The way I see it, the world can be divided into two camps: those who have experienced Mike Doughty live, and those who have never had the pleasure. I am most certainly in the first camp, and proud to be so… The conundrum is this: How do you tell people in camp number two how great it is to be a part of camp number one? It is a quite daunting task. Maybe I can do a it of that here.

First, I must say that show opener Kelly Buchanan was very good… and very brave. She played her brand of powerful girl rock sans band, only herself and a guitar on stage. I have to give her kudos for taking on such a task in order to open for Doughty on his tour, but she pulled it off rather nicely. It was a surprise for me, as I was not so impressed with her album, Bastard Daughter, but found myself grooving a long a bit to her live set. This proves to me once again that many times real rock music is better in a live setting than it is on the recorded product from the studio.

I've seen Doughty play live three ways since his departure from Soul Coughing. Solo acoustic, just him and a guitar, which I enjoy. Doughty and a keyboard player, which I like even more. And Doughty accompanied by keyboard player and drummer, which I like the best of all three. This show fell in the second category, and I was disappointed after the last tour that featured Shahzad Ismaily on that tight little drum kit. But I digress. This was a Doughty duo show, and featured "Handsome" Dan Chin (?) playing electric piano and synthesizer. Dan was awesome, and played along with Doughty's jokes and banter extremely well.

The show was, simply put, kick-ass - Eighteen songs of pure Doughty comedic and musical bliss. Doughty himself made allusion to the fact that "small rock" was becoming "medium rock", which is a shame for those of us who have been fans throughout the "small rock" phase of his new career, but we must accept the growing up of artists and crowds. Gone are the days of quirky little things like "Fire Truck", replaced by more album tracks and streamlined set lists. Gone are the anti-encore days, buckling instead to this ridiculous belief that the mass crowds have of entitlement to more. But the same comedy and personal interactions are still a part of Doughty's live show, and it still feels on the edge of a living room show between you and he… I guess that will finally pass when we move from "medium rock" to the not-too-far-off "big rock".

Doughty began his set with "Busting Up A Starbucks" and then launched right into "Soft Serve", wherein he broke a string, changed it, and restarted the song with the line at which he had stopped. Not many performers can pull something like that off, and just begin the song at the beginning. Next came "The Only Answer", with the slicked back Elvis style pompadour of Handsome Dan making chicken neck bobs to the music. The we got "27 Jennifers", which was awesome and fast, followed by the beautiful "Unsingable Name" from the new album Haughty Melodic. Dan left stage at this point, and Doughty broke out a sweet country train rhythm on the acoustic guitar and broke into "Shunned And Falsified", followed by "Rising Sun" and "Thank You Lord For Sending Me The F Train". Handsome Dan came back to the stage for "American Car" which featured Doughty playing some sort of Danelectro guitar that had somehow been Frankensteined into some weird resonator. Following this was "True Dreams" and a spectacular version of "Grey Ghost" which was filled with cool spacey keyboards, tons of delay, and large amounts of passion. Then "Madeline And Nine", "Looking At The World From The Bottom Of A Well" - which lacked a bit of the energy it could have had with drums along for the ride - and end-of-set song "White Lexus".

After a very brief trip backstage (for which I give him credit… encore, but not the 5-10 minute wait for it) Doughty and Handsome Dan returned to play "Reeling And Stumbling", a very nice version of "Sunken-Eyed Girl", and a sweet little cover of Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler". Finishing up the show was the amazing "I Hear The Bells", which was very intimate and small rock, with Doughty urging the crowd to sing along with the chorus. A perfect ending to a wonderful show.

It's been many years since I have seen the Bluebird packed to the walls with a crowd so into the music, which is a real telling sign of the magic of Mike Doughty and his live performances. His guitar talent is incredible, rhythmic and melodic all at once, reinforcing the fact that he doesn't need to rely on the keyboards and textures of Soul Coughing any longer. Doughty's shows stand out above most live shows because of the audience banter, the jokes, and the fact the he actually listens to what the audience is saying to him. Look for his new record Haughty Melodic on Dave Matthews' ATO Records… One can't argue anymore with Dave Matthews about his tastes, as not only has he added Doughty to his roster but recently picked up England's finest working band Gomez as well.

Small rock may be dead, but it seems medium rock won't be so bad, after all.

-L. Keane

Mike Doughty
May 26, 2005
Bluebird Theater, Denver, CO
www.mikedoughty.com

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