Admit One: Hold Steady 08/07/07

This was my first time seeing Brooklyn's The Hold Steady live. I've been a fan of theirs for a while but for some reason they never seemed to play Montreal - strange given its reputation as a party town and their penchant for penning songs around that very same theme. Last weeks show more then made up for their absence as frontman Craig Finn said at the start of the show: "better late then never". Of course the massed crowd that filled the Sala Rosa didn't hold that against them.

As you may guess from their lp's, The Hold Steady are a show band - and they lived up to their reputation playing almost non-stop for a full hour and half, and covering the majority of their catalogue. Finn's stage presence really added to the show as he ran around the stage belting out lyrics - all the while downing a seemingly endless supply of Heineken. The highlight of the night was their extended rendition of "First Night" which ended with nearly the whole venue singing the reprise: "Boys and Girls in America".

Really though the experience of seeing The Hold Steady is best summed up in their own words
"we had some massive nights./every song was right."
Listen: The Hold Steady - Your Little Hoodrat Friend