This week I finally got my act together to catch a Figgs show outside of the NYC area as I hitched a ride down to Philadelphia with The Figgs own master of the drum kit Pete Hayes. It had been almost two years since I had seen the guys out of town. And even worse, it had been eight months since I had seen the band play anywhere, which is the longest I have ever gone in between Figgs gigs in 12 years.
12 years!
No wonder my life has seemed fucked up at times! It's a simple equation:
No live Figgs = Steve's life isn't as good as it should be
On Friday afternoon I made the quick trip from Brooklyn to meet Pete at his office, listening to a great bootleg from the second leg of the Sucking in Stereo tour. Recorded at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco in March of 2001 the show is just smoking. They were in the middle of a lengthy tour, they were feeling ragged (Mike Gent even says he's exhausted on mic a couple of times) and the generator in their truck was on the fritz--yet they still deliver a great gig. I chuckled out loud on the C train when Pete Donnelly said, "We can play that, and I know Mike wants to do a guitar solo and he can do it in this song." The band breaks into "Reject," which at the time was the template for any lengthy jamming the guys did. And oh does Mike rip one balls-to-the-wall solo. It's a work of sonic riff art.
Back to the present: Friday night's show was at a place called The Parlor...which was a former funeral parlor turned into performance space/dance studio. (And Pete and I must have passed 20 funeral parlors going down Broad Street, which was kind of creepy.) The gig was a release party for a local band Pete D knew and The Figgs were headlining. And this was a par-tay--a great appreciative crowd into all of the night's music; free food, beer and wine; a girl wearing a low cut shirt that almost made me and my buddy Dave snap our necks staring at her; and a drunk (and I think kinda insane) woman yelling in my ear while I was trying to dig the guys cover of Talking Heads' "Love->Building on Fire."
The show was a blast, even if the guys were a bit sloppy at times. But the best part was when Mike said he wanted to solo (and yes, I did laugh to myself, think about my subway trip early in the day) and he started playing the riff to "Gonna Get Out." This version (which I estimate clocked in at around 8 minutes) was the best performance I have ever seen of this song. And I mean ever. Here's what we saw:
--Mike singing along to the slowed down riff of the tune, stating that he was doing it "like George Benson."
--Mike changing the line "we're not gonna be here" to "we're still gonna be here," as if it was a statement of defiance.
--Mike and Pete D jumping off the stage into the crowd during the solo, in which they did a kind of dueling riff battle in front of a bunch of worshiping fans.
--While that was going on, one of the people working the event brought a six pack of beer up to the stage. Pete H started yelling at the guy to get his attention and then motioned repeatedly for this dude to open the beer and then put it up to Pete's mouth. At first this guy was kind of thick--Pete had to yell what he wanted at least five times before the guy caught on. Once the precious beer was in Pete's mouth, he preceded to keep playing and at the same time downed more than 2/3 of the bottle. As a fellow beer drinker, it was a sight to behold. The crowd started yelling, which in turn caused Mike and Pete D to turn around and see what caused all the commotion.
--After Mike and Pete D climbed back on stage, Mike suggested that they switch instruments and that Pete do a solo. So we were treated to a great guitar solo from Mr. Donnelly, this one a wall of noise that made me think of Sonic Youth, of all bands.
Finally they switched back to their regular instruments and they brought the song to a thrilling conclusion. After that performance, I think The Figgs should just retire "Gonna Get Out." It's never gonna get more entertaining than that night.
As a Song of the Week bonus, right click on "Gonna Get Out" in the title of this entry to download a solo-filled version of the song from the previously mentioned San Francisco bootleg. Or if you want the whole thing, head to Captain's Dead.
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