The secret's out: Sunny Day Real Estate play not-so-secret show in Tacoma
"I heard Dave Grohl is here."
While local Tacoma boys Glimpse played a set of predictable radio alt-rock
to what will undoubtedly be the biggest crowd they'll ever have, the
rumors of something pertaining to Dave Grohl were snaking through the
room. One girl insisted that Dave Grohl's new band (which went
unnamed in our conversation) was on tour with Sunny Day Real Estate,
and Dave Grohl would be playing drums for Sunny Day. As SDRE was
setting up, another girl asked me who was about to play, and
mentioned that the bus driver from the tour had told her that Them
Crooked Vultures was playing tonight. She was incredibly excited
about the possibility of seeing "Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones, and
some other guy" rock. Having spotted Goldsmith hanging out with
family and friends before the show, and given the shaky history
between Grohl and Goldsmith (Grohl notoriously re-recorded
Goldsmith's drum parts on the Foo Fighters The Color and the Shape
record), I highly doubted Grohl would even show his face, much less
be taking the helm behind the kit.
Thankfully, for all of us, no Grohl was needed to make this an
incredible evening.
For the first time in close to 15 years, the original lineup of Sunny
Day Real Estate took the stage to a sold out crowd of 299 patrons who
had paid all of five bucks to get in. There is a lot of mystery
shrouding the second SDRE record (self-titled, aka LP2, aka "The Pink
Album") given that it was the nail in the coffin for the original
band lineup. Singer Jeremy Enigk's very vocal conversion to
Christianity and some other in-band rifts lead to the band breaking
up during the recording sessions. The record has a very spotty,
sporadic, uneasy feeling that is incredibly uncomfortable at times,
but incredibly rewarding after repeated listens; I was curious as to
whether or not the band would avoid the record completely or focus
more on their first LP (Diary) and later material. When the first
chiming guitar notes of LP2's "Friday" started, it was obvious the
band was no longer afraid of or uneasy with this monumental record.
The crowd breathed out a collective "whooooooa!", seeing that all
bets were off for where the set would go. The band continued through
LP2 selections, playing "Theo B" and then an absolutely gorgeous
version of what may very well be my personal favorite SDRE song, "Red
Elephant".
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The band absolutely didn't miss a step in its hiatus; all members
have been busy with other bands (The Fire Theft, Foo Fighters,
Brawley Banks, and Enigk's solo career), but I was curious as to how
comfortable the band would look pieced together after such a long
hiatus. Playful and giddy, Guitarist Dan Hoerner was grinning infectiously for the
entire show. Bassist Nate Mendel closed his eyes and rolled his head
around, quietly hovering in the background, just outside of the
spotlight. Jeremy Enigk played the perfect frontman, laughing and
joking in between songs, shrieking and screaming and crooning through
a set that consisted entirely of songs off of Diary and LP2, save for
a raucous version of "Guitar and Video Games" off of 1998's How It
Feels To Be Something On. The show was already bubbling over with
excitement and anticipation, but when the band started into "Seven"
from Diary (arguably their most known song), it flipped a switch that
lit the already electric audience.
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Recent listens to Diary have left me with the impression that the
record was a little dated, but watching Will Goldsmith put on the
drum clinic that is "Seven", I remembered what was so important and
amazing about Sunny Day Real Estate. First, you never quite knew where they
were going to take you within a song, and those jerky transitions between melodies and odd time signatures never seemed too foreign or forced. Secondly, the band has the distinct ability to make songs seem epic without seeming like an arena rock band.
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After recent revisits to the band's catalog, the first two records (just remastered and reissued by Sub Pop this week) really sound a bit dated; maybe that's just from having heard the records way too many times, or having heard 15 years worth of bands trying to emulate these powerful, crushing sounds has worn me a bit thin. Regardless, seeing the original Sunny Day Real Estate lineup in a 300 person club, seeming just as vital and real and effortless as ever was staggeringly amazing.
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For a "secret show", it felt pretty awesome. The band was loose, happy, the crowd full of family and friends and hardcore faithful. Give Tacoma some credit;
this show more than likely couldn't have happened in Seattle. Lines
would have been around the block, and the show couldn't have happened
at another venue this intimate (although the Croc wouldn't have been
an awful place for them to show up unannounced). I was expecting a totally full house, but the show didn't sell out until well after 10pm. The sound was
crushingly loud but clear, the crowd itself was amazingly well
behaved and excited, and Hell's Kitchen was a great retreat from the
blaring neon American Apparel parade that Capitol Hill is becoming.
Oh, and for an upside down photo of the setlist, give this a look.
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