Soul Asylum with Local H
The Moody Theater in Austin, TX on August 30, 2021
By Charles R Pearce
I want to say tonight smells like flannel. But it doesn’t. It smells like a dirty mask instead, with a timid crowd spread thin as the delta variant surges. Understaffed and overworked the venue crew is stressed and working overtime to maintain some semblance of a normal experience. Well – except for the gaggle of old-school event security guys so engrossed in an anti-vax conversation they have no clue how loud they are. As their words tumble through the awkward crowd, once again public safety has been co-opted by politics.
The anti-vax vibe at moody theater in Austin is an ironic counterpoint to the counterculture music filling the hall tonight.
But yet we still see echoes of the old days. From the grunger and his small dog adorned in Local H gear to the twenty something punk rock ladies born long after these bands heydays still rocking the mile high jet-black Mohawks in between the worn-down millennials pushing forty, toe tapping to the music sipping Bud Lights.
It’s weird. And kind of uncomfortable, but maybe that’s exactly how it needs to be. These aren’t bands known for keeping you comfortable…and it’s not exactly like we can keep pretending everything is fine right? Right?
It just seems like there are too many apple watches and fitbits in the room for a grunge show. Am I getting old? Impossible. The crowd is out of touch.
Even as Scott from Local H pleads with the quiet crowd to put down their phones and go on a journey back to 1996, the crowd halfheartedly plays along – quick to pull the recording apps back out.
But as Local H rips through their set – tight as ever, you can feel the dream of the 90s push against 2021’s middle-aged apathy. The crowd is definitely out of touch.
Then again – I think we all know. Scott cracks between songs “25-year-old me would be laughing his ass off at current me…You’re all sitting down.”
Maybe people are saving themselves for Soul Asylum, maybe they’re up past their bedtime.
Shit. This isn’t meant to rip an audience, but it’s hard to deny how incompatible vintage grunge anger is with modern small luxuries and paunchy bellies.
Local H is at no fault here, they’re rightfully earning the polite applause, but I’m still nostalgic for the mosh pits and body odor of what used to be. The visceral edge is absent.
Talk about a band that can still rip it. Never mind that we’re going top to bottom on a 25-year-old album at the tail end of a nostalgia tour – Local H has total mastery of the heavy metal sound they became known for. There is no slacking on the stage tonight. Just a duo that never stopped practicing. We could all learn a lesson about tenacity here.
Soul Asylum’s lyrics ring true today and tonight. Frustrated Incorporated, put me out of my misery.
People are finally standing for the band – but it’s forced. This is far away from the 80s butt rock revival of the early 2010s. The aging music fans are just too pedestrian to bring the room to life. Not even the powerful perfect music of soul asylum can get this Austin evening going.
There’s a great consistency to Soul Asylum. The music slides all over the place, from heavy to soothing and right back into the energy. The band is incredibly tight after touring.
The classics hit hard, and the new songs blend seamlessly into the set, and there’s plenty of head banging coming from the stage – I miss the days of lighters rising in a crowd. The only glow is from the phones that never got put down. Important text messaging in the middle of a show.
Finally, when Dave calls the room to move from their chairs and spread-out seats to move to the front…a hesitant group gathers in the front – but for the first moment all night, it feels like a real show.
What a tragedy. The missing moment all night, human closeness, is the exact thing we’ve been spending 18 months learning how to be more careful about…. but the people standing have shifted the bands energy, already playing well – it’s clear Soul Asylum feeds off the closeness. One can only hope the crowd is wiser than the anti-vax security guards roaming the floor and everyone has their shot. But who are we kidding? This is Texas.
We hit 10pm and Soul Asylum moves into more songs from their latest offering…and the crowd thins with more and more going home. The people still standing in front of the stage have become lukewarm…and are just…standing. Soul Asylum is playing hard, but the audience has gone limp. Very few people seem present in the moment. Maybe waiting for a great hit or favorite song…or maybe it’s something else on this end of summer Monday night.
I mean, when you’re at a Soul Asylum show and no one knows the lyrics to Runaway Train…why are you even here?
Austin has let live music down tonight. There’s more energy in an obscure Indiana house party tonight. Hopefully Local H and Soul Asylum come back to visit us soon – because tonight requires a mulligan. Great music. Awful crowd.
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