The Posies 30th Anniversary Tour 06.14.18

Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow beckon the audience closer. The intimate 225 seat arts and culture venue at Fairfield Theater Company’s Stage One has several unoccupied seats in the front row and the Posies want them filled. Excited concert goers dash down the stadium seating aisles to fill in the gaps. The band immediately launched into their opening song, “Dream All Day”, complete with energetic jumping that continued throughout the night.

The Shellye Valauskas Experience opened the evening, promoting their new album History of Panic, which Posie Jon Auer also appears on. Just like Auer and Stringfellow got to play with their idols from Big Star, Valausakas has been playing with Jon Auer, sharing a bill with him for her CD release shows. It’s easy to see what he sees in her music, as it’s the same sort of winning mix of great songs with hooks and harmonies. Valauskas has a way with lyrics, too, like “I got what I expected, but it’s not what I deserve” from “Leftover Mistake.” The band have a very agreeable stage presence, with banter that’s actually witty and a genuine sense of fun, as when bassist and ex-Cave Dog Brian Stevens asked “Should I banter more?” Filling out the lineup are guitarist Dean Falcone and drummer Jim Balga, who have been playing together even longer than The Posies. Jon Auer fit right in when he brought his vocals, and affable charm, to sing two of the songs from the new album and close out their too short 30 minute set.

061418_SVE-1222
061418_SVE-1127
061418_SVE-1339
061418_SVE-1172
061418_SVE-1133
061418_SVE-1182
061418_SVE-1139
061418_SVE-1277
061418_SVE-1159
061418_SVE-1163
061418_SVE-1167
061418_SVE-1175
061418_SVE-1207
061418_SVE-1210
061418_SVE-1246
061418_SVE-1249
061418_SVE-1312
061418_SVE-1280
061418_SVE-1300
061418_SVE-1329
061418_SVE-1405
061418_SVE-1443
061418_SVE-1559
061418_SVE-1475
061418_SVE-1493
061418_SVE-1505
061418_SVE-1519
061418_SVE-1532
061418_SVE-1556
061418_SVE-1564
061418_SVE-1576
061418_SVE-1602
061418_SVE-1624
061418_SVE-1662
061418_SVE-1703

Canadian Terra Lightfoot is the opener on most of the Posies tour and played between the sets. She’s usually refereed to as a folksinger or roots rock artist, but those are both inaccurate and really don’t do her justice. While there is definitely a folk element to her songs, what I heard reminded me of nothing less than Crazy Horse on a really good night, only with more focused songs. For a three piece, they can sure make a racket, and I mean that in the best way possible. It was definite change of pace between the other two bands, but a quite welcome one.

061418_TL-1798
061418_TL-1715
061418_TL-1719
061418_TL-1727
061418_TL-1830
061418_TL-1734
061418_TL-1767
061418_TL-1747
061418_TL-1755
061418_TL-1826
061418_TL-1801
061418_TL-1757
061418_TL-1764
061418_TL-1775
061418_TL-1867
061418_TL-1782
061418_TL-1786
061418_TL-1806
061418_TL-1824
061418_TL-1838
061418_TL-1840
061418_TL-1842
061418_TL-1845
061418_TL-1862
061418_TL-1865
061418_TL-1875

Only in Seattle could the Posies be seen as a pop band. Comparing them to the heavier sounds of the grunge era was always a poor yardstick, as the Posies rock, but with gorgeous harmonies and Beatles worthy melodies. Those were my first thoughts when they took the stage, opening up with a raucous version of “Dream All Day”, from the 1993 album “Frosting on the Beater”. This tour marks the return of the line up that recorded that album, with bassist Dave Fox and drummer Mike Musberger reuniting with frontmen and mainstays Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow for what’s billed as a “30th Anniversary Tour”, which is also promoting the deluxe reissues of their classic 1990s albums. A lot of artists from that era have been doing reunion/anniversary shows of late and the result is frequently about as vibrant as an arena cash grab tour, with the bands going through the motions, singing people’s memories back at them. Nothing of the sort here. While the 18 song set, plus four encores, had plenty of favorites, they never came across as anything approaching nostalgia, just a great band playing the songs they wrote, which also happen to be great.

061418_POSIES-1897
061418_POSIES-1891
061418_POSIES-1902
061418_POSIES-1914
061418_POSIES-1915
061418_POSIES-1932
061418_POSIES-1936
061418_POSIES-1946
061418_POSIES-1950
061418_POSIES-1952
061418_POSIES-1956
061418_POSIES-1968
061418_POSIES-2094
061418_POSIES-2090
061418_POSIES-1995
061418_POSIES-2001
061418_POSIES-2011
061418_POSIES-2026
061418_POSIES-2032
061418_POSIES-2058
061418_POSIES-2068
061418_POSIES-2073
061418_POSIES-2129
061418_POSIES-2254
061418_POSIES-2138
061418_POSIES-2141
061418_POSIES-2161
061418_POSIES-2170
061418_POSIES-2176
061418_POSIES-2185
061418_POSIES-2188
061418_POSIES-2196
061418_POSIES-2206
061418_POSIES-2124
061418_POSIES-2216
061418_POSIES-2230
061418_POSIES-2233
061418_POSIES-2243
061418_POSIES-2257
061418_POSIES-2272
061418_POSIES-2361

Leave a Reply