I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: May 10, 2019] John K. Samson

I loved The Weakerthans from the moment I first heard “Civil Twilight” on a compilation and then on their album Reunion Tour.

I then went back and devoured the other three albums and loved the incredible lyrics that John K. Samson wrote.

Reunion Tour came out in 2007.  And that was the last anyone heard from The Weakerthans.  Well, not really, they put out a live album and toured some, but otherwise, that was pretty much it.  Sometime in 2014 they announced that they were more or less officially broken up.  So I figured I’d never get to see them live.

And I won’t.  But John K. Samson has been releasing solo albums since around 2009.  He has played Philly about three times in ten years.  And I was so excited to get a ticket to this show before it sold out.

The thing that made me so incredibly happy (aside from the play list) was that he sounded EXACTLY like he was supposed to.  I don’t mean that I don’t expect his voice to change over the years, but Samson has a distinctive voice and he sounded just like John K. Samson!

It was wonderful.

And the setlist was fantastic.

He played a mix of Weakerthans songs and songs from his solo album Winter Wheat.  And the audience sang along to just about everything.   Normally I don’t want to hear the jerk behind me when the guy (or more often, it seems, woman) I want to hear is up front.  But this mix was just right so that I could hear Samson perfectly and the audience was almost like a respectfully quiet backing vocal.  And every time people sang along he got this smile on his face, which–even if he is there to entertain us, it’s great to be able to entertain him as well.

I really wasn’t sure what he was going to play, so the fact that he opened with “One Great City!” one of my favorite songs (even if I have never been to Winnipeg and consequently do not hate it) was awesome.  And he sounded just right and everything was fantastic.

He followed with “Postdoc Blues” a song I’m sure I know even though I don’t know his solo album.  Whatever the case, it was cool to hear his new (ish) songs, too.  Especially when the lyrics are this right on (and still catchy, somehow)

So your presentation went terrible
All wrong dongles, sweat stains and stares
Leave the TV on with the sound down low in your underwear

Don’t despair you’ll get it right tomorrow night
In Thunder Bay, maybe
Don’t delay, your day is short
You can’t afford to wait

I believe in you and your PowerPoints
I know why you can’t stay away
Out on Highway 1 with the rental car and a lot to say

Don’t despair you’ll get it right tomorrow night
In Nipigon, maybe

I’m terrible with names of songs, but I’m good with lyrics, so I loved hearing everyone sing “Reconstruction Site.”

He made a joke about being on cheap antidepressants and then played “17th Street Treatment Centre.”  Then after another solo song he went deep for “Pamphleteer” (which the diehards were super excited by).

He returned to the albums I know better with a wonderful “Relative Surplus Value” (he explained that the guy in this song has a dominant personality, which he wishes he had.  But you don’t want to be the guy in this song).

One of my favorite pair of songs is about a cat named Virtute.  When I saw Steven Page play with the Art of Time Ensemble, he sang “Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure” and it was amazing.  Page has a stunning voice.  But I always wondered if I’d get to hear John K. Samson sing it.

Not only did he sing it, he sang the entire Virtute trilogy: “Plea from a Cat Named Virtute“, “Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure”, and the end part which I didn’t know about (it’s on Winter Wheat) “Virtute at Rest.”  These songs are about a cat but they are so personal and sad that they make me cry, and hearing him sing them live it was like waterwork central.

So I was glad that he changed tactics and followed up with a new song.  “The whole world seems to have writer’s block…I  mean how do you write about….this?? [gesturing to the world around him].  So his new song–more of a sketch really is “Fantasy Baseball at the End of the World”.

I manage my fantasy baseball team better
Than I mange my anger these days.
and I ‘d trade my best pitcher
for a draft pick an a picture
of the President writhing in pain

After playing a couple more songs, he took some requests.  I really hoped he’d play “Civil Twilight” (and someone did request it), but instead he played “Sun in an Empty Room” and the way the audience sang the chorus along with him was just magical (another instance of me thinking I was recording something but was just holding my phone up, apparently–I’ve got to find that record button in key situations).

Then he ended the night by telling us that he never really took drugs to write songs–it never worked.  But one time he did get high and write a guitar solo and he thinks it is the greatest guitar solo ever.  So even though there was no band, he was going to play “Utilities.”  It is a slow song and on record, it’s nearly all sound effects.  But he played it quietly on the guitar and then when the solo came we were all silent as he played the simple but pretty solo and then took an exaggerated bow,

He left the stage and walked right past me.  When I told him how great it was he stopped and said thanks.  And later when I bought Winter Wheat at last, we chatted for a minute and he was super nice.  I told him I was bummed I couldn’t attend the second night but he assured me with a smirk that it would be all the same songs.

And since no one has posted the setlist, I’ll assume it was.

I have never realized I badly needed to experience something, like I did after this show was over and the catharsis flowed all over me.

SETLIST

1. One Great City! §
2. Postdoc Blues ϖ
3. Reconstruction Site §
4. 17th Street Treatment Centre ϖ
5. Alpha Adept ϖ
6. Pamphleteer £
7. Relative Surplus Value ®
8. Plea From a Cat Named Virtute §
9. Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure ®
10. Virtute at Rest ϖ
11. Fantasy Baseball at the End of the World (new)
12. Winter Wheat ϖ
13. The Reasons §
14. Sun in an Empty Room ®
15. Utilities ®

£ = WEAKERTHANS-Left and Leaving (2000)
§ = WEAKERTHANS-Reconstruction Site (2003)
® = WEAKERTHANS-Reunion Tour (2007)
ϖ = JOHN K. SAMSON-Winter Wheat (2016)