Grand Duchy fizzles out at Wicker Fest (7/24)
Friday night, Grand Duchy made their way to Chicago to take part in this year’s edition of Wicker Fest. Fantastic news for those of us obsessed with the charismatic, oft-enigmatic Frank Black, a.k.a. Charles Thompson, Black Francis, etc. He’s something of an alt-rock hero. You already knew this, though. If you graduated college between the years of 1990 and 1994, and you wore flannel without trying to ride the wave of grunge, you were likely a Pixies fan. Had I been old enough to join you, it’s likely I would have.
As a pre-festival homage to his legions of rabid fans, Black and wife Violet Clark decided to light up Subterranean before slinging their arsenal of alt-rock in an outdoor setting.
This is a quaint, ambitious new band that never reaches for the sonic heights The Pixies found, but still forces us to consider dancing amongst like-minded indie rockers. Sadly, this is only the case in subtle doses, and much of their haphazardly choreographed set left most in attendance either a.) wanting more, or b.) glad the band didn’t bother trying.
Here’s the thing: It seemed most of those in attendance were there to merely catch a glimpse of the aging alt-rock star, rather than give Grand Duchy a fresh listen. There was one semi-intelligent young man in particular who insisted upon beckoning, “Gigantic”, in-between each of the band’s first six songs. A nice idea to be certain, but once it became a ritual, most of us within earshot wanted to escort the shock-talk-radio-host-in-waiting to the nearest exit.
Having said that, Black is a menacing on-stage presence, and most of us were probably there solely to witness this up close. From the show’s outset, he positioned himself stage right, and began rolling his head around in the imperfect cadence he became so well known for when most of us were still using training wheels.
That’s just it: There wasn’t much else to witness. This is an adequate band that won’t get any bigger than the venue we were seeing them in. If Black hadn’t been a part of it, there would be no need to slosh through the intermittent downpours to get to the heart of Wicker Park to see them.
Clark gets an “A” for effort, but has access to a waif-thin voice, and most of their most sonic moments called for a throatier howl. (Anyone have Kim Deal’s cell phone number?)
The hooks we so adored in Pixies tunes were nowhere to be found. Even Frank Black and the Catholics find terrific momentary beauty long enough to keep our collective interest. There was simply too little intensity in Grand Duchy’s aw-shucks approach. They behaved as if they belonged out in front of such a large, hit-hungry crowd. They didn’t. Even Black appeared bored with their every-song-sounds-the-same-and-not-in-a-good-way catalogue. There were very necessary moments of feedback deliver from Indie-rock’s elder statesman, but they were so few and far between I hardly remember which songs were better than others.
Perhaps the greatest aspect of the show was Black’s decision to don early-nineties-themed shades throughout the set. It’s as if he wanted to shield his eyes from the stagnancy of his new band, and wander off as he phoned in a fair amount of momentary guitar fervor for a group that will almost certainly be cast aside as a side-project/bullet-point amidst his storied career.
Yes, I said it, the best part of the show was Frank Black’s dork-rock sunglasses. If that isn’t enough to tell you how little this experience did to spark my interest in Grand Duchy, I don’t know what possibly could.
On the contrary, openers Empires were subtly terrific. Their songs packed a punch, and the band displayed almost enough onstage energy to keep me from wanting to leave Grand Duchy’s headlining set early.
sorry Jay… not owned. Those are all applicable definitions, that’s why they are numbered… and i think 3 and 5 fit what i said pretty well. good try tho.
>>The role of the critic is not to pass judgement, but to describe what it is that he or she experienced while aligning it in a historical context…>>
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–noun
1. the act of passing judgment as to the merits of anything.
2. the act of passing severe judgment; censure; faultfinding.
3. the act or art of analyzing and evaluating or judging the quality of a literary or artistic work, musical performance, art exhibit, dramatic production, etc.
4. a critical comment, article, or essay; critique.
5. any of various methods of studying texts or documents for the purpose of dating or reconstructing them, evaluating their authenticity, analyzing their content or style, etc.: historical criticism; literary criticism.
6. investigation of the text, origin, etc., of literary documents, esp. Biblical ones: textual criticism.
