Amid a blistering rock ‘n’ roll performance by Dan Baird and Homemade Sin among other grey hairs holding a torch, one must wonder: Where has Baird been all these years?
The answer seems to be Europe, where they appreciate his hard-charging genre-shredding rock ‘n’ roll the same way the Continent appreciated classic American forms from jazz and blues to rockabilly.
Baird’s sweet spot is in the harder-charging Chuck Berry twang that puts to mind the Faces at their shambling peak. He likes to use the amusingly conditional quote of praise, “the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world, except the Rolling Stones up to 1973.”
He’d never say that himself, mind you. But his heart is in a place where hope can be found even in the worn playlists of Classic Rock formats. In the opening “Two for Tuesday” which appropriately opened the Tuesday night show at the Iota in Arlington, he sings gleefully of the highway and the radio in a way Jonathan Richman did in “Roadrunner.” He keeps absolute faith in his DJ’s ability to keep him rockin’ and the song easily shifts to a couple examples, the Who’s “Baba O’Reilly” (without the chorus) and CCR’s version of “Proud Mary.” (Being two for Tuesday, he could have offered second helpings of each band).
Instead, he reached back to the songs that remain part of classic rock that he provided as part of the Georgia Satellites: “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” and “I Love You, Period.”
The impact of the band was doubled by the proximity: A much smaller place than they’d usually play at seemingly twice the volume.
Baird’s band was aided by Warner E. Hodges, the flamboyant and tasteful player who is also guitarist for Jason and the Scorchers as well as his longtime Satellites rhythm section, Keith Christopher (celebrating a birthday) and drummer Mauro Magellan — a well oiled outfit able to provide a Big Gulp of rock.
Baird didn’t take advantage of his opening act to revive one offshoot group he’s had years back, the Yayhoos, whose Eric Ambel had his own revival project on stage, the formidable opening band The Del-Lords.
Like Baird’s outfit, this was a solid American group almost fully intact from its 80s heyday, with ex-Dictator Scott Kempner, and drummer Frank Funaro (who did his great “I Play the Drums”) joined by bassist Steve Almaas.
In addition to their great-sounding old songs, they had new ones, too, from “Elvis Club,” a new release that’s their first in 23 years. Already its lead-off tune, “When the Drugs Kick In” has received heavy rotation from Little Steven’s Garage Rock channel and had connected with the crowd.
A band worthy of their own headlining gig to be sure, hearing both bands in the same tight stage had a big impact.