The Drive-By Truckers @ Paradise Rock Club

March 25th, 2008 - by Eddie

Alt-Country, Audio, Boston, Reviews, Shows

Thanks to Mike from graysky.org for the pic

The night before Easter, I worshipped at the alter of rock and offered up all the money in my pocket for cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon and a $20 t-shirt.

This show was special for me because I would be popping a concert cherry. This was the first time the Drive-By Truckers and I would be at a concert together and, like many first times, I was ready for a bevy of emotions: anxiousness, excitement, and screaming (yes, that’s an emotion).

I can tell you how awesome it was seeing the band members pass a bottle of Jack Daniels or how it was inspiring seeing a variety of dancing in the pit from the young to the old. Or even how they played some of my favorite songs off their new album Brighter Than Creation’s Dark. But that would fail to encompass exactly what I experienced. Think of it as unbridled joy. It’s the same feeling you got when you first saw porn or when you discovered ice cream came in more flavors than vanilla or chocolate (or that you were “good enough” to eat Häagen-Dazs ice cream…I have weird friends).

All the stories you’ve heard are true. They’re fantastic live. Patterson Hood has a gnarly beard. Mike Cooley is laid-back and has no regard for Boston’s “No Smoking” indoors rule. Shonna Tucker will flirt with the audience (once she has JD inside of her).

But the one thing I didn’t expect to find at the concert was one tear to fall from my eye. It happened at the end of the show, when Hood launched into the back story about the song “18 Wheels of Love.” I could just lay it all out, nice and slow for ya’ll to read…but it’s so much better to hear Hood tell it.

18 Wheels Story

Immediately following this, the band launched into the song with cheers erupting from the crowd. I ain’t gonna lie. I got choked up for Chester and raised my umpteenth can of PBR for the man. Here’s the song in all its glory.

18 Wheels of Love

And for all the old-school DBT fans out there, they played one of the best songs from Pizza Deliverance.

Bulldozers and Dirt

More songs from the show are after the jump…along with a version of “Home Field Advantage” with a trashed Shonna at the helm.

Carl Perkins Cadillac

Three Dimes Down

Self-Destructive Zones

Gravity’s Gone

Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife

Home Field Advantage (pretty sure Shonna’s trashed here)