Paul & The Painkillers @ The Pantages, MPLS

Nov 5-7, 2002

Thanks to all for the reviews and pictures and recordings of the shows, as well as to everyone who came out for the pre-show gathering on Friday. Click here for some great pictures from the shows, thanks again to everyone for sending them in. Big thank you to PD Larsen who sent in great reviews and the complete setlists for all three shows.

The Painkillers are:
Kevin Bowe (guitars, vocals, mandolin)
Jim Boquist (bass, vocals)
Michael Bland (drums)

Friday Nov. 5

SETLIST:
Waiting For Somebody
Final Hurrah
Kiss Me On The Bus
My Dad
AAA/Anyways All Right
Achin’ To Be
Mr Rabbit
Making Me Go
Let The Bad Times Roll
As Far As I Know
Little Mascara
Valentine
High Time
New Song/Untitled (solo electric)
Sadly Beautiful (solo acoustic 12 string)
Crackle & Drag (solo acoustic 12 string)
If Only You Were Lonely (solo acoustic 12 string)
Lookin’ Up In Heaven (acoustic w/ band)
What A Day (For A Night) (acoustic w/ band)
Love Untold (PW on electric 12 string)
I Will Dare (PW on electric 12 string)
I Think I Love You (Partridge Family cover)
Alex Chilton
Left Of The Dial

ENCORE
MPLS (PW on blues harp)
I’ll Be You
Folk Star/Jingle
Only A Hobo (Dylan cover)
Can’t Hardly Wait

‘twas indeed a great, great show. It far exceeded my expectations which were, after a couple years of progressively less exciting solo performances, somewhat dampened. Pauly was focused and serious for his first concert appearance with a band since 1996. Early on he mentioned that some local “buttf**ks” were already using the “Painkillers” moniker so they were trying to come up with a new one. On stage suggestions included “Kevin Bowe Works Blue” and, my fave, “Paul Westerberg and His Only Friends.” Surprisingly, Paul played a lot of the leads as Kevin Bowe, Jim Boquist and Michael Bland ripped thru 100 minutes of highlights - some predictable, some quite surprising - from the PW / Mats catalog. BTW, Bowe is a longtime Mpls singer/songwriter/guitarist who, with his long-forgotten Mpls band The Dads, played with the ‘Mats at one of their very first gigs, according to PW. Nothing resembling a low spot and the time seemed to go by in a flash. The boys seem to be very well rehearsed (definitely not one of Paul’s strong suits in recent years) and looked to be having a blast. Anyone who didn’t crack a smile watching Boquist strut and stromp around is probably a Republican.

Highlights for me: a powerful, emotional “My Dad,” “Let the Bad Times Roll,” “What a Day For a Night,” “As Far As I Know,” virtually all of the ‘Mats songs. Even the Partridge Family song seemed to fit in (it was, FWIW, a “straight” rendition - no goofing around). There were so many great songs that weren’t played that tonite and Sunday have the potential for even more excitement. A few weeks ago, I was worried that two nights might be one too many. Now I’m very much looking forward to going to all 3.
--PD Larson

I am a sucker for 70s pop songs (without irony) so the un-ironic over of "I Think I Love You" about slayed me. Hearing "As Far As I Know" live and seeing the crowd reaction was also a high point, I fell in love with that song the first time I heard it and I waited a damn long time to hear it live. After saying a few days before the shows that he wasn't going to play "My Dad", he played it and it was really affecting. I loved the version of "AAA" with "Anyway's All Right" in the middle. We also got treated to a new, nameless song, with the months of September, October and November spelled out...gotta hear the show again to get a handle on that. "What A Day (For A Night)", gorgeous. "Folk Star" kicked ass and it's too bad it didn't get played on the other nights.
--Kathy

Read more about this show on the message board.

Saturday Nov. 6

SETLIST:
Dust My Broom (Elmore James cover)
Waiting For Somebody
Final Hurrah
Kiss Me on the Bus
My Dad
AAA (with bits of Anyway’s All Right)
Mr. Rabbit (up tempo country-rock version) (Bowe on mandolin)
Making Me Go
No Place For You
Now I Wonder
As Far As I Know
Born For Me
High Time
Little Mascara
Skyway (solo acoustic 12 string)
Things (solo acoustic 12 string)
Crackle and Drag (solo acoustic 12 string)
Lookin’ Up in Heaven (acoustic 12 string with band)
What a Day (For a Night) (acoustic 12 string with band)
Waitress in the Sky (acoustic 12 string with band)
First Glimmer (electric 12 string with band)
I Will Dare (electric 12 string with band)
I.O.U.
Nevermind

ENCORE 1
MPLS (PW on blues harp)
It’s All Over Now (Stones cover, actually originally done by Bobby Womack)
Knockin’ On Mine
Can’t Hardly Wait

ENCORE 2
Alex Chilton
Left of the Dial

Another excellent show. I might have to give the first night a slight edge based on the sheer excitement of hearing the power of this band for the first time. There also seemed to be a bit more energy on Friday - you could practically feel a crackle in the air. But, now that I think about it, any show with performances as white-hot as "IOU" and "Alex Chilton" on Saturday is a show to remember. Given the "lost years" nature of much of the last decade for him, I don’t see how anyone could expect anything more from Mr. W and company at this point.

