Guided By Voices
Do the Collapse
On Sale Now
For $12.28

Before Guided By Voices took the stage one recent Friday at the Nightclub 9:30, the band's manager Pete Jamison brought out a cooler of beer to cheers from the crowd.

"That's fuel," I heard one fan say behind me.

Indeed the band from Dayton, Ohio has become known almost as much for their beer-soaked performances as for their lo-fi indie sound that borrows from the Beatles, the Who, early Genesis and other 60s and 70s purveyors of pop.

Of course, these days that lo-fi basement sound has evolved a bit. The band enlisted ex-Car Ric Ocasek to produce last year's Do the Collapse. It's their best sounding record and includes some of GBV leader and former grade school teacher Robert Pollard's best songs, eight of which were performed at the 9:30.

Back in September, the band had stopped at the club on their co-headlining tour with Cheap Trick. They turned in a very professional, tight set of great sounding songs. On this night, however, a longer headlining set allowed the band to perform songs not only from their major releases but also from the prolific Pollard's solo releases and side projects. Not all of them were great additions to the GBV canon, but all were performed in the same spirit of drunken fun.

The strongest performances came not surprisingly on songs from Collapse including the throbbing "Teenage FBI," which the band played twice. They also tore through several songs from 1994's Bee Thousand, which brought the band to the attention of most critics and which, Pollard noted, Pete Townshend had recently cited as one of his favorite records. "I Am A Scientist" from that album was turned into an unlikely arena rock song.

With Pollard chain smoking, sucking down Budweisers, high-kicking and swinging his microphone like Roger Daltrey on speed, the band crammed more than forty songs into their two hour show. Well, to be honest, a couple of songs during the encores were only partial versions. Toward the end as the crowd had thinned considerably, Pollard was calling out for just the end of one song or just the beginning of another. The band went happily along for the ride.

The GBV lineup has changed frequently over the years but this group of musicians is perhaps the strongest lineup Pollard has had behind him. Guitarist Doug Gillard provided the jagged edges on tracks like "I Am A Tree" and more conventional rock solos on songs like "Teenage FBI." Second guitarist Nate Farley supplied the power chords. Bassist Tim Tobias kept things lighthearted, laughing and clowning through much of the show. And drummer Jim MacPherson kicked things into gear effectively.

One of the best bands ever to come out of Nova Scotia, Sloan, provided an excellent warm-up for the GBV faithful. The band members all took turns as lead singer as they rocked out on songs from last year's fantastic Between the Bridges and other offerings. "All By Ourselves" segued seamlessly into the galloping "Losing California" as the band displayed their 70s pop influences, crunchy guitars and great harmonies.

Opening band American Flag was a six-piece 70s bubblegum pop band with a theatrical lead singer whose mannerisms approximated a cross between Billy Squier and Freddie Mercury. The band had energy to spare, all the rock star poses, matching white outfits, cheesy 70s keyboard sounds, and goofy falsetto vocals. They were loads of fun to watch and never boring, but could benefit from writing some stronger songs.

Copyright © 2008 ModernRock.com All Rights Reserved