The Hold Steady at Brooklyn Bowl (December 2, 2016)

You realize time is flying by at unfair speed when you’re celebrating the tenth anniversary of The Hold Steady’s Boys and Girls in America. I still remember buying that album on CD at Best Buy (jesus), and spinning it non-stop throughout the rest of that year. It’s an album I’d always come back to throughout the year’s, with the 1-2 punch of “Stuck Between Stations” and “Chips Ahoy!” never losing their luster. The Hold Steady never quite matched the quality of Boys and Girls in America, but honestly, how could they?

To celebrate the albums ten years of drunken life, The Hold Steady brought it home for four straight nights of sold out shows at Brooklyn Bowl. Each night had a secret opener that was revealed hours before the show, and on the show I caught on Friday, December 2, local punk rockers The So So Glos took home the honors.

The Hold Steady would deliver all of their trademark album in full each night, but it was the order of the setlist that changed from night to night. They ended up playing it from front to back in order on night 1, but mixed it up every other night, giving each night it’s unique stamp. The crowd was one of the craziest I’ve seen at any of their shows, and certainly one of the wilder Brooklyn Bowl audiences I’ve ever been a part of.

So many times when bands reunite for a show or tour based upon an albums anniversary it can feel like a necessary routine that is more so a cash grab that something that they genuinely want to do. But this couldn’t be any further from the truth with The Hold Steady. Craig Finn and the rest of the lovable gang were more than enthusiastic to be there, especially keyboardist Franz Nicolay, who finally rejoined the band after leaving for six years. His presence was more than welcome, a crucial ingredient on the songs of Boys and Girls in America. It was hard to process the fact that they spent more than half of this decade without him.

There was a special feeling in the air during the encore performance of “Killer Parties” a song that really spoke true to the bands relationship to its fans, and vice versa. It was just a grand old time, and a true celebration of many things: the power of music, the love of the album, and the love shared between a band and its audience.

Find both The Hold Steady and The So So Glos setlists posted below, along with some iPhone photos of both bands performances taken from the crowd.

The So So Glos Setlist:

1. A.D.D. Life
2. Dancing Industry
3. Going Out Swingin’
4. Devil’s Doing Handstands
5. Magazine
6. Black & Blue
7. Kings County II: Ballad of a So So Glo
8. Lost Weekend
9. Diss Town
10. Cadaver (Career Suicide)
11. Fool On the Street
12. Son of an American
13. Eve of Destruction (Barry McGuire Cover)

The Hold Steady Setlist:

1. Positive Jam
2. The Swish
3. Chips Ahoy!
4. Same Kooks
5. You Can Make Him Like You
6. Ask Her for Adderall
7. Your Little Hoodrat Friend
8. Charlemagne in Sweatpants
9. First Night
10. Constructive Summer
11. Hot Soft Light
12. Citrus
13. Party Pit
14. Stevie Nix
15. Stuck Between Stations
16. Massive Nights
17. Don’t Let Me Explode
18. Sequestered in Memphis
19. Southtown Girls
20. How a Resurrection Really Feels