Showdate: October 16th, 2010
Satyricon. Wikipedia will tell you Satyricon is (im)famous for being the place Kurt Cobain met Courtney Love for the first time. And also that it is the site of the Foo Fighters first live gig. I’m sure the phrase “Portland’s grunge epicenter” has been used before in the press. Just have that feeling. But throwing that grunge label and running away is pretty lazy and lame. It is obvious the place is an old soul. All places with that vibe have various phases and eras. Satyricon is obviously no exception.
If anyone stumbles on this review, Satyricon wasn’t my scene and I’m not going to poser it out and claim it was. I was a Washington state kid. I’ve been to Satyricon before, but it was definitely past the perceived hey day, but deliciously before the smoking ban. Damn. I’m fine with smoking, and Satyricon definitely reminded me of the scene in Zoolander where Derek demurely coughs into his hand and claims to have black lung after a single day in the mine.
The venue? Sticker and tagger heaven. If you’re bored? Read a wall. Or any flat vertical surface. The place is gloriously filthy. Not bleach and scrub filthy. Flamethrower level. I think in the concert area, a resin smoker could survive nicely on wall scrapings.
The Dandy Warhol’s gig tonight is billed as a Farewell to Satyricon (the last show is not until Oct 30th) for those 31 and over. The 31 year old age limit is unenforceable I am sure, but pretty spot on for the crowd. Definitely an older set rocking it tonight. Everyone looks so interesting and cool. No one shy about being themselves. Totally rad.
I’m rocking this show solo tonight. I could explain why. It is easier to just say I am loserish and move on. To be honest, I’m totally fine wandering around. It is voyeuristic and a little like paging through someone else’s scrapbook. But it is cool. People are nice enough about my obvious tourist status. I’m soaking it in. Eavesdropping. Walking the tightrope of unacceptable levels of public intoxication. Well, for the straight world. Satyricon is obviously a different place with different tolerances.
The crowd is definitely a blast. A lot of people walking around wide eyed. People staring here and there. I hear stuff like “It even still smells the same.” My favorite was “I didn’t even realize I missed this place.” And the bands are cool. I said hey to Courtney Taylor-Taylor as he walked in. Anyone who wanted to could approach members of Sugarboom. I’m sure Swoon 23 was around as well. Chillish vibe for the most part.
So. The crowd was totally cool overall. But there was definitely that punk ‘n bitch vibe I remember from back in the day from other scenes. Those type of scenes where people recognize each other by sight and still stare through one another. Some guy in the food area was publicly verbally emasculated for a minor dating offense. She cut off dude’s nuts and was juggling them in public. I doubt Kim Deal would have approved. Mercifully, these examples were the exception.
What excursion to an all ages music shithole (I say that with deepest respect) is complete without a trip to the lavatory? Right? Come with me. I’m with you. It is okay. We’ll do it together. The Dandy’s are up next and we need to prepare and obtain high powered booze. Ready?
Yeah. It is a fucking pit. Money. Spot on. Stickers! Low rent graffiti! No door to the shitter. And you are pretty much in public view of all the women standing in line for their slower paced relief area. They aren’t shy about staring in. I don’t blame them. It is like a human zoo in here. So, yeah. It is fucking dirty. You could piss on the floor if you wanted. Oh, wait! Too late. The guy before me leaves screaming “I’m not washing my hands”. “I’m not washing my hands!”. Awesome. I forgot about that final choice. Is cleaning your hands going to leave you dirtier than just touching your dick? The answer? Affirmative. I’m forgoing cleaning up and unintentionally kick two crumpled Pabst cans into the waiting women. Cause the floor is a trash bin apparently. Perfect! Thanks Satyricon!!!*
Alright. Enough bullshit.
I’m in. On the left. I want the full experience so I make sure the stupid pole is somewhat in my way. My bit for everyone else. I’m dedicated to capturing the crappiest cell phone pics ever as well. Looks like Zia is rocking some old school gear tonight. Courtney Taylor-Taylor explained before the set they are using old equipment from back in the day and gave their old sound and light guys the gig. Brent De Boer couldn’t make the gig. The original drummer, Eric Hedford is filling in. Old school night. Pete is wearing his jacket from Thirteen Tales.
