Concert Review: How to Dress Well, Live at The Triple Rock Social Club. April 1st, 2013
How does one even describe the experience of seeing How to
Dress Well perform live? If you weren't there to witness it first hand,
anything you hear about it may come off as an exaggeration or simply as
hyperbole from a star-struck fanboy, standing right in front of the stage.
Monday night’s show at the Triple Rock Social Club in
Minneapolis was my second time seeing HTDW live—the first being what I believe
was his first time performing in the twin cities in December of last year at
the 7th St Entry. The Entry holds roughly 200 people, and by the
time Tom Krell and co. took to the stage, the venue was pretty packed. The same
could be said for the turnout at the Triple Rock—a venue that holds roughly 400.
I would use expressions like “life affirming,” and “a
religious experience” to describe what happens when Krell is on stage. If you don't believe me, just look up any of the poorly recorded fan videos on You
Tube. Even when filmed with a mobile phone, you can tell that How to Dress Well
is the real deal. Krell performs with emotions that are beyond raw, opening
himself up completely on stage. Watching him tear through an 11 song set,
comprised primarily of material from his 2nd LP Total Loss, was an emotionally draining and cathartic experience.
Krell used to live in Minneapolis, so this show was a bit of
a homecoming for him, and he had a lot of close friends in the crowd that got
some shout outs and song dedications.
And then there’s me.
Last fall, for reasons that I choose not to elaborate on, I
had some of the lyrics to the song “Ocean Floor for Everything” tattooed on my
forearm. After I had it done, I thought jokingly, “This should get me into any
How to Dress Well show, for free, no questions asked.”
In December, after he was finished performing at The Entry,
Tom Krell was outside having a smoke, and my friend Chris kept insisting that I
approach him and show him my tattoo. Sheepishly I did, and his reaction was
priceless—letting out a loud “Oh shit! That’s so dope!” and grabbing one of his
friends to take a picture of us together, with my forearm prominently featured.
It was then that he said that because of my tattoo, I could get into any of his
shows, any time I wanted.
(me and my pal tom krell. please don't be jealous)
About a month prior to his show last night in Minneapolis, I
emailed him and explained who I was, and I said that I would have no problem
spending the $12 to get a ticket, but I wanted to see if he was totally serious
about me getting in for free. He was. And with that, I was on the How to Dress
Well “+1” list.
As his set headed towards the end, much to my surprise, Krell
looked at me when introducing “Ready For The World,” and said, “This one is for
Kevin.” “Ready For The World” on its own is an incredible song—his first
single, actually, from 2010—but when he performs it live, mid-way through the
song, he segues into the R.Kelly song “I Wish.” I’m not sure how he knew—or if
it was just my luck—but his cover of “I Wish” means a lot to me personally, so I couldn't believe what was happening. Even in the last four months since seeing
him perform this song at The Entry, it’s taken on a life of its own—growing longer,
becoming louder and more unhinged as it continues.
For an artist with such heavy songs, Krell attempted at
times to keep it light with the between song banter, telling a story of how he
hung out with R&B singer Maxwell in New York, and about a dream he had
where his tourmate Sky Ferrara was friends with “Celebrity Chef” Guy Fieri, and
how incredible he thought that was within his dream since their names are so
similar.
The first half of the set was well balanced with some of his
smoother jams, like “Running Back,” and the single “& It Was U,” mixed in
with the more emotional tracks like “Suicide Dream 1,” and a new song that has
become a staple of his live set entitled “No More Death.”
The second half of the set started with the surprising
inclusion of the song “Talking to You”—one of my favorite songs from Total Loss—a song that is extraordinarily
difficult to perform because Krell is singing a duet with himself. Following
that came the aforementioned “Ready For The World,” followed then by “Ocean
Floor For Everything.”
The set began to wind down with an acapella cover of Janet
Jackson’s “Again,” where Krell walked away from the microphone and stood at the
edge of the stage, singing out into the crowd. This was followed by the emotional
final song “Set it Right.”
During many of the songs, Krell addressed the soundman,
imploring him to turn up the volume louder and louder. From the front of the
stage, it was tough for me to tell if it ever reached the acceptable volume he
was looking for.
Noticeably missing this time was bandmate Cameron Reed—who handled
drum machine programming and keyboards at December show. Krell was only joined
this time by his friend Aaron, who kept busy running laptops, various keyboards
and drum machines, and on top of all that, playing the violin.
For an artist that has many intimate, quiet moments within
his music, I was very concerned about the crowd’s respect, or more so the lack
thereof—constant chatter amongst audience members is a problem at any concert.
In testament to how captivating of a performer Krell is, there was little to no
talking during songs—which was especially noticeable during “Again.”
There was a moment, as the intro to the opening song “Cold
Nites” was playing, that the “Teen Girl Squad” as I had dubbed them, standing
next to me, was talking amongst themselves. I’ve been to many concerts before,
and I have always had the urge to tell someone to be quiet during the show, but
never followed through. After about 10 seconds of realizing that they weren't going
to stop, I lowered my head down towards them and asked them, politely of
course, if they could be quiet. After some surprised looks from their faces,
they complied.
After his set ended, I made my way through the crowd to grab
a t-shirt from the merch table—dropping $15 on a shirt is the least I can do
for a dude who let me in to his show for free. Krell started to make his way
through the crowd over to the table, where we exchanged a few words and hugs.
As my friend Scott and I exited the venue to walk back to his car, I still had a hard
time believing that someone who I consider to be famous knows me, knows my
name, and dedicated a song to me.
Judging by the crowd at the Triple Rock, the audiences are
only going to grow, and that means that the venues will be getting bigger. For
an act that performs so intimately, I can’t fathom seeing How to Dress Well in
anyplace much larger. If you ever have the chance to go see Tom Krell perform
live, you need to clear your schedule and do it. It seriously is an experience
like none other.
I am sorry though that you will more than likely have to pay
to get in, and that you probably won’t have a song dedicated to you.
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