ON A STORMY NIGHT, SUNNY DAY SHINES
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Concert Review
SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE, last night at the Moore Theater, Seattle
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By Tom Scanlon
Special to the Seattle Times
Bad news: Nate Mendel is still a Foo Fighter.
Good news: The three other Sunny Day Real Estate original members are back together, ending a four-year breakup and reuniting what might be Seattle's finest band.
Bad news: This verson of Sunny Day Real Estate virtually ignores its past, refusing to play fan favorites such as "Seven" and "In Circles."
Really good news: Sunny Day Real Estate's new album, "How It Feels To Be Something On, is a significant step forward.
This is one of the best albums of the year, and it
sounds even better live. Each of the 10 songs Sunny Day Real Estate
played from the new album sounded like a mini-symphony. Jeremy Enigk
spent his time away from SDRE doing a solo album, backed by a 21-piece
orchestra --
this certainly carries over into the reunited SDRE. Many of the
new songs Enigk and Dan Hoener have crafted have an epic feel.
The best cut of this unusually strong album was also the highlight of the concert: "100 Million." This song could be on one of the better Led Zepplin albums and no one would notice.
On several other songs, particularly later in the show when he might have been tiring, Enigk's voice was drowned by the four-piece band's massive sound. While Sunny Day Real Estate filled every inch of the Moore with sound, the band was never sloppy.
Hoerner's lead guitar often had an echo of a violin to it -- I kept looking for the string section. Enigk's guitar work blended perfectly into Hoener's, and the bass lines were filled in adequately.
The star of the show: William Goldsmith, who left Dave Grohl's Foo Fighters to return to this much better band.
Is there an ambulance for drums? A drumbulance?
If so, someone please call one for Goldsmith's kit, which today certainly is hurting. Goldsmith pounded the drums unmercifully and with tremendous skill. He gave "Pillars" a thundering, omnious sound, then later worked nicely off a guest percussionist ("Jerry, a very cool friend of ours," as Hoerner introduced him) on "The Prophet."
Goldsmith hammered several songs to rousing climaxes, and also showed great diversity. He played the cymbals beautifully to Hoerner's guitar on the encore song "Roses in Water," the delievered an understated beat for the show-closing "Days Were Golden."
It is rare for a drummer to steal a rock show but Sunny Day Real Estate is a rare unit. This is, after all, a band that broke up because its lead singer found God.
Enigk made no mention of his religious conversion in the concert; in fact, he said very little when not singing. For all his talent, the gaunt, sheepish-looking lead singer has the stage charisma of a speaker.
While Goldsmith is not exceedingly flashy, his brilliant percussion demands attention. So it was that shouts of "William!" went up from the crowd again and again.
The only thing the crowd yelled more -- and more passionately -- was "Seven!"
The fans got plenty of William, right up to his eerie, muted solo that closed the show, but there would be no "Seven." That house, and perhaps the bad memories associated with it, has been sold, and Sunny Day Real Estate has moved on to a new place.
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thanks to anthony <anthony@foxinternet.net> for typing this!!!