The Hold Steady played the 9:30 Club on August 28, the night before the five-some were scheduled to appear at the Virgin Mobile Freefest at Merriweather Post Pavilion the next day. Given the choice of standing in the dark in an air-conditioned venue at night versus being exposed to the elements (sun, heat, and bugs) in the daytime, there’s no contest. The floor was conspicuously empty when 7:15 rolled around and the opening act, Iran, was due on stage. Iran is the experimental/indie rock side project of TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone (though Malone was nowhere to be seen, as TvotR was playing the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco this weekend). Iran’s music is definitely different than TVotR or even the Hold Steady’s; I guess it could be defined as bass and drum-heavy indie rock. (I’m not entirely sure about this b/c both acts sounded bass-heavy, so I couldn’t tell if the bass was heavier in the mix than everything else.)

Long-haired singer Aaron Aites is a bearded, kindly looking Santa Claus-ish character not unlike Elbow’s Guy Garvey. However, the two singers couldn’t be any more different. Aites’s voice is almost bluesy. Before starting into “I Can See the Future,” Aites quipped, “it’s nice to be back here in Washington when it’s not so goddamn hot!” The exciting, drumming-driven “Evil Summer” was introduced by Aites with “last time we were here we didn’t play “Evil Summer,” so here it is for the guy that wanted it last time. We don’t play it very often. So this is for that guy, who probably isn’t even here.” The crowd laughed at this warmly as they applauded for each of the band’s songs. Iran ended with “Long Time Now.”

The floor and balcony filled up in the interim time between the bands, so much that the place was packed by the time it was the Hold Steady’s turn to entertain us. I was clued in (or perhaps warned?) by a fellow gig-goer that the Hold Steady “attracts a weird Christian following”; perhaps they were clued in by the band’s ultra-Catholic second album, Separation Sunday? Christian or not, there was a very vocal group of kids behind me, ready to get their kicks from the band, shouting “positive!” over and over again while Iran’s equipment got broken down. This gave me an introductory taste to the rest of the evening: the Hold Steady’s fans know every single word of their songs, and I mean every word.

Singer/lyricist/guitarist Craig Finn strikes me as an unconventional front man. He’s bespectacled and he has an unusual blue guitar, emblazoned with a Grateful Dead teddy bear sticker. He alternates between three modes: kid in a candy shop (jumping up and down and all over the stage exuberantly, like a child who’s been given too much sugar); excited singer with extremely expressive arms, daring us to raise our arms up in unison with him; and less often, the bashful “who me?” songster. But when he gets going, get ready, because he really gets going, communicating with us in his unique singing/speaking style, leading the rest of the Hold Steady and all of us on a sonic journey of (dare I say it?) near Biblical proportions. And it’s really hard to not like his guy-next-door look and delivery.

The band was unstoppable, moving through their 22-song set with almost breakneck speed, barely taking a moment to wipe their sweaty brows and faces or take a swig of beer (or in nattily-dressed keyboardist/accordion player Franz Nicolay’s case, a swig from a rare bottle of wine – oh so classy!) before launching into another one of their hits. It’s really hard to pick out a couple tunes from the night as standouts, because Finn, Nicolay, guitarist Tad Kubler, bassist Galen Polivka, and drummer Bobby Drake really pulled out all the stops for this show. But if I must, I really enjoyed “You Can Make Him Like You,” “Stuck Between Stations,” and “Lord, I’m Discouraged” (one of the songs that Nicolay brings out his squeeze box for). And of course, “Stay Positive” was a crowd pleaser with it’s “oh oh ohhh, oh oh ohhh, we gotta stay positive!” chorus that was chanted by the audience back to an appreciative, grinning Finn.

“Certain Songs,” the Hold Steady’s closer, has the lines of “certain songs, they get scratched into our souls.” (Or is that skulls? I ask b/c I got hit on the head by someone’s wayward arm being waved about). Either way, I’m sure everyone at the 9:30 will have that amazing evening etched into their brains and will remember it for a long time to come. A rollicking good time was had by all.

The band have one more appearance in America, at Stewart Park in upstate New York on September 6. The band will then head over to London to play a sold-out show at the 02 Islington Academy next week, followed by appearances at County Clare, Ireland’s Cois Fharraige Festival and Salisbury, England’s End of the Road Festival before returning to North America for one date in Alaska and several more across Canada.

Set list
Hornets! Hornets!
Constructive Summer
Hot Soft Light
Sequestered in Memphis
The Swish
Barfruit Blues
Magazines
Our Whole Lives
Don’t Let Me Explode
Stevie Nix
You Can Make Him Like You
Separate Vacations
Lord, I’m Discouraged
Stuck Between Stations
Southtown Girls
Stay Positive
Slapped Actress
How a Resurrection Really Feels
//
Chips Ahoy!
Going on a Hike
Your Little Hoodrat Friend
Certain Songs

Tour dates
Sept 06 – Stewart Park / Ithaca
Sept 17 – Bear Tooth Theatre / Anchorage
Sept 19 – Vogue Theatre / Vancouver
Sept 21 – Starlite Room / Edmonton
Sept 22 - Warehouse / Calgary
Sept 23 – Odeon Events Centre / Saskatoon
Sept 24 – West End Cultural Centre / Winnipeg
Sept 26-27 – Lee’s Palace / Toronto

The Hold Steady: website | myspace | @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater | Rothbury: Day 4
Iran: myspace