars on a few songs (something they have never done)–held little novelty for the audience and came off as contrived. The acoustic guitars made the songs sound even more tired. Only two Chris Murphy leg kicks.
In August, I made a prediction about the band when I heard that the new album was to consist of 30 tracks. I felt that they were putting all these tracks on album to finish off the backlist of unrecorded songs before splitting as a band. And they were publicly making far too many analogies between themselves and The Beatles a la Let It Be. I viewed the possibility of a breakup as a tragedy in August. I’m beginning to think, as a fan and as one who cares about the members of the band (a band I’ve followed for almost 10 years now), that breaking up might be the thing for them to do. Maybe then they can start projects that they can be excited about.
I, too, was baffled by this show.
-Posted by Scotter, who wrote this review with honesty and with sorrow in his heart.
z0zzy wrote:
There were only two songs that I really enjoyed during the show and that salvaged some respect I was losing.”The other man” and “chester the molester,” a song I haven’t heard played by them in probably 6 years. This isn’t the first time I’ve been dissapointed by a Sloan show. The past two shows I have witnessed have had 0 energy and were played half-assed.
Posted on 22-Jan-07 at 8:37 am | Permalink
Sessions wrote:
All abroad, the singing ship is leaving!
Posted on 22-Jan-07 at 11:40 am | Permalink
Sessions wrote:
oops!
i had a typo, sinking not singing.
damn
Posted on 22-Jan-07 at 11:41 am | Permalink
DC wrote:
Seriouly, their past records are awesome. One Chord To Another is my personaly favorite. But not the one I’d recomend to a first time listener. Their new record is incredible and it was good to hear them pull off their new songs live. Even if they tucked a keyboard player behind the amps. I didn’t think the songs were sloppy at all. So when a band goes on tour to suport a record it makes sense they play the songs from the record they just released. If I wanted the older stuff I’d wait for a reunion tour. Maybe they could play Sweet Child or a song or two off of Lies. I guess what people don’t understand is that it’s tough to go on the road. One day their at home, the next on a bus with 10 others. Sleep, food, family, privacy, all gets throw out for that hour or so we get to see them. So maybe they weren’t energetic. 2 leg kicks, well maybe he didn’t want to fake it. These guys are one of the best bands out today and seriously underappreciated buy the masses. Now some of their own fans are giving them crap cause they didn’t play Underwelmed or Losing California. Who else today is comperable? We’re lucky these guys are still playing, and doing a fine job might I add. I was bummed I didn’t hear Ana Lucia, Set in Motion and Light Years.
Posted on 25-Jan-07 at 11:30 pm | Permalink
Scotter wrote:
DC,
Thanks a lot for your comment. I totally agree with you that their past records and the new record are awesome. Believe me, I’ve been listening to the new one nearly every day for the past few months. And when they played “Can’t You Figure it Out?”, I cheered as if they had just struck up the first chords to “Snowsuit Sound.” I hope I don’t seem like a hater, because I’m not–Sloan has saved my life a few times. My comments were based on empathy–they just didn’t look very happy to be there. I hope they tour extensively and I guarantee you that I’ll see them where they play close to where I denizen. I guess I just felt that what showed that night was the fatigue of being in the same band for almost 16 years.
Posted on 25-Jan-07 at 11:45 pm | Permalink