I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: June 11, 2022] Superchunk [moved from March 2, 2022]

I saw Superchunk four years ago.  It was my first time seeing a band that I have liked for decades.  They have put out a ton of music and I don’t know all of it, but I still enjoyed their set a lot.

Enough to see them again when they put out a new album this past year.

Last time, they played a ton of stuff from the then new album (8 new songs).  This time, for whatever reason, they played only five songs from the new album and the rest of the set was chock full of songs from throughout their career.

Indeed, they played 21 songs with only 7 duplicates (and I think we’d have been upset if they didn’t play those seven).

The band was, like last time the (nearly) original members: Mac McCaughan of course on vocals and guitar, Jim Wilbur on guitar (he joined after their first album) and Jon Wurster on drums (he joined after the third album)–they’re bonafides!  The only one missing was bassist Laura Ballance.  She plays on the albums but because of her hyperacusis, she no longer tours.  So, on bass we had Jason Narducy who has played with anybody who is anybody.

In fact, when I saw Bob Mould last year, it was Narducy and Wuster who played with him, so I have actually seen this rhythm section three times now!

They opened with a really old cut and then played three new songs in a row.  The new album is good (of course), so that was a fine way to open.  Then they played two songs that they played last time.  The relatively new (2010) Learn to Surf” and the very old “Seed Toss.”

The crowd around me was really really into the old songs, singing along to just about everything (which was cool) and whistling very loudly through many of the songs (which was decidedly very uncool).

Their 2010 album Majesty Shredding was their “comeback” album which I liked a lot so I was happy to hear another song from it “Rosemarie” (one I especially like).  After a couple more older songs, they played the new single “Endless Summer.”  It’s interesting when a band like this who really gets very little airplay releases a single.  I guess they must get some kind of airplay somewhere, or what’s the point, right?  But we all knew it and sang along.

I really got into Superchunk in the late 90s, so I love songs like “Hello Hawk” and was happy to hear it.  While I know most of the die hards are there for “Driveway to Driveway” (me too, actually, I love that one) and “Cast Iron.”)

Whatever the case, it’s amazing the energy this band has.  Mac is the same age as me and watching him bounce around and pogo to his poppy punk songs I couldn’t help but be jealous because I can’t bounce on these arthritic hips at all.

They only played one song from the previous album (which makes sense given that they played so many last time), but the title song kicks ass, and it sounded great.  They ended the set with a new song. This set was actually one longer than the 2018 set, so that was kind of fun, too.

After a brief encore break, the band came back with a bit more energy and they launched into a kind of greatest hits (if you can call it that) encore.

First up was “Me & You & Jackie Mittoo” which I think of as a hit, although I have no idea if it was.  It is super catchy anyway.  It was followed by “Detroit Has a Skyline” from my favorite album Here’s Where the Strings Come In.  And then they played their biggest hit of all “Slack Motherfucker.”  Sure, we all love to sing it because it has a big ol curse in the chorus.  But it’s also a great anthem and a fantastic anti-work song which everyone needs to hear now and again.  And god damn if it’s not catchy.

That seemed like a great way to end the set but they had one more song for us, “Precision Auto” from On the Mouth, which they ended with a wall of noise and feedback for about two minutes before the whole thing came crashing to a glorious end.

Fifty year old punks can still bring it.  It is indeed a great time to be alive.