John Doe, Kristin Hersh, & Grant Lee Phillips Celebrated the Art of Song at The O
August 19, 2024There’s nothing quite as inspiring or heartening as watching an artist celebrating their craft, knowing that you get to be a part of that celebration. Last Friday night, a group of music lovers and old punk rockers (and a few young ones) got to see three of the best in an intimate, yet thrilling session at The Oriental Theater. For just about two hours, Kristin Hersh, Grant Lee Phillips, and John Doe played individual sets, duet sets, and a few sets of songs with all three onstage, exemplifying the craft of songwriting with a level of passionate performance that not many other artists could pull off. They say that punk rock was all about three chords and angst, but these performers – raised on the stuff – showed that there’s a lot more to it, and they brought an entirely different kind of angst into it in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s that changed that music forever.
Photos by Billy Thieme
Kristin Hersh, who cut her musical teeth with Throwing Muses – the band she started with her sister Tanya Donnelly – opened the show on The Oriental’s huge stage. Hersh writes songs about heartache, isolation, love, sex, and the beauty and pain of life with huge prosaic power. Words that describe the emotions her characters are wrangling with like a painter uses color were accentuated in her small voice that turned into a ferocious, operatic howl, huge, piercing eyes, and a powerful stage presence that belied her small stature. At the peak of her set she performed “Bywater,” a Throwing Muses song about Freddie the goldfish (named after Freddie Mercury because of the goldfish’s impressive mustache), and his untimely death after touring for so long, a member of their family. She told the room the whole story about Freddie dying in his pickle jar, at a party after surviving years of touring in that pickle jar, and the difficulty involved in flushing Freddie out to sea.
I think the thing you kinda forget about Kristin Hersh’s songs – and that I’m always surprised by – is that they’re all almost totally true.
Grant Lee Phillips – who started out in the ‘90s with one of the decade’s more memorable bands, Grant Lee Buffalo, and has enjoyed a pretty solid solo career since about 2000 – joined Hersh in a sort of tag-in to the middle part of the show, performing “Gazebo Tree” together before she left and Phillips took over. Onstage, Phillips is a larger-than-life romantic, crooning songs soaring with windswept musical landscapes – and matching hair – and beautiful and poignant turns of phrase. As he meandered through his set, he spoke about being particularly inspired that night, and decided to play “Mona Lisa” – one of the tunes he played in his appearance on Gilmore Girls – a tune he hadn’t planned on playing.
I think the thing you kinda forget about Kristin Hersh’s songs – and that I’m always surprised by – is that they’re all almost totally true.
I found myself in awe of the feeling an artist must have, knowing that their songs are always there, ready and waiting, and that they can call any one of them up and play it – perfectly, reverently, joyously. I believe it’s part of that “celebrating their craft” I’ve been talking about.
Next, John Doe joined Phillips on stage, “tagging in” for the third set of the night – a true ringer if ever there was one. The rumor is that, in the last 20+ years these three have been doing the Exile Follies tour, they have drawn straws to determine who goes on when. But I have this sneaking feeling that John Doe – whose iconic band X are in the midst of their final tour (reportedly) – landed the closer position because … well – he deserves it.
Doe is a master of his craft – and has been since he first grouped up with Exene, Billy and DJ in the nascent LA punk scene back in 1977. Just like Phillips and Hersh, he started with a hugely influential band, and then created an entire musical universe for all of us to exist in. Between the three of them, they’ve helped define the decades they’ve been playing in, and they’re still bringing kids to the fire.
… the feeling an artist must have, knowing that their songs are always there, ready and waiting, and that they can call any one of them up and play it – perfectly, reverently, joyously.
John Doe started off playing “Honey Don’t Think” in a duet with Phillips, sharing one of Grant Lee Buffalo’s classics. Then Doe played “Twin Brother” – for my money one of the most beautifully sad and loving stories I’ve ever heard – with his strong, instantly recognizable voice soaring through the ache as he told of life’s just-missed promises. I doubt there were more than a few dry eyes in the house after that one.
Doe moseyed through some of the classics from his solo career, including “Alone in Arizona,” “There’s a Black Horse,” “The Golden State” (another of my favorites), “El Romance-O,” “The Cowboy and the Hot Air Balloon,” and the simple, perfect, and beautiful “A Little More Time.” Each one was better than the last, and peppered between with lightly veiled criticism of having to play in Avon a few nights before, and missing “their crowd.” I can understand – the beauty of Summit County doesn’t always have the power to overcome itself, in my experience.
Both Phillips and Hersh joined Doe onstage for the finale – or the pre-finale, I guess – and after a little band-practice setup band-guy discussion – which Hersh zipped up with a curt, piercing shout of “LADIES!?” – the three performed a brilliantly poignant and timely cover of X’s “The New World.” Next, they poured into a jaw-dropping cover of “When the Levee Breaks.” And – I have to tell you – I believe Led Zeppelin’s cover – while a strong contender – was never meant to live up to the Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe McCoy original, but the piece these three belted out came damned close, sweeping up the whole theater in a swaying sense of watery doom.
After leaving for a short break, the trio returned and again, as the stage got caught up in “band bro chatter” Hersh had to halt it all and recourse with an even louder yell of “LADIES?!” It’s definitely something to see these troubadours whipped into shape with one word, and Hersh is the one to do it – there’s not a doubt. After they got back on track, they whipped out a raucously fun version of “The Call of the Wreckin’ Ball,” and the night ended – unforgettable, and most of us breathless.
