The Entroporium

This Saturday will be the last time I ever get to see my all-time favorite live band, Guided By Voices, who plan to break up after their current tour. This is GBV Week!

For some reason, GBV won’t come to San Francisco on a weekend, always a weeknight. This is a royal pain in the ass when it comes to, you know, functioning.

It’s the end of the century and the band has signed to TVT Records to finally go for it. They are going to become arena-rock stadium gods. TVT sets them up with Ric Ocasek as their producer. (I should have taken this as a danger sign. I hate The Cars.) GBV makes its most commercial record ever, “Do The Collapse,” in an obvious bid for radio play. Rumor has it that Ocasek won’t let them drink in the studio. How on earth will they find that magical drunken rocking place now? The record has some great tunes, but in retrospect it’s obviously GBV’s worst. Bob publicly disowns the inspiring but sorta insipid ballad, “Hold On Hope,” as something he regrets writing. Heck, it’s still better than 96% of what’s on the radio.

But live the band still kills. The stability of the line-up has made them an absolute rock and roll machine, better than just about any band you’ll ever see. They give it their all for 2-3 hours, over & over. They get in the habit of coming to SF twice for every album; first pre-release with a set loaded with new material, the second time playing more of a hits set and more clearly enjoying themselves. These second shows are always messier and more fun.

Two gigs stand out from this period. At the Fillmore for a “Collapse” show, Amy jumps onstage to dance with the band. It’s the only time at the Fillmore where I haven’t seen someone immediately bum-rushed by security for doing this. It’s her 30th birthday and they keep her up there for a couple of songs. It’s a really charming moment.

The other is at Bimbo’s on the “Isolation Drills” tour. After closing with an unitelligible “Baba O’Reilly,” all the energy spills out on to Columbus Avenue. Chris R. convinces two guys that they should fight. Meanwhile, Susie has convinced Angela to find them a way backstage. They get there and Susie freezes up. The band has just played its heart out and they are exhausted. Susie is starstruck and drunk, a really lethal social combination. “Hey, you guys want to get a drink?” They get blank stares while Angela rushes her out of the room.

I think it was this same night that I glided unusually close to the stage. By now, I know the GBV repertoire like nobody’s business. Yeah, it’s 50 songs a night, all different, every time, but I’ve got the Bob Pollard dramatic sense down cold. It’s near the end of the set and I’m pretty well gone. They conclude some song and I sense — I just know — the next song. I count off “1-2-Big-SCHOOL!” Bob looks down at me for a second, hesitates… and then endorsing my call, counts off “1-2-Big-SCHOOL!” People around me look at me aghast. How did he know that? Yep, this is the band for me alright!

[Soundtrack]
Guided By Voices – Things I Will Keep.mp3
Guided By Voices – Skills Like This.mp3
Guided By Voices – Glad Girls.mp3