Bob Mould @ Metro (9/29/2005)

Bob Mould barely spoke a word to the sold out audience inside Metro as he marched through a set that encompassed his twenty-five year career as a frontman for two incomparable bands, Husker Du and Sugar, and solo artist. After spending the last ten years performing on his own, Mould recruited musicians to form his band for this current tour in support of his latest solo album Body Of Song (Yep Roc). The opportunity to witness Mould lead a band again was something many fans couldn't pass up, and Mould lived up to the buzz with lots of fuzz frenzied rock for the first of two nights in Chicago.

Joined by keyboardist Richard Morel, drummer Brendan Canty of Fugazi, and Evanston native Jason Narducy (Verbow, Rockets Over Sweden) on bass and vocals, Mould kept the show on a fast pace without so much as a guitar change. The show opened just as Sugar's 1992 debut album Copper Blue opened: the crunching pulse of "The Act We Act," the out-of-control power popping "A Good Idea," and the melodic overdrive of "Changes." Mould also sprinkled a good portion of Body Of Song throughout his set among selections from his Husker Du and Sugar catalogs. Mould clearly felt free of the weight he would normally place on himself when performing solo. It was as if he was no longer driving a one lane road and merged onto a ten lane expressway; his guitar solos knew no boundaries and his vocals howled. A smile appeared on Mould's face during "Hoover Dam" as he and the band locked in perfectly with each other. Narducy (whose band Verbow had their debut album produced by Mould in 1997) had a strong sense of complimenting Mould's vocals almost has if he was some younger clone of Mould on stage behind a microphone.

As soon as the crowd began applauding the end of one song a brand new one would begin. That's how Mould worked the show, a no-frills, all-business affair filled with great songs. From Body Of Song, "Circles" and "Paralyzed" balanced all of Mould's musical traits that have grown through the years, mixing his command of an electric guitar and recent experimental side with electronica (as heard on his 2002 album Modulate). During "High Fidelity," another new song, Mould sang about being left behind in the changing times but somehow, someway he would figure things out. That really sums up a lot about Mould's career. After the breakup of Husker Du, Mould found creative success with Sugar and then success going solo. And while Mould may be considered irrelevant by 2005 standards of what's hip in mainstream music, he has managed to maintain a level of integrity that has kept the heart of his music still beating hard. So, by all accounts, Mould has continued to figure things out just fine on his own.

"It's nice to be back in Chicago," said Mould before the first encore of the night. The audience that filled every inch of Metro responded in kind with a generous ovation. Mould had been on target the whole night. His enthusiasm never faltered as he dug deep for older tunes like Husker Du's "Chartered Trips" and "Celebrated Summer." Here Mould showed he wasn't trying to capture the youth of the songs he had written in his early 20's but rather showed he hadn't lost the connection to how he felt when he wrote them. As Mould and company gave their second and final encore, they sailed into the night with Sugar's "Man On The Moon." Mould ripped into the opening riff like he was about to turn on a chainsaw, and Canty slammed in like a bulldozer behind him. The band became this sonic juggernaut that pushed the song to new heights and had fun doing it. Mould may know how to polish up his act for the studio, but in this instance he gave fans the raw rock show they had missed for ten years. Mould certainly didn't lose his touch in that department.

All Photos By: Chris Castaneda