Sunday, September 16, 2007

Over the Rhine in Portland


Over the Rhine played in Portland on Saturday to a sold out show at the Doug Fir. Fortunately, I bought Wah-Wah and I tickets on line, so we hired a our babysitter to come over and watch the kids while we saw this amazing show. I wanted to get some pictures and maybe a few short clips, but my camera broke again earlier that afternoon on a hike (I think this is my third camera this year, hopefully it is repairable (for the record, I didn't do anything to it).
The Doug Fir is a small venue, but it draws a lot of first class acts. Every artist I've seen there digs the log cabin feel to the place has. The walls are panelled with fake logs making good acoustics. Over the Rhine referred to it as "Grizzly Adam's home."
Griffin House opened the show. Usually I get annoyed by opening acts, but Griffin House was a pleasant surprise. Griffin House is a solo artist, not a band. He came out and did some acoustic- lyrically clever and spiritual songs. I was pretty touched by his canter and honesty.
Over the Rhine took the stage about an hour later with "I Don't Wanna Waste Your Time" from their new album "The Trumpet Child." Linford Detweiler told most of the stories this evening referring back to his roots and inspirations in music. Most of the material they played came from "The Trumpet Child" with "Born" the only song from "Drunkard's Prayer." They also played a few covers like "Fever" and a Gillian Welsh song. They threw in a couple of songs from "Snow Angels" their X-mas album as a surprise. They ended the evening with "Latter Days" from "Good Dog, Bad Dog."
Despite not hearing a lot of my older favorites, the show was great. Over the Rhine is a band that enjoys their instruments and it shows when they go off into a 10 min keyboard or bass solo. Typically this also annoys me when some bands do that, but Over the Rhine did it with taste. Best part came with a 5 min drum solo that ended with the drummer knocking down the cymbals.

5 comments:

f o r r e s t said...

Sounds great.
They will be in KC October 1st. I better order my tickets in case they sell out.

I can't wait to see them.

GoldenSunrise said...

Hope Wah-Wah enjoyed the show.

Portland wawa said...

I had trouble staying awake. We did two hikes earlier that day, with me carrying Nibbles on my back, so I was wasted by 6 pm and took a nap. BB woke me up at 7 pm or so to eat and get ready and I was groogy and alittle nauseated from fatigue. So I had problems at the show.

shakedust said...

Groggy or not, it sounds like fun. Nice to get out every once in a while.

f o r r e s t said...

Tour Diary September 15, 2007

Doug Fir

If we ever pull into this town and don’t see the Bicycle Man with his flowers and vase, his posters of whomever it is he is coming to see that night taped to his bike… if ever we don’t see him, I’ll know that something is terribly wrong, He’s a welcoming force in Portland. A true sweet and gentle soul.

Then the next vision is that of the Doug Fir itself with its ultra cool décor and funky staffers. Think Pulp Fiction meets Grizzly Adams. Or Griffin thought maybe a cross between the Playboy Mansion and a log cabin.

They’ve sacrificed some of the hotel rooms (yes it’s a swank restaurant, hotel, and music venue all in one) for an Art Affair where you can view art, get a hair cut and even a tattoo, all in one afternoon.

Now, getting a full night’s sleep is another thing. But who needs sleep, really?

Anyway, you get the idea.

For those of you that helped sell out the hippest club in the country, thank you. You will be the audience to beat on this tour. That’s where the party was. In Portland, Oregon.

Linford wants to touch your soul.
Jake wants to melt your face.
I wanna melt your soul and touch your face.
I think we did that quite well.

And to the couple in the front row that experienced Mickey’s Spinal Tap moment a little too closely for comfort, we hope you didn’t get too soaked from the cascading vase of flowers and we’re certainly relieved the cymbal stand didn’t graze any heads as it careened toward the floor.

Nice save Nick.
Great solo Mick.

Thanks everybody.

I’ll post more pictures as I’m able to upload them. I’ve had a little trouble with my internet connections over the past two days, so I’m catching up. Thanks for your patience!

Rolling,
Karin

http://www.overtherhine.com/tourdiary/