Rhett Miller is a handsome man — and one hell of a player. Photos by .
Rhett Miller and Murry Hammond brought the steam train known as the to the on Tuesday night, and the crowd — surprisingly packed full of cougars — screamed their tender hearts out.
And I understand why. I am a heterosexual, married male, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Miller’s beautiful hair. The sheer awesomeness of it was dangerous because you couldn’t stare too long for fear of going blind — much like staring at the sun for more than a few seconds at a time. I consulted with a friend, and she confirmed it: The hair was styled and blow-dried.
The Texas heartthrobs danced across the stage like it was a Wednesday night at the Stampede, and with a nod to their early hit “Victoria Lee,” from their Bloodshot Records debut, they lassoed the crowd into a two-step frenzy. It was at that time I made a mental note: Stay out of the way. The cougs are creating mass hysteria in the pit as Rhett straddles his beat-up, dusty Fender on stage. I had to remind myself I was at a concert and not in Cherry Creek North — the official Coug Capital of Denver.
I see, on average, about eight shows a month. In that time, I’ve seen a lot of groups making their first trek across the U.S. of A., but never have I seen a group as seasoned as the Old 97’s look this refreshed on stage — as if it were their inaugural tour. According to some fans in the crowd, “The guys look like they’ve lost weight, layed off the sauce and been working out.” And thatap from the horse’s mouth!
One of the highlights of the night was the love the group showed to their new material off the recently released “Blame it on Gravity.” The title track off the album particularly impressed me with the guitar picking from lead guitarist Ken Bethea.
Sometimes you take a certain genre of music for granted and you don’t pay too much attention to the smaller details, like Bethea shredding his guitar — not unlike the way I shred cheese at the Enriquez house when itap my turn to make spaghetti. But these guys were playing at top form. And the guys also changed things up a bit with an up-tempo version of “Lonely Holiday,” which only reinforced the band’s reputation as one of the best live groups around.
I came away from the show smitten and in love (all over again) with the Old 97’s. The guys corralled the crowd’s attention for the entire evening — and they even played my all-time favorite song of theirs, “Won’t Be Home,” which had me pumping my fists in the air squawking: “I was born in the backseat of a Mustang on a cold night in a hard rain”.
Regular Reverb contributor Julio Enriquez edits the blog.
Photographer Matt Schild edits Fort Collins-based .
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