Drive-By Truckers, Hiss Golden Messenger - April 20, 2017 - World Cafe Live at the Queen, Wilmington, DE

Drive-By Truckers on stage at World Cafe Live
at the Queen in Wilmington, DE.
After seeing Chuck Prophet and The Bottle Rockets at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia on March 30, we took the short drive down I-95 to the other World Cafe Live in Wilmington, DE to see the Drive-By Truckers. The beautiful and vintage World Cafe Live in Wilmington is set to close at the end of May and there are only a handful of shows left. I will be at the 4th last show on May 18th when Lucero hits the stage. The farewell show on May 25th will be a free concert with local acts playing on both the upstairs and downstairs stages. On this night, the southern rockers gave a full on rock show to the sell-out Thursday night crowd.

The 11th studio album, American Band, came out back in September but took on new meaning and a longer shelf life after the election. The night after the election, the Truckers played at the Union Transfer in Philly, a show I would have loved to attend, especially with the implications of the night before. Watch the show in its entirety here. The Drive-By Truckers are one of the more politically engaged bands I've seen and never shy away from hiding their liberalism. The lyrics off the new album ask questions and try to tackle the issues of the Confederate flag, gun violence, racism, and immigration.

Hiss Golden Messenger opened the show and were better live than what I heard on their albums. With his knees bent, frontman MC Taylor slowly marched in place to keep the beat. Most of the songs were slow and on the verge of boring. However, there were some engaging points in the performance. Multi-instrumentalist Phil Cook stole the show with his captivating lead on piano, exuberant guitar and electric sitar solos, and not to forget his mesmerizing harmonica playing while on the piano.

When the Drive-By Truckers came to the stage, the first thing I spotted was a Black Lives Matter sign on the side of the keyboard. A perfect indication of where they stand. They played 10 of the 11 songs off their new record, only leaving out "Sun Don't Shine." The set was kicked off with three songs from the album, "Baggage," "Surrender Under Protest," and "Darkened Flags on the Cusp of Dawn." The lyrics for the latter arose from an article that front man Patterson Hood wrote for The New York Times about the Confederate Flag. It is great to see the band promote their new music, especially with how relevant it is to today's political spectrum. The set progressed with the anthem about Ronnie Van Zant and Neil Young's friendship, "Ronnie and Neil" and when the first drum roll of "Sinkhole" was played, all of the lighting turned red as though hell took over the venue. About half way through the set, Hood wished the crowd a happy 420 day before giving a big "fuck you to our attorney general Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions," who has called marijuana "only slightly less awful" than heroin. An interlude of Bruce Springsteen's "State Trooper" was played during "Buttholeville." Unfortunately, they would go on to play the full cover of the song the next night at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC. Before Matt Patton took over on lead vocals for the surprising cover of The Ramones "The KKK Took My Baby Away," Hood led the crowd in singing happy birthday to the bassist. From there the band went into another cover of John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth." The biggest song from American Band, "What It Means," the brutally truthful reflection on shootings of African-American men by police, followed a few songs later. As always, there were some songs that I wish were played. This time it was "Marry Me" and "Where the Devil Don't Stay." They capped off the hard rocking night with "Let There Be Rock," "Shut Up and Get on the Plane," and "Hell No, I Ain't Happy," all of which had Lynyrd Skynyrd like guitar solos from guitarist Mike Cooley played with Neil Young like attitude.

My first listen to the Drive-By Truckers was off the new record. I fell in love with it and couldn't stop listening. Not only did it rock, but it stood for something that many people are feeling right now. As I listened to older material and dug into the history of the band, I discovered the genius of the band with their concept albums, Southern Rock Opera and Decoration Day, as well as their time with Jason Isbell. It is hard enough as a musician to write good material, but to have not one but two concept albums is ambitious to say the least. Every song is intertwined and tells a story as a whole. Isbell's contributions to the band can not be understated and his time with the band was probably the best years of Drive-By Truckers. Isbell reunited with the band for "Heathens" back in January at the Ryman Auditorium in Tennessee. On June 19, Isbell will be playing at The Fillmore in Philly to promote his new album, The Nashville Sound. It should be a fantastic show that I'm definitely interested in.

This band was made to play during one of the roughest and most divided times in American history. However, the band would probably refer to it as a blessing and a curse. The title of the new album is no mistake as the Drive-By Truckers are now America's band the American band we all need.

Setlist:

Hiss Golden Messenger:

Drive-By Truckers:
1.  Baggage
2.  Surrender Under Protest
3.  Darkened Flags on the Cusp of Dawn
4.  Uncle Frank
5.  This Fucking Job
6.  Shit Shots Count
7.  Ronnie and Neil
8.  Ramon Casiano
9.  Ever South
10. Zip City
11. Sink Hole
12. First Air of Autumn
13. Guns of Umpqua
14. Filthy and Fried
15. Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife
16. A Ghost to Most
17. Buttholeville (with Bruce Springsteen's "State Trooper" interlude)
18. Kinky Hypocrite
19. The KKK Took My Baby Away (The Ramones cover)
20. Gimme Some Truth (John Lennon cover)
21. Once They Banned Imagine
22. What It Means
23. 3 Dimes Down
24. Let There Be Rock
25. Shut Up and Get on the Plane
26. Hell No, I Ain't Happy

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