Sir, you are owned. Good article DeSalvo.
You guys are correct! Absolutely! I want to to adhere to your standards for concert-reviews. Historical context? Did I mention Black was in The Pixies? Maybe I’m too old to comprehend your youthful angst regarding the “status quo” for what a “review” is supposed to possess, but I don’t consider myself a critic.
Grand Duchy was boring. I actually contemplated severing my brainless-head during their set. Yes, I do have shit for brains. No, I don’t fancy myself a music/movie critic. That is to say, I don’t live at home with my parents, presently subscribe to the Victoria’s Secret catalouge, or spend hours mastering the fine art of World of Warcraft.
I do, however, appreciate the words of wise young folks whose hatred for underachieving “writers” emits an energy the article they hated so much could never have hoped to.
I love you very much. Please marry me.
-Chris “sucks balls daily” DeSalvo
@ michael roffman
I do
Chris DeSalvo knows as much about music as a space shuttle knows about vogueing (”vogue” is another music/dance/performance term that you wouldn’t know anything about… yeah, go on, google it).
The role of the critic is not to pass judgement, but to describe what it is that he or she experienced while aligning it in a historical context… but that would be really difficult for someone to do with no writing skills and no historical reference, wouldn’t it?
Lord knows those talents are hard to start learning at the age of 30.
Mark should write for The New Yorker.
Mark.
I enjoyed your response. I liked the use of the term “modicum.” I think I love you.
Kisses,
Chris
Empires, subtly terrific? Are you fucking kidding me?? I haven’t hated an opening act that much in ages… just a terrible terrible band. That statement destroyed any modicum of credibility you may have had as a music critic, or as a music listener for that matter. I know you stated that you were too young to be in on the first Pixies run, but are you also a 16 year old girl? (I’m assuming this is Empires’ target demographic) GD’s performance was by no means a life altering, ecstasy inducing, religious experience kind of event, but at very least it was an enjoyable show (the one @ SubT, I didn’t attend WPF.) The only thing “suffocatingly trite, and totally lame” related to the show is this review (and Empires.) Perhaps you “can’t focus on the “music,”” because you’re slightly retarded.
I caught the Wicker Park set and really enjoyed it, even though there were major sound problems and they had to cut the set a bit short because of a late start. I think a lot of people who go to see this band see it because Frank Black is in it, and are not familiar with the CD. It’s definitely not going to be as good, then. I love the CD so was totally happy with them live, sound problems aside.
so you guys write for the same site, went to the same show, but didn’t meet each other? or were you just being facetious?
Re: “Thanks again Chris and Andy,”
There were certain points during the set in which I felt my mind wandering away. You ever have that happen to you? When you’re at a show you’re supposed to really be digging, and suddenly you can’t focus on the “music,” because it’s suffocatingly trite, and totally lame?
The sunglasses were honestly the only thing I could remember making me smile. If that makes me a fashion guru, and pretentious deliverer of music-free reviews, so be it. The show may as well have been as such.
-Chris.
P.S. Don’t drag Andy into this, he’s a fantastic photographer, and if I ever get to meet him, I’m going to comment on his clothing, and buy him a beer.
I didn’t do any writing, just the photography.
I’m really glad it took two of you to write such a concise and enlightening review of this show. I can’t wait to see the both of you rise to great heights of rock criticism. I’ve always thought that sunglasses were much more important than songwriting. I personally care much more how the performers look and act than what they sound like. Thanks again Chris and Andy
I was photographing from the front and I knew it was going to be nothing like Black Francis or the Pixies so I was fairly content. The sound problems definitely killed the vibe for me and I was feeling pretty bored until they got a song or two in. Fairly fun to photograph though.
agree 100% with this review. Empires blew me away. I was mainly there to catch Frank Black too, although I enjoy the Grand Duchy album. The sound problem fiasco that delayed their set for a half hour killed the vibe for me, and probably the band as well. I wasn’t expecting too much, and therefore left feeling content.
Aug 13th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
[...] on display. I’m grateful for this, and will continue to do this. However, if I find myself at a Grand Duchy concert and notice my eye lids are moving over my eyes like the Nazis over Poland in 1939, I’m going [...]