The Replacements @ Echostage - 5/8/15
The Replacements were never supposed to amount to anything. Born in a basement in Minneapolis as the day-glow excess of the ‘70s sputtered to its end, the quartet of Paul Westerberg, Bob Stinson, Tommy Stinson and Chris Mars initially gave more fucks about getting fucked up than about whether or not their craft, their art, was any good. But a funny thing happened on the way to their fate of common Midwestern self-destruction: They became legends.
Tapping into the same juice that powered bands like The Ramones, The Sex Pistols and The Rolling Stones, they crafted hurricanes of noise, angst and ultimately beauty out of raw who-gives-a-shit fury. The raw stuff. The dirty stuff. The human stuff. It was all in there. Blasting off with the explosion that was Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash, The Replacements eventually mellowed out, ultimately fizzling out, burnt to cinders by the heat of their own impossibly bright flame.
That story isn’t new or even unexpected. History tells us that, time and time again, eventually every great band must fall. Sure, the Stones are still making music and touring , but who in their right mind (no matter how hard “Mixed Emotions” jams) is ever going to reach for Steel Wheels over Sticky Fingers. Likewise, an album like 1990’s All Shook Down, no matter how sharp Westerberg’s songwriting chops had become by that point, doesn’t stand a chance against something as nearly perfect as 1987’s Pleased To Meet Me or 1985’s visionary Tim, with The Replacements’ (arguably) biggest hit, “Bastards of Young.”
But when you’re standing in front of The Replacements, all of this goes out the window.
The Replacments' Paul Westerberg at Echostage - 5.8.15 (Photo by Kevin Hill)
Over the course of a searing two-hour set, the reformed band -- besides Westerberg and Tommy Stinson, the Mats now features Dave Minehan (The Neighborhoods) on guitars and Josh Freese (Devo, A Perfect Circle) on drums -- set fire to a decade’s worth of material that didn’t just prove why The Replacements were once the best band in the world; it made a strong case for why they quite possibly still are.
The setlist, which read essentially like a Greatest Hits tally (hey, it is a reunion show after all) left no stone of The Replacements’ history unturned. Anthemic firecrackers like “Bastards of Young,” “Can’t Hardly Wait” and “Alex Chilton” brought out the sing-alongs, but deeper cuts like “Within Your Reach,” “Treatment Bound,” and the pure rock sleaze of “Take Me Down to the Hospital” hit like bombs launched from twenty years past.
Westerberg’s secret weapon was always his ability to convey the thrill and angst of youth in a way that spoke to everybody, not just to the fuck-ups who might relate to their antics on a literal level. This was true thirty years ago, and it remained true at Echostage on Friday night. And by the time the band closed with a ragged and raw take on “I.O.U.” they had indeed managed to show the crowd “something ain’t never been done.” But what else would you expect from a band whose entire existence has been less roman candle, more bag of lit M80s thrown-down-in-the street, waiting for the next person to pass by?
All photos by Kevin Hill. Click to embiggen.
Setlist
Takin a Ride
Favorite Thing
Take Me Down to the Hospital
Kissin' in Action
I'm in Trouble
Little Mascara
Waitress in the Sky
Valentine
Treatment Bound
Nobody
Kiss Me on the Bus
Seen Your Video
I Will Dare
White and Lazy
Color Me Impressed
I'll Be You
Whole Foods Blues
Merry Go Round
Within Your Reach
Can't Hardly Wait
Bastards of Young
My Boy Lollipop
(Barbie Gaye cover)
Encore:
(Unknown - "Watering Can Song")
Skyway
Left of the Dial
Alex Chilton
Never Mind
I.O.U.