Paul didn’t look quite as deranged as night 1 (spray painted suit, gloves clipped to his sleeves - looking more than a little like a Monty Python "twit"), coming out looking rather natty in a suit vest, pimp hat, loud bow-tie and louder dress shirt. His spirits seemed pretty "up" - he bounced around, cracked some jokes and, once again, seemed to be enjoying his moment in the spotlight. At one point he pulled out what appeared to be a tube of lipstick and proceeded to "touch up" a hapless Kevin Bowe. Boquist was in his best "rock star" mode, teetering around as he and Bland provided the kind of foundation that, to put it kindly, has been missing from much of PW’s recent basement recordings.

For the most part, things were predictably a bit tighter on night 2 - lots of seamless segue transitions - but there was also a gaffe or two and, at the end of "It’s All Over Now", things ground to a halt rather sloppily. Not exactly the kind of f*ck-all insouciance Paul’s old band used to revel in, but it was hard not to think of <insert your fave ‘mats train wreck moment here> as things fell apart on stage. He also false-started "Crackle and Drag", momentarily losing his focus. He started again, mumbling something like "OK, Paul, on stage now, people watching, must sing..."

During the Grandpaboy opener - vintage Westerberg-as-contrarian, starting a show with a blues cover - I wondered if maybe things were gonna be drastically different on night 2. What if Paul was in one of his "moods" and everything fell off the tracks? Not to worry, though, the setlist from night 1 soon fell into place, so much so that I eventually started to wonder "is this gonna be a rehash of night 1." Not that there’s anything wrong with that...

Not many wholesale changes in the setlist from night 1, but it was sure nice to hear anything (3 on Saturday!) from "14 Songs", an album full of songs that I think this band would do right by. The acoustic set was revamped, thankfully including a gorgeous "Skyway", always special for the hometown punters since it’s kinda "our" song. The show on Saturday really picked up steam in the second half, culminating in an "Nevermind"/"IOU" 1-2 knockout punch. "IOU" was never a "major" ‘mats track IMO, but it sure works well live (it was also a major highlight as a closer during the ‘96 PW tour). The performance on Saturday was simply volcanic, same with "Alex Chilton", which has never sounded better. During "AC", Michael Bland was just destroying his drum kit, those tom-tom smashes sounding like a jack hammer about to explode. I looked around during "AC" and most everyone was just standing there, slack-jawed and awed, a suitable reaction for much of what had transpired over the last two memorable nights.
-- PD Larsen

Read more about this show on the message board.

Sunday Nov. 7

SETLIST:
MPLS
Pyschopharmacology
Waiting On Somebody
Kiss Me On the Bus
I Think I Love You (Partridge Family cover)
My Dad
AAA
Mr. Rabbit (Bowe on mandolin)
Making Me Go
Let the Bad Times Roll
No Place For You
As Far As I Know
High Time
Valentine
Little Mascara
Lush and Green (solo acoustic 12 string)
Crackle and Drag (solo acoustic 12 string)
Skyway (solo acoustic 12 string)
Customer (fragment) (acoustic 12 string with band)
Lookin’ Up in Heaven (w/ snippet of Sadly Beautiful) (acoustic 12 string with band)
How Can You Like Him? (acoustic 12 string with band)
What a Day (For a Night) (acoustic 12 string with band)
Love Untold (electric 12 string with band)
I Will Dare (electric 12 string with band)
I.O.U.
Nevermind
Alex Chilton
Left of the Dial

ENCORE
Here Comes a Regular (solo acoustic)
Born For Me (solo acoustic)
Swinging Party
Can’t Hardly Wait
Lost Highway (Hank Williams cover)
All Over Again (aka I’ve Got a Mind to Give Up Living) (trad blues) (w/ false start)
Rebel Rebel (David Bowie cover)
Sweet Virginia (Rolling Stones cover) (aborted)
Rock ‘n’ Roll (Led Zep cover)

-- PD Larsen

I enjoyed the Sunday show - it was clearly on a different plane from the other two shows, with Paul coming out in an all-red outfit, complete with homemade hat and Kevin decked out in a spangly blue and gold suit. Started with a 'real' version of "MPLS" and then went right into "Psychoparmacology". Another great rendition of "I Think I Love You". The solo acoustic set included "Lush and Green", a highlight for me. Also got a band version of "How Can You Like Him?", good to hear more stuff from "Folker". The crowd was more sedate, i.e. seated, and Paul kicked things into gear by hopping on to the floor with the mike stand for a rousing "I Will Dare" which got every ass out of every seat and up and dancing. He returned to the stage and they continued to smoke thru the set-ending "I.O.U".

Paul came back for another solo set, sitting on the drum riser for "Here Comes a Regular" and "Born For Me". And then things got different from the other nights, the band came back out and played a couple more Mats tunes and then went into an blues song, "I've Gotta A Mind to Give Up Living" aka "All Over Again", some lyrics:

I've got a mind to give up living,
And go shopping instead
I've got a mind to give up living,
And go shopping instead
Pick me up a tombstone,
And be pronounced dead

After starting the song, he stopped and told a story about when he was 17 years old, a friend of his came over and played him this song and then went home and wrapped his lips around a shotgun and blew his head off. And then they played the shit out of the song. I guess there have been varied reactions to this. I found it real, not uncomfortable or train-wrecky, but to each his own. Which is not to say things weren't getting a little out there at the end. This song was followed by a stab at "Rebel, Rebel" that never really took off (Paul was in the wings) and a brief stab at "Sweet Virgnia" and then the show ended with a rollicking cover of Zepplin's "Rock 'n' Roll" and that was all she wrote. This show inspired the most discussion/opinions, which you can check out on the message board.
--Kathy