2008 Woodie Awards
Sebadoh takes hold of Noho crowd, mixing old and new
By Corey Charron, Collegian Staff
Issue date: 4/2/07 Section: Arts & Living
Throughout the entirety of the show, each member of the band had the opportunity to take lead vocals. Loewenstein provided his services for about half a dozen tunes, with Barlow and Gaffney splitting up the remaining songs evenly. Gaffney and Loewenstein also switched between drumming and playing guitar or bass, taking time every swap to rearrange their equipment to their liking. For most of the show Gaffney was on guitar, with Barlow on bass, but when the band mates swapped places Loewenstein switched to bass and Barlow hopped on guitar.
The set list ranged over nearly every album the band has produced, even the post-Gaffney era, after 1993. The beginning of the performance leaned towards earlier material, with the rest of the night being a mix. The night started with "Level Anything," from Sebadoh's first album, "The Freed Man," named for the Friedman Complex apartments at Smith College where Barlow lived with his then-girlfriend. Next the band jumped into songs from "Sebadoh III," including standout "Violet Execution." Songs from 1991's "The Freed Weed" were played, including "Ride the Darker Wave" and "It's So Hard to Be in Love."
Gaffney revealed that, "Moldy Bread," from "The Freed Man," was written in his local high school history class. Barlow reminisced about the day he moved from the Amherst area to Boston, causing him to write the song, "Vampire" for the album, "Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock."
Towards the end of the night, a man ran from the stage tried to dive into the crowd. Unfortunately, the mostly subdued crowd didn't expect the spontaneous move, and the man landed head-first on the Pearl Street floor. Security helped carry the unconscious man off the floor to seek medical attention.
The ill-advised incident caused a somber mood to overtake the crowd until the seven-song encore, which involved songs from 1993's, "Bubble and Scrape," the album on which Gaffney last appeared.
The hour and a half set consisted of many short, two or three minute songs and a staple of Sebadoh albums, which have on average more than 20 songs.
The set list ranged over nearly every album the band has produced, even the post-Gaffney era, after 1993. The beginning of the performance leaned towards earlier material, with the rest of the night being a mix. The night started with "Level Anything," from Sebadoh's first album, "The Freed Man," named for the Friedman Complex apartments at Smith College where Barlow lived with his then-girlfriend. Next the band jumped into songs from "Sebadoh III," including standout "Violet Execution." Songs from 1991's "The Freed Weed" were played, including "Ride the Darker Wave" and "It's So Hard to Be in Love."
Gaffney revealed that, "Moldy Bread," from "The Freed Man," was written in his local high school history class. Barlow reminisced about the day he moved from the Amherst area to Boston, causing him to write the song, "Vampire" for the album, "Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock."
Towards the end of the night, a man ran from the stage tried to dive into the crowd. Unfortunately, the mostly subdued crowd didn't expect the spontaneous move, and the man landed head-first on the Pearl Street floor. Security helped carry the unconscious man off the floor to seek medical attention.
The ill-advised incident caused a somber mood to overtake the crowd until the seven-song encore, which involved songs from 1993's, "Bubble and Scrape," the album on which Gaffney last appeared.
The hour and a half set consisted of many short, two or three minute songs and a staple of Sebadoh albums, which have on average more than 20 songs.
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