The Slip on 12/29 at Lupos in Providence, RI

The Slip used to be one of those bands where fans wouldn’t even want to listen to studio recordings. Why would I want to listen to Does when I have a dozen soundboard recordings or accurately placed stage AUDs? I mean there is no way to capture the live aura of this band in the studio (even though they do make great records, the shows are incomparable). Well after the release of Eisenhower, I’m afraid times have changed. The band’s new studio album is filled with such a glorious amount of ear candy that Veruca Salt would surely overdose. Unfortunately the band still plays venues that provide a crappy live sound and facilitate often unlistenable fan recordings. Which is why I throw Eisenhower in my CD player these days, not their latest stop at San Francisco’s Independent.

Last Friday night, the Providence providers kicked off their 3 night New Years run at one of their favorite hometown haunts, Lupo’s. I have seen virtually every show the band has ever played at Lupo’s, old and new (the venue moved locations about 3 years ago). The Slip’s hometown holiday shows are a time for many fans to re-connect with old friends, catch up on what their favorite band is up to and just plain rock out. I arrived halfway into the third song, “Airplane/Primitive” (due to an engagement party I was at, congrats again Tim and Kate). Fresh off a 3 week long stint as My Morning Jacket’s opener, where they were only allowed a 30 minute slot, I figured the band would rely heavily on older tunes and embrace their headlining set. I was wrong.

The great thing about the Slip is that they have been together for over 10 years and have an outrageous amount of songs in their catalog, but annoyingly they seem to play only the new material, even for the fans that know them best. “New” songs (that have been beaten to death) like “Even Rats”, “Children of December”, “The Soft Machine” and “I Hate Love” continue to litter the band’s set every single night. I know I know, what’s wrong with playing the new stuff? Nothing I guess. It’s just I know what this band could pull out of their back pocket. Yes, if you go to see other indie rock bands like Broken Social Scene or Stephen Malkmus, you’re going to see all the songs on whatever album they are promoting. That’s how it works in the rock world. This is why the Slip are so good, they don’t have to rely on an era of their career, it is all great.

After “Airplane” came the new “There’s A Lie”, which is a nice tune but resembles Neil Young’s “Unknown Legend” melody a little too much. The band then proceeded to play a fairly predictable set of the new songs. The only instrumental songs came with segued “Moderate Threat > Cowboy Up”. I love the former, but the latter is becoming a boring wank on a minor third riff that every other band in the world has incorporated into at least one of their songs. I miss the old instrumentals.

The highlight of the show for me came during a reworked version of “The Weight of Solomon” which is on their first album released in 1997 Finally, a nod to the older heads. The show closing and seldom played (why?) “Sometimes True To Nothing” was another treat. After a not-so-rockin cover of the Who’s “Baba O’Reilly” the band launched into a predictable and boring version of “Children of December” complete with 16 year old fans shouting “I know this song, it’s on their myspace page ”(well, probably). Then the hometown crowd was yelling so loud the band came out for a second encore (the houselights were even turned on) which is a rare occurrence in the Slip world. We knew we were going to get something special. Nope, just another “If One of Us Should Fall” for the umpteenth time. I know the boys are just trying to be consistent and sell the new album in hopes of getting some commercial success, but I’m afraid they starting to alienate even the oldest of fans. Brad, Marc and Androo, I love your band and ALL your songs. Please play them once in a while, you weren’t formed yesterday.

Setlist: All I Saw Was You*, Even Rats, Airplane/Primitive, There's A Lie, The Soft Machine, Little Song, I Hate Love**, Paper Birds, Moderate Threat > Cowboy Up, The Weight of Solomon***, Let There be Horses, Sometimes True to Nothing

E: Baba O’Reilly, Children of December

E2: If One of Us Should Fall

* new arrangement ** w/ “Birdland” (Weather Report) teases. *** new arrangement with Brad on guitar