Suit of Armor with Wooden Arms

Last night Diana and I cruised down to the historic Fillmore Theater to check out Sage Francis and Buck 65, following is what transpired.

We arrived at The Fillmore only to have a 90 second confused conversation with the door people about whether I had to check my wallet chain or not. It was eventually decided that I could keep it, but to “tuck it in”. That will keep people safer.

Walking into the venue with my vicious weaponry, we are greeted by someone and told which way the bathrooms are. Quite friendly, I must say. Also at the entrance was a steel bucket full of apples that are free to take and munch away on. I’m assuming this must be some long-held tradition, everyone seemed unfazed by it.

Diana grabbed a Fat Tire and I had a Stella Artois and we just wandered the theater through most of Buddy Wakefield’s and Alias’ sets. The Fillmore is probably the size of First Avenue, holding probably 1200-1500. It has a big main floor with a nice, wide stage. There were fanciful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, quite a change from the “underwater ship wreck” feel that First Ave’s ceiling has (credit for above analogy goes to Diana). The place has numerous maroon velvet curtains, which finishes off the theater vibe.

The upstairs part had a huge balcony with booths that also gave great sight-lines. Also upstairs was a huge back room with another bar, but this room was completely separate and you could not see any part of the show from there. The greatest part of the upstairs, though, was the 1000s of old framed concert posters from the history of the Fillmore. We must have spent almost 45 minutes just wandering around, pointing out cool posters and ones from tours that we had seen in other places (including the Handsome Boy Modeling School/Buck 65 poster from a couple of years ago). Everything from Jefferson Airplane to last week’s Feist show was included. I want to go there when there’s not a show and just peruse that part for hours.

Around 10, Buck 65 hit the stage. Last year we went on vacation to Toronto, and a big reason we went there was because Buck was going to be having a concert on her birthday, so needless to say she’s a big fan. He’s a rapper from Nova Scotia but sounds like a cross between Tom Waits and a Virginian truck driver. He’s always had a different take on hip-hop, but his stage presence and charisma can’t be topped. He pulled out some of his “razzle-dazzle” (glitter in his jeans pockets) and numerous dance moves. There was a good combo of old songs, songs done under various monikers, and even a new one that will be coming out on his new album this September. He finished off the set with a 3-minute medley of tons of his old stuff, including 4-6-3, Centaur, and Wicked and Weird.

With minimal delay Sage Francis took the stage. This tour is in support of his new album “Human the Death Dance”, which seems a little more personal than and not quite as angry as his last full-length for Epitaph, but is still a pretty solid album. Gone is his CD-player backed music, in with a three piece backing band (bass, DJ and guitar/string player). He started off his set with You Can’t Kill Me MF’er, which got the whole crowd singing along for the rest of the set. He pulls off a great feat of getting you pumped up and angry (Slow Down Ghandi) to making you laugh like mad. One of the most hilarious things he did half-way through the set was grabbing people’s coats, bags and hats they had set on the stage and claiming them for himself. He ended the set with Dance Monkey, then came on to do an encore finishing with Jah Didn’t Kill Johnny with everyone else on the bill coming on stage to assist.

We picked up yet another Buck 65 album and exited the venue as a tired, happy couple.