Cracker have been around since their early nineties heyday of alternative rock, enduring all the ups and downs of the music industry. Yes, their fan base has aged with the band, but so has that for all the other nineties acts. And they can still play the hits & more, like at New York’s City Winery on Tuesday, July 18th.
The second of two nights at City Winery (QRO venue review), yes, the crowd was older, enjoying sitting and drinking their wine (with at least one kid their brought by her parents). But it was notable that the seats actually required an adjustment, those in attendance getting used to not rocking out like at a regular show. Though they enjoyed the wine & meal beforehand, even the old folks wanted to get on their feet at times.
That was due to Cracker bringing their whole band. When they played City Winery just two years ago (QRO review), it was just main men Johnny Hickman (QRO interview) and David Lowery (QRO interview), plus pedal steel player Pistol Stoessel, whereas this time the show included bassist Bryan Howard, drummer CoCo Owens, fiddler Roark, and keyboardist Kenny Margolis. It definitely gave for a fuller sound.
It also definitely enabled the band to play their full catalogue. While the show two years ago was focused on the then-new Berkeley to Bakersfield (QRO review), this evening the band did ‘the hits.’ So yes, there was “Euro-Trash Girl”, “Low”, and “Get Off This” from the seminal 1993 Kerosene Hat, and “Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)” from the prior year’s debut Cracker, the two records that made the band nineties staples on MTV. Most importantly, the band & the crowd still had tons of fun with the late greats – even the kid sang along to “Euro-Trash Girl” (which Lowery pointed out he had been told one could sing Edith Piaf’s “I Have No Regrets” (?) to…), and Howard head-banged & head-swirled with his dreds to “Teen Angst”.
But it wasn’t just earliest material. The evening opened with Berkeley’s sadder version of “Where Have Those Days Gone”, and mid-set was the tragic “Almond Grove” and its heartbreaking line, “My big brother Jack / Went to Kandahar / But he never came back.” Of particular note was the number of songs from 1998’s Gentlemen’s Blues. Arguably their greatest record (tough to pick), it included the back-to-back-to-back “Seven Days”, “The Good Life”, and Hickman’s “Been Around the World”.
The evening did close on Cracker, with “Teen Angst”, “I See the Light”, and encore return “Another Song About the Rain”, with standing ovations from the crowd (finally, a chance to get on one’s feet…). It was a show for the long-time fans (like your correspondent – virtually every piece played is rated five stars on his iTunes, because he’s so old he still uses iTunes…), because it’s always great to see Cracker.
