LOCATION: Canal Street Tavern, Dayton, OH
LINEUP: Karin, Linford, Mickey Grimm, Jake Bradley
REVIEW BY:
On one of the last nights of my trip I got the sweet, sweet bonus of an Over the Rhine winter concert at Little Brother's on High Street in Columbus. This is my favorite place to see them; it's a campus dive, with grit around the edges and standing room only, so the crowd pushes right up under the stage. Little Brother's seems to always bring out the band's most sexy, soulful side, and this is my favorite kind of show - I like the energy this place demands.
OTR is a band that has to be seen on the dark, cold winter tour they do every year, when the melancholy of snowy fields, the holy darkness of Christmas churches, and the torchy warmth of Karin's voice, teasing with her lyrics, come together in performances crystalline and eerie, yet still crackling with love and sweet yearning. It's cold outside, they always seem to say, so come on in here where it's warm.
They had a new drummer and a bassist I'd never seen before and the whole ensemble was tight, even though this was the first night of the tour. My sister and I stood up close, and with a Guinness in hand, taking blurred pictures of the old-fashioned Christmas bulbs draped on the drum kit, I enjoyed myself very much indeed.
There was a steady energy, a ton of playfulness and a lot of new songs - which were generally stunning - and the show passed incredibly quickly. Setlist and notes below for anyone who's interested, and photos over at Flickr.
Over the Rhine at Little Brother's - November 30, 2006
Titles with original album - feel free to correct me if I messed anything
up.
1. Fever [Classic cover]
2. If a Song Could Be President [new]
3. White Horse [Snow Angels, Live From Nowhere Vol. 1]
4. Darlin' (Christmas is Coming) [Snow Angels]
5. Don't Want to Waste Your Time [sorta new]
6. Nothing is Innocent Now [new]
7. Linford talked about his first memory, hearing a trumpet at a church
meeting, and how the sound and his sister's braids in the lights woke him
up to awareness for the first time. He also talked about hymns and how
they taught him words could be beautiful, and he used that to introduce
the next song.
8. The Trumpet Child [new]
9. Nobody Carry Me [new, unsure of title]
10. All I Get For Christmas is Blue [Snow Angels]
11. North Pole Man [Snow Angels]
12. Goodbye Charles [Snow Angels, instrumental]
13. Snowed In With You [Snow Angels]
14. Snow Angel [Snow Angels]
15. Trouble [newish]
16. Orphan Girl [cover of classic Gillian Welch song]
17. Drunkard's Prayer [Drunkard's Prayer]
Encore #1
18. Jack's Valentine [Amateur Shortwave Radio]
In spite of calls for "Poopsmith," and after some discussion of how it was rejected from the kids' album assembled by Mrs. Taft, the governor's wife, since Republicans apparently don't poop, they did this instead:
19. Born [Drunkard's Prayer]
Encore #2
20. Baby It's Cold Outside
Notes
- "If a Song Could Be President" was swingy and sly, saying Steve Earle
would anchor the evening news (which got a few whoops), Neil Young would
be a senator, even though he's from Canada, and Emmylou would be ambassador
because everyone would listen to her.
- I've heard "Don't Want to Waste Your Time" before - maybe on the Hem tour. It's simple and beautiful: "I don't wanna waste your time/with music you don't need..."
- "The Trumpet Child" is the title track from their next new album, which will come out sometime in '07. It's a prophetic, apocalyptic hymn like "Changes Come" that made the hairs on the back my neck stand up. I wish I could remember the lyrics. The whole song gave me chills.
- "North Pole Man" is named after the title of a drawing by one of Michael Wilson's daughters. That and "Snowed In With You" are two of the sexiest little numbers they've done and that's saying something.
-"Goodbye Charles" is an homage to Charlie Brown's Christmas album.
- "Snow Angels" is so beautiful and lyrical; it's one of those songs that feels like it's always been around.
- "Trouble" better be on their next album. The way Karin sang it made the crowd dance involuntarily. You can hear a slower yet still wonderful version of this from a concert last fall, complete with Karin and Linford's comments. They finished it off with a bit from their hilarious new drummer Mickey.
- Linford says they do "Orphan Girl" because he likes the way Karin sings it. I agree. She sang it like an anthem.
- Linford forgot the lyrics to "Baby It's Cold Outside" in his hotel room, so Brandon the roadie furiously copied them down during another encore number from his phone web browser with a Sharpie in big looping letters for Linford to read.
- Their merch guy is new; it was his first day, so he was dubbed the Puppy. Karin said to give him love.
- "Baby It's Cold Outside" was incredible and it's hard to believe that this is the first time they've done it; it's so perfectly suited to the two of them, with Karin singing demurely and Linford muttering his lines underneath.