Bob Mould will revisit COPPER BLUE and highlight new SILVER AGE at free show Friday night in Williamsburg (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
The Lacoste Live Concert Series
Williamsburg Park
50 Kent Ave. at North 12th St.
Friday, September 7, free, 6:00
www.bobmould.com
Twenty years ago, in a small club in New York City, we saw the loudest show we’ve ever experienced, a blistering attack on body, mind, and soul by three dudes making awesomely beautiful music together. Sugar, consisting of singer-guitarist Bob Mould, bassist David Barbe, and drummer Malcolm Travis, were behind this sonic tsunami, powering through songs from their debut record, the instant classic Copper Blue. “I want something like I remember / And I want something that lasts forever,” Mould declared on “Changes,” seeming to look back at the recent arc of his career, which included the brutal breakup of Hüsker Dü in 1988, followed by his acoustic solo debut, Workbook, as well as at his future. Over the last few years, Mould has once again been looking back, particularly on 2009’s almost painfully honest Life and Times and his intimate and revealing 2011 memoir, See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody, bringin along his acoustic guitar on the book tour. But after bonding with Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters on record and onstage, Mould tossed away the acoustic in favor of more electric madness, going into the studio with live bandmates Jason Narducy on bass and Jon Wurster on drums and coming out with the explosive Silver Age (Merge, September 4, 2012, stream available here), the twentieth anniversary of Copper Blue very much on his mind. “I’m never too old to contain my rage,” he announces on the title song, and he indeed lets his rage soar on such searing tracks as “Star Machine,” “The Descent,” “Steam of Hercules,” and “Angels Rearrange” (which echoes the earlier “Changes”), only slowing down just a bit for the finale, “First Time Joy.” Mould, who will turn fifty-two next month, is on the road right now, celebrating the newly remastered reissue of Copper Blue by performing the album in its entirety, featuring such Mould standards as “The Act We Act,” “A Good Idea,” “Hoover Dam,” and “If I Can’t Change Your Mind.” He’ll then play a second set of songs focusing on Silver Age while also reaching back to the Hüsker Dü and solo years. Mould will be at Williamsburg Park in Brooklyn on Friday night, giving a free show as part of the Lacoste Live Concert Series, with Cymbals Eat Guitars opening up. And be prepared; it should be LOUD. (Mould will also be spinning tracks later that night at his regular Blowoff gig with Richard Morel at the Highline Ballroom.)