Recap: Blitzen Trapper and Alela Diane at First Avenue
Stacy Schwartz
Eric Earley of Blitzen Trapper
The venues Blitzen Trapper played the last two times it was in town—the Entry in April, the Turf Club in November—would be unimaginably small for the band today. The group's latest record, Furr, yielded a much wider fan base, especially locally with The Current frequently spinning that record’s title track, so this show was moved from the Cedar Cultural Center to First Avenue’s larger confines.
Blitzen TrapperStacy SchwartzThe show nearly sold out, and by the time frontman Eric Earley shuffled on stage around 10:45 p.m., the venue was packed with fans sporting varying amounts of facial hair and hippie cred. The band started the set with “Fast Bullets Fly,” an unassuming rocker from Furr that sounded more alive in concert than on record. Aside from a sound glitch before “Saturday Night,” few delays slowed the band as it went from one highlight to another: the gorgeous “God & Suicide,” “Murder, Babe,” and the stunning title track from Furr (which featured bassist Michael Van Pelt using a tiny neon green birdcall to provide nature sounds).
Wednesday kicked off the band’s month-long tour with opener Alela Diane, so jitters would have been permissible, but the band was energized and tightly wound, amazing on both old-fashioned barnburners (for “Murder, Babe” and its Morse-code-like guitar solos, especially) and tearjerkers (“Not Your Lover,” which featured only tight harmonies and Earley on piano and harmonica). Earley also played a song by himself, a cover of Hoyt Axton’s “Cocaine Habit Blues,” which he said was his “grandmother’s favorite song.”
The band closed with “Woof & Warp Of The Quiet Giant’s Hem,” a song both catchy and nonsensical: Its only lyrics are a series of yeah yeah yeahs. For a band equally eager to play Pavement-style freakouts and charm your pants off, it was a perfect finish.
Californian Alela Diane's west-coast folk/country sound served as an appropriate introduction for the headliner. She impressed the crowd with her Fleet Foxes-like sound and able backing band, performing a mesmerizing cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold Dust Woman.”
Brian Adrian Koch of Blitzen TrapperStacy Schwartz
Erik Menteer of Blitzen TrapperStacy Schwartz
Marty Marquis of Blitzen TrapperStacy Schwartz
Eric Earley of Blitzen TrapperStacy Schwartz
Alela DianeStacy Schwartz
Alela DianeStacy Schwartz
Alela Diane and crowdStacy Schwartz
Otto Hauser, drummer in Alele Diane's bandStacy Schwartz