Zia has on a shirt. A ripped up Stones T-shirt. No bra for those of you wondering if she went topless.
Setlist:
Introduction By Young Tom
The Dandy Warhols’ T.V. Theme Song
Ride
Best Friend
Be-In
Cool As Kim Deal
Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth
(Tony, This Song Is Called) Lou Weed
The Coffee And Tea Wrecks
Genius
Good Morning
Green
I Love You
??
Hard On For Jesus
??
Minnesoter
Nothin’ To Do
Every Day Should Be A Holiday
Boys Better
Grunge Betty
—Encore
Not Your Bottle
Sometimes (Song From First Cassette)
??
It’s a Fast Driving Rave-Up With The Dandy Warhols Sixteen Minutes
My apologies if the setlist is not 100% correct. It is close. I was wasted through most of this set.
The boys come on stage and talk a bit before Zia comes through the crowd to climb on stage. Courtney had been joking that she was in the bathroom with a mountain of coke refusing to admit she was getting old. Wouldn’t say the crowd was wired, but ecstatic works for when the main riff of “TV Theme” hit.
The setlist obviously shows how special the night was. Almost exclusive to Come Down and Dandy’s Rule, Ok? It was definitely different and chill. Pete with windmill strums, Zia crowd surfing multiple times, Eric thanking the band on mic for letting him play before the encore, and Courtney talking about playing at Satyricon at age 14.
Old equipment or no, the distortion was a snack to listen to. Especially as the opening guitar-driven songs from Dandy’s Rule sequenced by until “Cool As Kim Deal” transitioned to synth-guitar poppy. I had the vocal of the song swirling as the lyrics were being sung all around me. So fun. Totally was as cool as Kim Deal. Okay?
Zia sat the synth out for “Last Junkie” and Eric drove the rhythm. Again. So fun. Personally. In my old (ugh!) days, I loved that song. The lyric “I could say, shouldn’t you have got a couple piercings and decided maybe that you were gay?” pretty much summed up my feelings on the junk aspect of the early 90′s.
“Genius” was moved up in the set because Courtney thought his voice would be hashed at the end of the set. Combined with it is a hard song to sing. This is also the time when it becomes apparent that Oregon’s indoor smoking ban might not be the consensus choice in the venue. Old school all the way.
“Genius” was a killer rendition with Eric singing backing. It was riveting. So much so I disappeared for awhile. If you go to a lot of shows, you know what I mean. Just checked out and floated until “Hard On For Jesus” made me come to.
The final songs of the set were amazing. The deeper cuts and the hookier songs like “Every Day Should Be A Holiday”. I had fun just dorking out. Watching chord changes. Singing along. Killing brain cells. Doing what I do.
Courtney explained they usually don’t do encores because what is the point. But, of course, they did an encore. With more obscure cuts like “Sometimes” and the final song fittingly was “It’s a Fast Driving Rave-Up With The Dandy Warhols Sixteen Minutes.” Before it started playing, you could see the flashlights blinking side stage telling them it was time to wrap it up. 2a.m. brought an end to the set. I didn’t look at the start time, but wouldn’t surprise me if they played over two hours.
My personal favorite of the night was “Not Your Bottle”. First song of the encore. One of my favorite songs that I haven’t seen live. Awesome.
Totally a show that leaves you actually more amped than the start. Time says one thing, but the mentality starts whispering insane shit like you can survive on 2 hours sleep, big boy. Push it. I’m clamping my hands over my ears and running from that shit. Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeee.
The show ended with everyone involved thanking each other and CTT and Pete sharing their own memories from Satyricon. Totally not the usual phony entertainment biz BS. You could tell everyone was friendly and genuinely cool with each other. It was real. For any band you can go online and find any number of people willing to fling shit. And it is all part of things. A fucked part, but whatever. Everyone is guilty at some point either on or offline. So, even though TDW are international rock stars, it is nice to be reminded at one point they were everyday.
Let’s close it. Zia explains at the end how everything feels like a full circle revolution and that 80% of the people there were basically die hards and the other 20% picked the right time for a first time. Totally true. Zia closed it out with “There’s A Daisy On My Toe” in a spotlight moment.
Amazing night. Memorable show. In many ways.
_______________
*It isn’t often you regret not taking a picture of a bathroom.
