Old 97's @ Headliners in Louisville

It had been over five years since I had last seen the Old 97's live at the Southgate House in Newport, KY. The experience then was amazing and that's why going in to Friday Night's show at Headliners in Louisville I was pretty excited. Mary, Kelly, and I drove from Lexington after work on Friday. We did a drive by of the concert hall on our way to get something to eat beforehand. From the outside the building looks like an old church and may very well be.

After eating we decided we should go ahead and try to get a parking place since it looked like there was going to be very limited parking. We arrived about 15 to 20 minutes before the show started and there were already a few hundred people there. The show was called "An Evening with the Old 97's" and started with Murray playing a solo set. He got started right on time and played quite a few hauntingly beautiful songs.

After a 30 minute set, Murray said goodbye and Rhett took the stage. He looked pretty messed up, a lot more so than I had ever seen him. He commented on the heat in the club pretty much immediately. He wasn't the only one noticing the heat, however. By this time it was probably reaching the upper 80s in the club. Despite the heat and his apparent intoxication, he put on one hell of a show playing songs from his solo albums, Singular Girl from the Old 97's, and the Pixies' Wave of Mutilations. One of the nice surprises of the night for me was a song off his new album called "Another Girlfriend." It sounded much more like an Old 97's song than a Rhett Miller song and live it kicked all sorts of ass. The crowd was laughing and cheering the whole time.

Rhett played for about 30 to 45 minutes before saying goodbye. He thanked the crowd and talked about getting to open for the Old 97's and what a wonderful experience it was. The crowd laughed and cheered at this. After a short break Murray and Rhett returned to the stage with Ken and Philip. Rhett was pretty sweaty from his solo show. The heat was mentioned quite a few times throughout the night and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that temperatures reached 110 degrees by the end of the night. I've never been so miserable and sweaty. The show, however, was awesome. I wish I had a set list but I was having too much fun to keep track of it. They played just about every song I wanted to hear (with the exception of Stoned, Desperate Times, Wish the Worst, and Niteclub) including a version of Question that included the whole band. They did a Rolling Stones cover that I didn't recognize (I'm not much of a Stones fan) and mentioned a covers album coming out soon.

All in all, the show was awesome. There was probably close to a thousand people packed in this tiny old church and it was more than hot. By the end of the night Rhett looked like he had jumped in a pool. We forced our way outside and spent the next 15 minutes just sitting on the pavement cooling off before starting our trip back to Lexington. The show lasted 3 hours. Definitely worth 15 bucks.

Doreen from Friday's show. We were about 10 feet to the left of the camera.