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February 17, 2005
Ted Leo + Pharmacists Feb. 15
“Should I stay or should I go?” I kept thinking to myself that idiotically indecisive Tuesday night, The Clash song of the same name not playing playfully in my head. No, this decision was serious, so serious it seemed the consequence of choosing the wrong side might be death, yes, death. So I carefully weighed out the pros and cons. I’m tired. No, I’m awake. I’m bored. You could read. I have no attention span. Christ, look at you, you’re pacing. What should I do? You could write. Don’t feel like it. How about some T.V.? Again – attention span. Alright, listen, either you stay or you go. You just can’t stand here waiting for someone else to let you know. Come on, it’s just a show. But it’s Ted Leo. I’ve seen him like, what, five times. Could be different this time? But most likely not. Fuck it. I’m tired of this shit. Let’s go. Catch the No. 20. Here comes 19th & East Burnside, ding, let me off. Step off the bus. It’s rather quiet. Hmm, that’s odd. No people outside? No noise? Slowly stepping closer as if I’m walking hesitantly into the unknown, I realize there are no people outside and…fuck, there are no people inside either. Lights are out. Doors are locked. Now what? I look over both shoulders as if someone will be standing by with an answer. I spot a Willamette Week paper box, rip out a copy and quickly flip through its pages. Damn. Bossanova. Oh well, least I’m on the right side of the river. So I tramp downhill ten or so blocks through the biting wind, stomp up the club’s creaky, old-fahioned oversized stairs and, alas, for better or worse (still can’t decide), I’m here. Grab a drink, find a small spot of bar to lean against and watch. Yep, there he is, blonde, long and lean, doing that same hyperactive head-jerking thing – tilting his head to the side and then snapping it back really fast, again and again and again like a kid with ADD – that he always does. But, hey, how can he not? His crunching Clash-inspired punk rock anthems – sounding as classic and refined as ever – can’t help but incite some rubber band action both onstage and on the floor; a floor that, tonight, is packed body-to-body. The kids love him. Hell, spotting a few middle-age folk in the crowd, so do the adults. Leo and the band race through songs both new and old. Their precise and confident playing is solid evidence that Leo and company tour often – O.K., A LOT. But being tight doesn’t mean being emotionless. Leo opens his heart with every performance, spilling out his super-charged innards without the faintest of hesitation. His singing and pleading are so strained and mighty, you know he secretly wishes the whole world were tuned in. And while it’s easy to feel one show is practically a carbon copy of another, it’s hard not to admire the endurance and heart that Leo shoves into every room, big or small, on each and every stop of what seems to be a never-ending tour. “See you all next time,” Leo said before the last song of the night. “And that’ll probably be in just a couple months,” he adds laughing. Getting home, and, yes, I did make it home, not ten blocks from there, I thought, “What’s the big deal anyway? So it wasn’t the most blow-you-away show ever, but I lost nothing by going and, look at me, I’m still alive.”
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Posted by Jenny at February 17, 2005 4:57 PM
