Let There Be Rock

By Friday night, I'm usually pretty wiped out. Long work week, not enough sleep, and I'm ready to zone out on the couch and hit the sack early. But not last night.

Instead, I picked up my buddy Dave and his friend Ben and we headed into Boston to catch the Drive-By Truckers play at the House of Blues. Unlike last Saturday's Spoon show, there was no early exit because of a dance party afterward. We went to three different restaurants in a futile attempt to get a burger and beer before the show, but were unable to get anyone to take our orders. It was ridiculous.

Finally, we just walked down Lansdowne Street and went to the Sausage King, the street vendor who's always there. Boom, we wolfed them down and went into the club in time to catch Langhorne Slim, the first of the three-band show. He played a fine set of roots rock that got the crowd going. Next up was Lucero, an excellent alt-country act that ripped it up real good. The Memphis band was augmented by a three-piece horn section. Frontman Ben Nichols used his Tom Waitsian rasp to good effect on newer songs like "Smoke" and older classics like "That Much Further West" and "Tears Don't Matter Much." The horns didn't take away from the punk attitude of the band. I'd definitely like to catch them playing a headlining date someday.

Unlike last weekend, when Spoon was forced to finish its set by 10 p.m., DBT came out at 10 and ripped through a kick-ass two-hour set of Southern rock, country and blues. Almost exactly two years, I caught the band at the Paradise and they played a boozy, raw 135-minute set. Last night, there was less boozing but just as much rocking. Bandleader Patterson Hood seemed to be having a blast as the band tore through songs from the fine new album The Big To-Do, including "This Fucking Job," "Birthday Boy" and "The Flying Wallendas." Guitarist Mike Cooley played some hot lead guitar and brought his trademark twangy vocals to "Women Without Whiskey" and "Three Dimes Down" and bassist Shonna Tucker sang a couple of her compositions, "Home Field Advantage" and "(It's Gonna Be) I Told You So." The uber-prolific band has cranked out a ton of music over the years and several classics were played last night, including "Nine Bullets," "The Night GG Allin Came to Town," "Road Cases," "Sinkhole" and "Hell, No, We Ain't Happy."

The band's three-guitar attack rocked as hard as any metal band at some points, while at others, utility man John Neff played the pedal steel and they played mellow country. But whatever they played, the packed and hard drinking crowd appreciated. The night ended with an ear-splittingly loud version of Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World," which left both the band and audience spent and exhausted. A fitting end to a night of rock.

Job well done: