" All the world's a stage, mine just happens to be a medicine cabinet" (Westerberg during the middle of his show)
The performance that Paul Westerberg and his Only Friends (aka ‘The Pharmacists’) gave was a rare experience. The 800 or so people who came to the show rarely ventured into a seat. Paul still loves what he does, rocking & rolling & rolling.
At times the sound got muffled as the soundman tried to push the amplitude; still, for the most part, it went unnoticed as the crowd sang along.
This was Westerberg’s first date back after a brief hiatus and the new tunes that were added to the repertoire sometimes got caught up in themselves. Paul's solo with a six string was particularly indicative of just how much fun they were having. Paul enters the verse of his song and forgets the lyrics. The guitar player brings a written copy of the lyrics and hold it up... Paul tried his best to make it through the song but ultimately he ended up in laughter he could not control. Rather than try to hide musical mistakes and lyrical glitches, the errors were turned into genuine moments of humor.
They played a host of material culled from both the ‘Mats’ release and all Paul's solo releases including ‘Grandpaboy’. After offering the crowd to make requests, we were blessed with a kick ass version of ‘Smoke on the Water.’ The selections from his new C.D. "Folker" somehow come off a little more heartfelt than previous discs, and considering his past experiences with record companies he would be just as happy performing his latest work.
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