Tramp's, NYC
"Bangkok 2000" CDR
Big Star's first New York City show in 21 years.
This review of the show originally appeared in The Aquarian Weekly's November 22-29, 1995 edition.
A Lesson In Power Pop 101
Big Star/The Meat Puppets
Tramps/Nov.8
by Al Muzer
NYC-The Beatles alleged reunion? Yawn. Big Star played New York for the first time in 22 years and, as exciting as the Fab Four sort of getting together may be, nothing quite compares to seeing seminal power-pop icon Alex Chilton thrashing out the raw, ragged, ringing jangle-chords that hundreds of bands have attempted to copy (but few have actually mastered) since the release of Big Star's highly influential albums, #1 Record in 1972 and '74's Radio City. Organized to commemorate publication of the 117th edition of Rolling Stone's Rock and Roll Encyclopedia, as well as the continued celebration of Tramps' 20th Anniversary; the sold-out engagement was, without question, one of the finest performances in Chilton's long, often turbulent maelstrom of a career. With original Big Star drummer Jody Stephens bashing out his trademark sparse, economical, curiously propulsive beat, and sometime Posie lynchpins Jonathan Auer and Ken Stringfellow backing him, respectively on guitar and bass- Chilton seemed, as usual, somewhat bemused by the attention and adoration lavished on him by the teeming mob of fervent devotees intently studying his every move. Starting the 90-minute set with scortching versions of "In the Street," "Don't Lie to Me," and "When My Baby's Beside Me," from #1 Record the combination of Chilton's raspy voice blending with Auer's and Stringfellow's perfectly pitched backing vocals paid homage to the original recordings, while the chaotic crunch of Stephens' punchy drumming, Stringfellow's reverberating bass and Chilton's thick, fuzzy, skittering riffs playing-off Auer's more refined string-bending neatly updated the band's timeless sound for the '90's. Auer took on the role of lead vocalist for a rendition of former Big Star co-leader Chris Bell's haunting "I Am the Cosmos," followed by Stephens' emotive take on "Way Out West" and Chilton, cigarette in hand, rocking agressively behind his microphone on the Kinks' "Till the End of the Day." As the set progressed, the crowd's excitement rose to a fevered-pitch as the mass of bobbing heads realized they were witnessing a classic moment in rock and roll history. Brilliant renditions of "Back Of A Car," "Daisy Glaze," "Feel," (with Stringfellow on vocals for all three) "Big Black Car," "September Gurls," "The Ballad Of El Goodo," "For You," (Stephens singing) "Thank You Friends," "Kansas City," T-Rex's "Baby Strange," and Todd Rundgrens "Slut" had the ecstatic crowd singing and swaying to Big Star's innocent, time-trancending, emotionally-fragile power pop and loudly demanding an encore (which they recieved). Finally running out of songs the band knew, Chilton waved shyly to the crowd he'd just decimated with his genius as he walked off into the darkness.