Two established front men ditched their bands for a short tour called The Devil is in the Details. Patterson has been the mastermind of The Drive By Truckers for some 20 years, Craig has the same position in The Hold Steady. Both bands have cult status and a decent catalog to pull from. From the stage banter, we learn that Craig was a DBT groupie from the jump, resorting to stalking Patterson after a Conan O’Brien appearance. They trade off tunes, each on an acoustic, with a multi-instrumentalist friend Ben Macklin also on stage. Ben plays keys, sax, flute, clarinet, even subtle percussion to help the proceedings. The setlist pulls from both bands and some solo material: The Forks of Cypress, Bethany, Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife, The Righteous Path, People of Substance, Crumbs, Uncle Disney, Pinocchio, Easter Weekend, Shamrock, Palomino, Miss Coldiron’s Oldsmobile, The Van Pelt Parties, Heathens, Mission Viejo, Magic Marker, (I Never Heard of) Emmett Till, Newmyer’s Roof, Grand Canyon, encored with The Company I Keep and Certain Songs. Craig said The Hold Steady was trying to be the Drive By Truckers of the north. The subject matter of Patterson’s songs came from his life experiences growing up in Alabama. His easy drawl was an added bonus. Craig’s tunes were more story-like, it made sense that he was hawking a novel he wrote. These two have years of arena crowds under their belts, they seemed happy to get back to the close interaction of a club like Spaceland.
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