An Evening in East Atlanta
Cindy, brother Glenn, and myself met up to see Clem Snide at The Earl last night. It was an early show, and when we got in - about 7:30 - David Berkeley was already on stage. He’s a singer-songwriter type, playing acoustic with an upright bass as backup. Normally I’m not so hot on the singer-songwriters, but Berkeley’s voice is incredibly warm and melodic. We only saw perhaps four or five songs, but each was remarkably pleasant. He’s following Clem Snide around the southeast for a spell, but will be back in Atlanta at Eddie’s Attic on April Fools Day. I’m not sure if I should go or not. It could be a trap.
Clem Snide came on practically before we could get a beer each and two sips in, driving hard into “Fill Me With Your Life” (from End of Love). The band were dressed much like their Nashville appearance - white tuxes (except with animal spirit embroidery this time) - except trucker hats had been added to Eef and Ben, the drummer, and the stage lineup reversed from every other time I’ve seen them. I got the feeling they had better places to be as they went straight into “The Sound of German Hip-Hop”; perhaps they had a 10pm gig in Macon.
Over time, though, Eef really loosened up and it became apparent that this was a one-of-a-kind show. They’re always a bit weird. A bit off. But this show was straight off the deep end. At this time I began to wonder if this was a farewell tour. Take it to the limit, head-on crash. That sort of thing. I really can’t do it justice, but Eef was in rare form — he usually does a bit of playing around with the audience, but this was a different animal. Eef was, in his own words, “Making sweet, sweet love” to us. Even the softest sounds were rocked out for the finale. Maybe he was just loaded.
They finished with “Weird,” a honky-tonk tune turned into the most punk rock I’ve ever seen them, melding the end into a lounge groove while Eef, sharing in the afterglow, told us about the wonders of the merch table. A brief encore, and then Eef came back out for a second encore with only his acoustic. The highlight of the evening, however, was hearing “Exercise” performed live. I think I’ve seen Clem Snide about five times, and I’ve never seen them play “Exercise,” the very song that really hooked me on them. I’d read that they didn’t play it because it really took a cello to do it right, but let me tell you that a bowed banjo can do the trick too. What a group.
From there we drove up Moreland for dinner at The Vortex, my first time at the L5P location. Delicious burger, tater tots, Guinness on draft, and décor. The perfect way to cap off the evening. I was home by around eleven — when’s the last time you saw a rock’n'roll show, had dinner, and got home in time for a midnight bedtime? Thanks to Glenn and Cindy for joining me and making it a truly Friday-worthy Wednesday night.
March 24th, 2005 at 6:23 pm
Sounds like the only thing that could’ve made the night better is if you went home and found The Mattoid there in his cape waiting to tuck you in, read you a few lines of Lionel Ritchie prose, and perhaps a soothing bedtime story. Rock out, P!
March 24th, 2005 at 9:59 pm
Man, that sounded cool. I debated going, but R. Beebs and I had to work later than expected. Thanks for the review though:)