Thankfully I did not have any prior plans for this Friday the 13th because I only learned about this stream two hours beforehand courtesy of Joe. I would have been in on a rebroadcast even if I were not available the first time around because when a rock titan like Philip H. Alselmo performs live in your living room you attend, especially when it’s only $13. It had been almost a year to the day since the last Down stream, which also happened to be the first full-blown stream I was witness to after the pandemic began. It seems Down is on the cutting edge of technology because this was also the first of all the streams I watched that was actually a live show being broadcast in real time.
The start of “Nola Town Throwdown” was Phil coming on to say they were pushing the show back by 30 minutes because it was taking longer than anticipated to get people in the door due to COVID protocol. A couple music videos were shown followed by a funny segment called “What’s Up With DOWN by Dave Hill” where comedian Dave Hill interviewed the members of Down with unorthodox questions. After this segment was a tribute to Hollis Murphy, singer of Fat Stupid Ugly People, that passed.
The opener was Dave Hill, who came out telling jokes and ripping on an SG look alike. The jokes were funny enough but nothing compared to his guitar playing. The term “ripping” does not do Dave’s guitar playing justice as the dude just flat out shred.
Down was everything I had hoped for and everything I have come to expect from this level of professional musician. Though I am sure the overall sound was better in the actual venue, I had not heard Phil sing this well for awhile. On top of this you could easily tell he loved being on stage again, especially in front of a hometown crowd. The setlist was heavy on songs from NOLA, which was just fine by me, but they also dove into a couple deeper tracks from Down II: A Bustle In Your Hedgerow. I would have liked to hear at least a couple tracks from the fantastic Down IV EP’s but like Mick Jagger said, “you can’t always get what you want.” What I got was an hour and a half of seeing Down live from a distance and a very funny moment when Pepper came up to Phil and let him know that he had to take a piss then disappeared for a few minutes before coming back to tear up the final song of the night “Bury Me In Smoke.”
SETLIST: Lysergik Funeral Procession, Hail the Leaf, Lifer, N.O.D., The Seed, Ghosts Along the Mississippi, Rehab, Losing All, New Orleans Is A Dying Whore, Pillars of Eternity, Swan Song, Eyes of the South, Stone the Crow, Bury Me in Smoke
