It used to be said of the Grateful Dead that they were in the transportation business. Every concert brought new horizons and we collectively went to some very strange places indeed. Since Garcia’s untimely death, I can’t bring myself to see any of the surviving members’ efforts to steer the bus (although I’m sure I’ll take in a Phil and Friends show sooner or later). A lot of bands have stepped up to try to fill the crater of a void that’s been left, but only a couple—moe., String Cheese Incident, and the Big Wu—manage to do it for me. And even then not all the time, not like the Dead did.
Probably the only things these three bands have in common is a love for improvisation and the uncommon way they manage to spontaneously form a “family” around themselves; moerons, friends of cheese, and wusters, respectively.
On Friday, Karen and I went to see the Big Wu at the Fitzgerald Theater. Now you have to understand that the Fitz is the home of Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” and holds a certain mystique for Saint Paulites. Designed similarly to New York’s Maxine Elliot Theater, the Fitzgerald is Saint Paul’s oldest remaining theater space. It is gorgeous space with astounding acoustics that has been painstakingly restored.
The Fitz is a performing arts palace, and the Wu crowd managed to treat it like a puke-and-snot-soaked bar.
As the house lights came up after the encore, I was horrified to look around and see the theater had been completely trashed. Cigarette butts ground into the carpet everywhere I looked on the main floor, crap and litter strewn everywhere. Earlier in the month, it was made clear that the band would no longer be welcome at a similar venue in another state.
Last year, the Big Wu’s largest event—the annual Family Reunion, held over Memorial Day weekend—drew more people than attended the Fitzgerald show. We all managed to pick up after ourselves and took pride in leaving the venue none the worse for wear. Security was handled by the family itself, consisting mostly of hippies on bikes. This year the Family Reunion handled even larger crowds and was required to have professional security on site. Even in a three-day steady rain, everyone behaved and managed to have a real good time without incident.
So how come we suddenly forgot our manners?
I suspect it’s because of an influx of the uninitiated. It’s suddenly become hip to make the scene at a major Big Wu show. A similar thing happened with the Dead from the late 80’s on and I stopped participating. I go to shows to enjoy the music, and to feel better. I left the Fitzgerald—which was a pretty stellar show, musically, by the way—feeling worse. The vibe wasn’t nearly as positive and the main floor was overly populated with those who couldn’t care less about the music. I used to love the all-ages shows because seeing the kids get so far into the music and community gave me hope. Now I see a lot of kids just desperate to have a good time. It’s forced and unnatural.
The highpoints of the show itself were numerous; including the very best “Oxygen” I’ve heard. And it was great to see Terry come out from behind his drum kit to front the band for an outrageous encore with front-of-house sound engineer Andy Fry taking over on drums.
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