The Bags played the Crystal Ballroom in the Boston area again. Last year was just for a little reunion and a reissue of their “Swamp Oaf” album. This year? An album release party for their new album called “Go Deep”! Produced by Dave Minehan of the Neighborhoods (and lead guitarist for Paul Westerberg and later for The Replacements reunions), it’s their first album in 19 years. Now I wish I could say that I heard it, but I don’t have a CD player in my rental car or hotel, so I’ll have to wait until I get home to give it a listen, but the 8 songs they’ve released so far to promote it sound very Bags-like.
And what is “Bags-like”? Hard driving kick ass rock music with wild guitars and a creative sense of humor. And it all shone through at the Crystal Ballroom. They came out onstage jokingly playing some weirdo noise with some crazy solos, then burst into “Big Wig” from their debut album “Rock Starve” which came out in ’87. That’s almost 40 years ago! OH MY! Where does the time go??!?!? Anyways, they then proceeded to kick everyone’s collective asses the whole night for a good 70+ minute set of songs, both old and new. Totally different set from last year. A good 5 or so songs from “Rock Starve”, their first album. Two from the new one. And the rest from all the albums in between. They said they were going to have a special guest for the encore, and we were all expecting Minehan, but it was Roger Miller (Mission Of Burma; his current band Trinary System opened the show). Which was great! They did a ferocious version of “Kick Out The Jams” from MC5 to end the set.
Crispin Wood is a spectacular guitarist. The Eddie Van Halen of underground punk ROCK. Bassist Jon Hardy also supplied most of the vocals in addition to solid bass lines. There was even a cowbell solo from drummer Jim Janota. The sound was very good, and I’m sure Bags fans from all over the world would be happy with the live recordings of these Crystal Ballroom shows being released! (hint hint)
Here’s some pictures!
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