Meaty set, not-so-meaty crowd: Weekday shows tend to suffer, and unfortunately, the July 28 Meat Puppets stop at Harlow’s Restaurant & Nightclub followed the trend.
Even with a billing that would most likely fill up a venue of the same size in any other market— Soul Asylum was also on the bill—Sacramento numbers were just enough to keep manager Jim Cornett happy. In other words, Harlow’s just broke even.
Meat Puppets founding members Curt and Cris Kirkwood along with drummer Shandon Sahm and touring guitarist Elmo Sherwood (who is Curt’s son) opened with a wonderful instrumental called “Seal Whales” and slowly coerced everyone from the back and front patios to venture inside.
Singer-guitarist Curt led the band through spirited renditions of the Meat Puppets catalog (with songs dating back to the band’s inception in 1980), including a lengthy version of “Up on the Sun” that showcased the group’s dynamics and ability to stretch out a traditionally five-minute song. Also worthy of note was the inclusion of “Comin’ Down” from Meat Puppets’ iconic 1994 release Too High To Die.
And although Curt hinted that he had some tempo issues with Sahm on a couple of numbers, the band settled in and ultimately delivered an awesome set replete with fan favorites including “The Monkey And The Snake,” and a cover of “Cathy’s Clown” by the Everly Brothers.
Of course, no Meat Puppets show these days is complete without the band’s hit song, “Backwater,” or the wonderful “Lake of Fire” and “Plateau.” For the uninitiated, Curt and Cris were invited by Nirvana to play the latter two songs for the band’s breakthrough MTV Unplugged sessions. During the night’s performance of both, countless people within earshot whispered “Hey, here’s that Nirvana song,” while serious Meat Puppets fans just smiled. If they only knew.
(SN&R)