Haunting venue is real star of Monsters of Folk show
Uneven collaboration treats Auditorium Theatre with reverence
Halloween is a time for folks dressed as monsters. Friday, the night before Halloween, was an appropriate time for the indie-rock super group Monsters of Folk to haunt the historic Auditorium Theatre.
Touring to promote a self-titled album that was released in September, Monsters of Folk includes Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of the band Bright Eyes, Jim James of My Morning Jacket and singer-songwriter M. Ward (who also performs with Zooey Deschanel in the duo She & Him). The group recruited another gifted tunesmith, Will Johnson of Centro-matic, to play drums for this tour.
Oscar Lopez/For the Sun-Times
Oscar Lopez/For the Sun-Times
Along with many songs from the “Monsters of Folk” album, the group offered older tunes from each member’s oeuvre. This led to a disjointed show that had pacing problems, as when a rousing, electric, full-band rendition of the Monsters’ country tune “Goodway” was followed by an energy-sapping version of the Bright Eyes ballad “Smoke Without Fire,” played as an acoustic duet by its composers, Oberst and Ward.
The lengthy show featured plenty of well-crafted songs, but too often the sequence was jarring. This concert was like a play that had several great scenes but stumbled a bit due to the poor transitions between them.
The musicians displayed a collaborative spirit by rotating the lead vocal duties, and by frequently trading instruments between songs. James, who has an ethereal tenor, sang a marvelous version of “Golden,” from My Morning Jacket’s 2003 album “It Still Moves.” James and Johnson, each armed with a guitar, shone on an acoustic duo version of “Bermuda Highway.”
Ward’s smoky vocals and virtuoso, finger-picking guitar skills both were impressive on a solo rendition of “One Hundred Million Years,” a tune from his latest album, “Hold Time.”
The real star of the show, however, was the venue itself. James marveled at its beauty and called it “God’s theater.”
The room’s pristine acoustics allowed fans to fully appreciate Mogis’ weeping pedal steel on “The Right Place,” and the way the singers’ harmonies blended on the buoyant chorus of “At the Bottom of Everything.”
Designed by architects Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan, the Auditorium Theatre opened in 1889, and it remains one of the nation’s most spectacular music venues.
Selection of Songs Played:
“Say Please”
“The Right Place”
“Soul Singer in a Session Band”
“Slow Down Jo”
“Ahead of the Curve”
“We Are Nowhere and It’s Now”
“Golden”
“Baby Boomer”
“Bermuda Highway”
“Man Named Truth”
“Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)”
“Temazcal”
“Goodway”
“Smoke Without Fire”
“One Hundred Million Years”
“At the Bottom of Everything”
Bobby Reed is a free-lance writer.