Bob Mould @ Old Town School of Folk Music (2/17/2006)

The concert hall at the Old Town School of Folk Music on Lincoln Ave. provides a very intimate and relaxed atmosphere for concertgoers. For Bob Mould, the hall was completely removed from the rock show experience. Armed with an acoustic and electric guitar, Mould delighted the crowd with a passionate performance that not only was inspiring, but raw.

The small setting inside Old Town puts the performer closer to the audience; it's like a large living room. Every move the performer makes on that stage can be heard in every corner of the hall. It also sets a mood where the performer feels the audience almost as if they too were on stage. After a two-night run at Metro last September, Mould returned to Chicago unaccompanied by a band. As he began his show, Mould scanned the venue with wide-eyed amazement. He was thirsty. Had there been no microphone on stage with him, the way in which Mould attacked with his voice would have been enough to reach every seat.

Mould tapped into his wide catalog of songs, ranging from Hüsker Dü and Sugar to his solo work. But for anyone in the crowd that attended any of Mould's Metro shows, the setlist didn't veer too far from the standard set Mould has been performing. Still, Mould hit the ground running from the beginning.

Mould barely spoke a word at Metro, since each song came blasting one after another. As he stood at the microphone inside Old Town, a completely different Mould turned up. His voice lumbered through "Hoover Dam" and "See A Little Light." His bouncing good spirits came across not only through his command on stage but his talkative banter with the crowd. Mould let down his guard and opened up to the crowd. He joked about his recent troubles with airlines handling his guitars and praised the work of an Evanston music shop for designing a brand new case. He also poked fun at himself. Mould mentioned he noticed a concert date for Richie Havens to appear at Old Town soon. Mould spoke highly of Havens as a guitarist, especially with a 12-string acoustic. The joke was clear as Mould tuned his own acoustic and programmed his effects panel to reproduce the sound of a 12-string acoustic.

The stripped down feel to songs like "High Fidelity" and Hüsker Dü's "Hardly Getting Over It" glowed perfectly in the room. You could see it on Mould's face that even he knew he was having a good night.

He soon switched over to his blue Fender Stratocaster for a mini-electric guitar set. Mould openned the set with two songs from his latest solo album Body Of Song. "Circles" and "Paralyzed" cut the air like razors, changing the mood of the room. It was like watching Mould go from painting to gearing up a chainsaw. The electric guitar brought out the defiant punk full of fire that still boils hot inside him all these years later. After mixing it up between Sugar tunes ("Your Favorite Thing," "If I Can't Change Your Mind") and a Hüsker Dü favorite ("Celebrated Summer"), Mould soon bowed down before the standing ovation from the crowd and exited the stage.

Mould continues to make growing up sound really good.

All Photos By: Chris Castaneda