Boston

The year was 1996, and the place was the basement of Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. The biennial student festival Uken was underway, and it was a cold, snowy winter night. On stage was Steve Wynn Quintet with most of the band Come and Dennis Duck from Steve's old band Dream Syndicate on drums. It was a memorable concert for many reasons, for instance the spectacular performance of John Coltrane Stereo Blues (but more about that song in a later blog, I believe) - and I got to meet Steve backstage before the concert. I was scheduled to interview him, but he was delayed coming in due to bad weather on the mountain passes between Oslo and Bergen, and the local TV-station got first dibs on the interview. As a result, I had a little bit of sound (of poor quality) from the TV interview and then I asked a couple of questions - and I believe I was asking about Johnette Napolitano (formerly of Concrete Blonde), who was someone he had collaborated with before. 

However, for me, the concert ended up being all about the song Boston. It is a classic Dream Syndicate song, and it quotes Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl (Do you remember when - we used to sing Sha la la la...). The classic Em-G-D-Em chord progression is the foundation for the song, yet it has a raw power to it that really comes out at the bridge (And the winners stand confused, they don't want to be misused. And the losers that came before say "I don't wanna be here anymore"). 

The band was on fire, and it must have gotten too hot in the basement, because about halfway through the song, the stage went dark, the sound disappeared, and the emergency lighting was the only source of light as Steve Wynn tried singing over the fire alarm. Yup, the fire alarm was ringing, but the audience was not going anywhere. I have been to many a concert where there is an audience participation component or a singalong, but here the audience participated out of necessity. It became a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and while we were all singing the Sha la la's I clearly remember thinking that if there really was a fire, I would die a happy man.

Thinking back on it today, it was probably not a smart thing to do - but there was no indication of any fire (no smoke and no excessive heat). Regardless, it did become one of my most memorable concert experiences. 

I have found two versions of Boston on YouTube - the first is by Dream Syndicate, from their video (now also released on DVD) Weathered and Torn. The second one is accoustic from Steve's 2008 tour - and I believe the second guitar player is Robert Lloyd.

The second one is accoustic from Steve's 2008 tour - and I believe the second guitar player is Robert Lloyd.