At every Hold Steady show, singer Craig Finn has a line he slips in somewhere: "There is so much joy in what we do here." He's been saying this for years, but it took the band a while before that joy was being communicated to large audience and being reciprocated. Despite two wordy and whip-smart records, the band didn't fully hit its stride as performers until recent years. Around the time Finn started writing more choruses and singing more often than speaking his way through his songs, the rest of the Hold Steady became a live force as well, and the boozy, redemptive joy Finn was always going on about became not only believable but downright infectious.
Weirdly, however, that infectiousness is a hard thing to document-- recorded on Halloween night 2007 at Chicago's Metro, live album A Positive Rage feels like a blurry Polaroid, a flat reminder of what was probably a pretty good time. Granted, very few live records even get that far. The record captures the band on both a victory lap for 2006's Boys and Girls in America and as it takes an opportunity to road-test material from an album that wouldn't be out until the following summer-- an exciting night for hardcore fans, who'd managed to fill the place two nights in a row. But the linchpins of a typical Hold Steady set, the fist-pumpers and drink-lifters, won't be converting anyone on this recording. Guitar-heavy highlights like "Stuck Between Stations", "The Swish", or "Chips Ahoy" rush past the ears in a Doppler-like whoosh.
The setlist for this Halloween night show is a saving grace for the record. It's good to hear rarities like "You Gotta Dance (With Who You Came With)" or "Girls Like Status", as well as "Ask Her For Adderall", a hidden Stay Positive track that eclipses most of the rest of that record. It's even better to hear deep cuts like "Same Kooks" or "Barfruit Blues". It's here that the band can stretch out, the rhythm section can assert themselves a bit more, and some of the spontaneity of a live show is more evident. When Finn gets around to the second verse of "Barfruit Blues", he's alternating between hoarse shouting and a girly falsetto before the barroom piano riff barrels in. He even injects some excitement into the somber "Citrus": When he sings about citrus and liquor "coming together" for the second time, he slips into an almost uncomfortably lusty roar. There's at least a few moments here where you can hear how much the band was enjoying themselves.
Even as a fan-targeted release, there are opportunities missed in making this a more considerate package. The liner notes consist of contact sheet-style photos and a journal-like tour summary from Finn, while the accompanying DVD seems more like a video résumé than a supplement to the record. While there are a few full-song performances (including "Chips Ahoy" from an earlier performance at Metro), it's mostly cobbled together from crowd testimonials, interview clips, and the band offering weak platitudes in between talking sold-out shows and digital sales. Guitarist Tad Kubler gets interviewed about the band's live presence, saying, "If we can get someone in front of us, it's a done deal." The Hold Steady are taking the success they chart here and asserting themselves a must-see live act, for any audience. More power to them-- but A Positive Rage isn't much of an opening gambit. It's a memento for the fans, for better or for worse. But if you were too loaded on Halloween 2007 to remember much from this show, maybe this is the album for you.
