Since I’ve never seen them before, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Drive-By Truckers at First Avenue. I mean, I have several of their albums (including the new English Oceans) and just saw former DBT singer Jason Isbell there. Wasn’t really expecting a 31-song, three hour show though…

As Chris Riemenschneider wrote in his review, many people grew tired by the end, with a steady flow leaving before the last song. I got there early to catch Portland’s entertaining Blitzen Trapper, stood on my usual first step up by the side of the sound board and was very tired by the end of DBT’s main set. I headed for the back bar right after Hell No I Ain’t Happy and hung out there just to see how long they would play. It was almost like the end of the last Har Mar Superstar show I saw at the Turf Club – they didn’t seem to want to leave the stage.

I wish I would’ve listened to the new album more before this show, seeing how much of it they played. A lot of times I can just sit back and enjoy groups when I don’t know a lot of the songs, but that’s a little tougher when it goes on for three hours. It also turns out that I like Patterson Hood’s voice more than Mike Cooley (no offense – he’s strong too), so half of the songs I liked more than the others. The guitar work on all of them was pretty damn strong, though. I’ll have to brush up on my DBT history – the crowd was obviously way more knowledgeable about the older tracks than I am.

The eventual end of the show was very “rock star,” with each person leaving the stage one by one as the song continued. The last man standing was Brad “The EZB” Morgan, the drummer with one of the most awesome beards I’ve ever seen. The Hood incident with the guy in the audience was sweet – he must’ve been sharing notes with Isbell on how to deal with jerks. Too bad more acts (and venue staff) don’t deal with “bad actors” in this manner. And take all the drunk bro talkers with them, please…

Two other things I really liked last night: 1) Blitzen Trapper covering Joe Walsh’s Rocky Mountain Way and 2) the free glasses of ice water left out on the bar at the end of the night. I’m guessing they’ve always done the water thing, but this was the first time (in all these years) that I’ve noticed it. Set list (according to Chris) below.

• Made Up English Oceans
• Lookout Mountain
• Primer Coat
• The Part of Him
• Til He’s Dead or Rises
• Pauline Hawkins
• Natural Light
• The Company I Keep
• Get Downtown
• When He’s Gone
• Sounds Better in Songs
• Puttin’ People on the Moon
• Ghost to Most
• Tornadoes
• Hearing Jimmy Loud
• Ronnie & Neil
• First Air of Autumn
• The Deeper In
• Zip City
• Play It All Night Long (Warren Zevon cover)
• Women Without Whiskey
• Hell No I Ain’t Happy
• —
• ENCORE:
• —
• Shit Shots Count
• Sinkhole
• Uncle Frank
• Steve McQueen
• Birthday Boy
• Girls Who Smoke
• People Who Died (Jim Carroll cover)
• Get Your Ass on the Plane
• Grand Canyon

Up next: Vernon Reid at the Walker on April 26th