 Tonight I headed to the Academy in Bristol to
check out super nerd rock dad band The Hold Steady
and the first thing I noticed was how empty the
venue was with the upstairs being completely shut
off but by the time The Hold Steady took to the
stage the venue seemed that little bit more filled
up and there was a comfortable amount of space
between people which is normally rare for the
sweat pit that is Bristol Academy.
 The crowd tonight was a more mature crowd with
the average age of people being in their 30’s
from my observation, if you had a chequered shirt
on then you fitted in like a treat as every other
person in the venue was wearing their finest chequered
shirt and to my surprise there was no double ups.
The Hold Steady took to the stage at 9.15pm for
an hour and a half set which consisted of 24 songs,
as soon as the band took to the stage they blasted
straight into one of the big fan favourites ‘Sequestered
In Memphis’ and from that moment front man
Craig Finn was on top form with his energetic
movements on stage which consisted of many hand
movements including the funky penguin dance.
The set tonight consisted of some great songs
which spanned through their whole career such
as ‘Magazine’, ‘Girls Like Status’,
‘Southtown Girls’, ‘Stay Positive’,
‘Constructive Summer’ and 19 other
greats but it was the classic ‘Chips Ahoy!’
from their ‘Boys And Girls In America’
album which really got the crowd going tonight.
For the whole show there was a select amount
of people at the front bopping up and down throughout
they were here to have a good time but as the
crowd went further back there was more and more
people stood with their arms folded taking in
the music and only unfolding their arms to purchase
a drink or when a big hit single came on.
 The way the band came across on stage tonight
was that Craig Finn is The Hold Steady as his
sheer energy and passion as a front man on stage
came across so bright, by the end of the night
his shirt was drenched due to his energetic movements,
however the rest of the band looked a bit stale
on stage and came across more like a backing band
for Craig Finn but then I doubt many people would
be able to keep up with the positivity of Craig
Finn.
With The Hold Steady you always know that you
are going to get a straight up classic rock and
roll show and that was exactly what happened tonight
the band blasted through some of their best songs
at speed, some of it was a bit boring but the
majority of it rocked, the main downside for myself
was not having Franz Nicolay on stage as his sadly
departed the band back in 2010, but this didn’t
seem to bother the rest of the crowd as everyone
left looking like their money was well spent.
4/5
Review By Trigger
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