Robert Pollard @ Metro (3/31/2006)

“Fuck Coldplay,” scowled Robert Pollard from the stage inside Metro. Nearly twenty minutes south, Coldplay was ending its two-night residence at the United Center as the weekend's hottest ticket. But to the longtime leader of Guided By Voices, there was only one real show in town that night, and it was his.

Guided By Voices may be no more, but the arrogance and “what you see is what you get” attitude of that band lives on in the man that embodied the spirit. Bringing his solo show to Chicago for the first time since Guided By Voices disbanded on New Year’s Eve 2004 at Metro, Pollard came ready with a personal bucket of twenty-four chilled bottles of Miller Lite, a bottle of Jose Cuervo, and a brand new cast of characters to give sound to Pollard’s latest musical vision From A Compound Eye. Any notions that this new band was just a revamped version of Guided By Voices were quickly dispelled by Pollard. “This ain’t GBV,” said Pollard to the packed audience. “Now it’s whatever.”

As the group tore through songs like “I Surround You Naked,” “Maggie Turns To Flies,” and “I’m A Widow,” what was evident was the musicianship Pollard surrounded himself with: veteran popster Tommy Keene on guitar and keyboards, Dave Phillips on guitar, bassist Jason Narducy (Verbow, Rockets Over Sweden), and drummer Jon Wurster (Superchunk) brought a fresh dimension to Pollard’s massive catalog of songs. Pulling a track from Pollard’s 1998 album Waved Out, the assembled group gave new color to the song “Make Use” and transformed it into a rolling trance-like wave of power chords.

The 48-year-old Pollard still pulled off his teenage kicks, Pete Townshend leaps, and Roger Daltrey microphone twirls like there was no tomorrow. “It’s not a show,” declared Pollard, “It’s a fucking drunken wreck.” He even got security on edge as he defied the city’s no-smoking ordinance (aimed towards bars and clubs) by accepting lights from the front row and packages of cigarettes tossed onto the stage.

That statement may have been true in Pollard’s case (who actually took his drinks in moderation), but it wasn’t for the band. Over the course of two hours, the charge from song to song never let up a second. During “Love Is Stronger Than Witchcraft,” described by Pollard as his favorite new song, the band took off on the song’s Cheap Trick-esque stomp a la “High Roller.” Narducy locked in with Pollard for some of the most soulful vocal moments of the night. As Bob Mould’s bassist on his recent solo tour, Narducy provided Pollard a plate of harmonies that always seemed elusive in Guided By Voices.

The banter was still classic Pollard. At one point, Pollard took shots at the Flaming Lips for their cover of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It was a crime in Pollard’s eyes what Wayne Coyne and company did to the song, but then let the crowd in on the joke by mentioning his love for Coyne. “I’m allowed to rip on anyone who sells more records than me,” explained Pollard to the crowd.

After an endurance fest of over thirty songs, Pollard returned for an encore to reward those who came to the show hoping for a little blast from the Guided By Voices past. “Girls Of Wild Strawberries” got the crowd’s lips wet, fists were thrust into the air to applaud “Gold Star For Robot Boy,” and fans threw arms around each other to sing along to “My Valuable Hunting Knife.”

The show’s finale seemed ironic since it was also the last song that Guided By Voices performed over a year ago under the same roof. Still, “Don’t Stop Now” filled every corner of Metro with voices singing in unison. In some ways, it has been Pollard’s musical mantra and as he proved on stage, he’s not even close to stopping.

All Photos By: Chris Castaneda