{"id":777,"date":"2010-05-25T02:18:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-25T02:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/?p=777"},"modified":"2026-06-25T02:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T02:20:14","slug":"the-hold-steady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/?p=777","title":{"rendered":"The Hold Steady"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May 2010, 40 Watt, Athens, Ga.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t understand why The Hold Steady is not a huge band, I can\u2019t. The band writes tight, inventive, crowd-pleasing sing-along songs \u2014 they don\u2019t write throwaway songs and they genuinely care about what they\u2019re doing. I think if everyone saw them live, they would become instant fans. There would be no denying the power of this band.<\/p>\n

Craig Finn and his merry music makers came to the 40 Watt Club in 2010 for a night of frivolity, and the two-hour set was a revelation from the start of \u201cSweet Part of the City\u201d at the show\u2019s outset to the encore ending of \u201cHow A Resurrection Really Feels.\u201d My wife came with me for the show, not really knowing that much about the band beyond my constant exultations of how great they were live. By show\u2019s end, she had to agree, as we spent the show right near the stage, hopping and moving with the mass of fans.<\/p>\n

In between the raucous crowd was treated to several newer songs (\u201cHurricane J,\u201d \u201cThe Weekenders,\u201d \u201cBarely Breathing\u201d), old favorites (\u201cStevie Nix,\u201d \u201cThe Swish,\u201d \u201cYour Little Hoodrat Friend\u201d), and the heady anthems (\u201cConstructive Summer,\u201d \u201cStay Positive,\u201d \u201cSequestered in Memphis,\u201d \u201cMassive Nights\u201d), which kept the audience in constant motion. There was even a guest singer, as Drive-By Truckers\u2019 Patterson Hood took the stage to sing \u201cNavy Sheets\u201d with the boys \u2014 and yes, you will only get that in Athens.<\/p>\n

There was the stellar play of guitarist Tad Kubler and new guitarist Steve Selvidge, but the night belonged to Finn, whose manic machinations, hilarious expressions and fun dancing make him impossible not to watch. Aside from a stray problem with his mic (the bass went out as well at one point), Finn never lost hold of the audience, clapping and urging the crowd, which sang along or tried its best to keep up.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen the band four times, all in Athens, and was amazed they still played Athens \u2014 the band should be selling out arenas, not coming to the 40 Watt. But I shouldn\u2019t complain, a band I admire continued to come and play a mile away from my house, and for that I was grateful.<\/p>\n

Another epic night for The Hold Steady, but that is no surprise, no surprise at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 2010, 40 Watt, Athens, Ga. I can\u2019t understand why The Hold Steady is not a huge band, I can\u2019t. The band writes tight, inventive, crowd-pleasing sing-along songs \u2014 they don\u2019t write throwaway songs and they genuinely care about what they\u2019re doing. I think if everyone saw them live, they would become instant fans. There […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[45,77],"class_list":["post-777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-concerts","tag-40-watt","tag-hold-steady"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":778,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions\/778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}