This was my third time seeing Guided by Voices in as many months. I was just as stoked this time as I was any of the times I’ve seen the band in the past. Every time you go to a GbV show, you know you’re going to have a great time, and that you’re going to hear the best fucking rock and roll band in existence. And to be honest, this ended up probably being my favorite GbV experience, minus a shitty mishap which I will speak of and apologize for later*. I was, however, a little weary going in, knowing that the show was actually being held inside the small club, rather than on the outside stage they performed the last time. This apprehension proved to be unfounded, as the intimate setting made for a hell of a night of sweaty, drunken camaraderie that could only exist amongst a brotherhood of GbV fanatics.

Unfortunately, of all the times I’ve seen Guided by Voices, they’ve had shitty opening bands. I’m sure most of the “up and coming College band” worshippers out there would disagree with me, but I speak the truth. The last two times I saw the band, I had to sit through the whiney, shoegazing drivel of the Weezer-worshipping Creeper Lagoon. This time we had the displeasure of witnessing Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, one of the most boring bunch of anti-rock wankers you could prop up on a stage. At one point I asked what I thought was a damn good question. “When you’re touring with such an amazing band, why the fuck aren’t they in a better mood?” When I’m going to see a rock and roll band, it’s sometimes nice to know that the singer, or anyone in the band, acknowledges the existence of the people standing there watching. More shoe-gazers. Who needs em?! This was the exact opposite of what was to come. As I reminded one of my cohorts – “a Queen’s prize awaits…”.

Once Guided by Voices hit the stage, it was just non-stop. Opening with a total metal version of Waved Out, The Guru that is Robert Pollard led his band of almost middle-aged rock and roll hooligans through nearly three hours of classic and new GbV material, focusing heavy on cuts from the band’s latest, Isolation Drills, as well as tracks from Robert Pollard’s newest solo record and his Airport 5 project with ex-GbVer Tobin Sprout.

The current Guided by Voices line-up is the one that needs to be the last. This is by far the best band Pollard has had behind him, with Doug Gillard and Nate Farley on guitars, Tim Tobias on bass, and John McCann on drums. As much as I loved seeing the “classic” line-up of Pollard/Sprout/Mitchell/Fennel a few years ago, Guided by Voices have never sounded as good as they do today.

With so many goddamm releases, it seems impossible that GbV could possibly touch on everything, but I think they did pretty good. Although they left out anything from the first five releases (I was dying to hear Liar’s Tale), I think they managed to sneak in at least one song from everything released since. One song I was hoping to hear was the full version of Back to Saturn X, which they did play the two previous times I saw them. This song is hinted at on Back to Saturn X Radio Report from the Bee Thousand record, and the full version is a hell of a rocking song. And speaking of Bee Thousand, even though I screamed for it all night, no Echos Myron! They did do some incredible versions of Hot Freaks, Smothered in Hugs and of course, the song that turned me into a GbV freak to begin with, The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory. Alien Lanes was represented well, including a killer version of Watch Me Jumpstart, as well as Striped White Jets, My Valuable Hunting Knife and Game of Pricks. Two of my favorite live GbV tracks are both from Do the Collapse (an album even I, a huge GbV freak managed to overlook until recently) – Zoo Pie and In Stitches. These are GbV at their heaviest. Another terrific entry from DTC was Teenage FBI. This song is always a terrific high point of every GbV show. There was only a couple of tracks form Isolation Drills that weren’t played. Another great addition was a rocking version of Why I Drove a Tank, a cut from Robert Pollard’s newest solo record Choreographed Men of War.

Unfortunately, the whole group of friends I went with, and myself as well, didn’t last as long as the show, and made our exit as the band jumped into what sounded like another fine performance of the Who’s Baba O’Riley. For all I know they could have played five more encores, which I’m sure wouldn’t have been too hard to believe. But the knowledge of knowing we had to be up in five hours for work, along with a healthy amount of booze, we knew it was time to go. Best show of the year, no doubt about it. (GawdamAdam)

www.gbv.com

*Now back to that unfortunate incident. Booze can do other bad things, other than make you tired. It can also blur your judgment, and make you do some stupid crap. On our way out from the show, one of the people who was with me, whose name I will not say, disappeared into the band’s trailer. The next time I saw him, a few short minutes later, he re-appeared with a sandwich and a backpack. Being way too drunk, I thought nothing of it, and we returned home to Tucson. Upon getting to work the next day, and realizing what actually went down, I immediately e-mailed Rich Turiel, the person who runs the Guided by Voices web page. He quickly found out the bag belonged to GbV guitarist Doug Gillard. After exchanging a few more e-mails, and one extremely uncomfortable phone call, the bag got back to Doug in Denver.

The reason I am mentioning all this is to apologize. Even though I was not the one who took the bag, I feel I should take full responsibility for what occurred. We were in my car, I took the guy to the show, and blaming booze just doesn’t cut it. I want to apologize, from the very bottom of my heart, to Doug Gillard, and Guided by Voices, and anyone associated with them, for this act of stupidity. I myself would never do something like this, to anyone, especially a musician and band I have such high respect for, and I feel like Judas for being associated with this at all. I thank Rich Turiel for helping me get the bag back to its owner, and I thank Doug Gillard for not lashing out at us – something he would have been justified in doing.

Sincerely,

Adam Grijalva, Dirt Culture Magazine

gawdamadam@dirtculture.com