It must have been the roses, and by that I mean The Days of Wine and Roses, the seminal debut from Steve Wynn and The Dream Syndicate that hooked me in 1982. Leading the genre inexplicably dubbed “the paisley underground”, this band typified hard driving smartass rock and roll. Stealing their name from a pre-Velvets avant garde collaboration between John Cale and Lamonte Young, maybe paisley underground referred to a smash of Velvet Underground and the California psychedelic scene. No matter, call me a fan. While the debut knelt at the altar of Reed and Cale’s Velvets, the sophomore recording The Medicine Show swerved delectably toward a Neil Young and Crazyhorse choogle. Smitten with The Medicine Show, Wynn reassembled the band to perform the record for old (me), and new fans. Since a lifetime of music has occurred since the 80s, tonight’s show was split into two sets. The first set billed as the 21st century came with a setlist: Where I’ll Stand, Filter Me Through You, Out of My Head, Black Light, Like Mary, 80 West, How Did I Find Myself Here, and Glide. Wynn is a tireless artist and his post Dream Syndicate endeavors Gutterball, Steve Wynn and The Miracle 3, and The Baseball Project are all worthy of intense rabbit-holing. The second set brought the Medicine Show in its entirety: Still Holding On To You, Bullet With My Name On It, Daddy’s Girl, Burn, The Medicine Show, Armed With An Empty Gun, Merrittville, and the incendiary fifteen minute John Coltrane Stereo Blues ( complete with the bass tease of A Love Supreme chant). Tonight’s lineup was Wynn on guitar and vocals, Mark Walton on bass, Dennis Duck on drums, Chris Cacavas on keys, and the amazing Jason Victor on lead guitar. This group took no prisoners and the opener-less stage stamina was impressive. The tour has coincided with a deluxe repackaging of The Medicine Show with plenty of outtakes and live recordings to wade through. The performance closed with nugget inflected encore: Tell Me When It’s Over, That’s What You Always Say, and a blistering punky reading of Eric Clapton’s Let It Rain.
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