Interview/ Live: Craig Finn @ Academy 2

Craig Finn
Academy 2
18th March
3 stars

“There’s not much left of us, because you left with him” was the sombre last line of Craig Finn’s tranquil support slot, a brutal reminder of that horrible sinking feeling we’ve all felt in the pit of our stomach, yet a line fans of The Hold Steady wouldn’t be used to being sent home with by their usually fist-clenched, positive jamming frontman. Speaking to Finn before the show however, this was a tone he wanted to explore with his debut solo record Clear Heart Full Eyes; “I was sort of feeling the need to do something that was a little mellower and I kind of leant on stories” he tells me, a little hungover after a St.Paddy’s Day in Glasgow with Frightened Rabbit.

His set was flowing with narratives, mostly telling tales of despair, yet ones I’m sure we’re all familiar with. ‘Balcony’ was the story of going to a bar with a date, going out for a smoke and coming back to see her with another guy, expressed by another hard hitting lyric “I looked up to see the moon, and I saw you and him out on the balcony, it was the same thing that you did to me”. Ouch!

With this energy being miles away from The Hold Steady, Craig himself even had concerns about the audience’s reaction. “At first I was like ‘Are people enjoying this?’” he laughs, going on to explain, “I’ve gotten used to it and it’s really actually nice”. This, to be fair, was exactly the case. The audience were attentive and simply listened to the lyrics, creating a nice smokey bar room style atmosphere with Finn’s backing band, Some Guns, supplying some chilled out rock and roll riffs with a pedal steel guitar really adding to the mellow vibe.

It is frustrating, however, watching Finn and expecting a big chorus to take a hold of him and see him properly let himself go. I asked him if he ever struggled getting himself up to speed each night for an energetic Hold Steady show and he admitted it was indeed hard. “I can always get there but that’s one of the reasons I wanted to do a solo record too because I feel some sort of responsibility to be positive and optimistic with The Hold Steady. I feel like it’s a different part of my person”. The different part of his person is interesting to explore and a lot darker with songs like ‘Rented Room’ focusing specifically on his divorce and having to move in with some annoying strangers in his mid thirties.

Even if this seems to the reader like a depression session with Craig Finn, the intimate atmosphere and narrative song style with stories we can relate to really does make for an enjoyable show. ‘Honolulu Blues’ and ‘My New Friend Jesus’ provided some upbeat moments and the main act of the night were the magnificent Felice Brothers, who belted out a joyous set and the bouncy, excitable Craig Finn that Hold Steady fans are more familiar with was on hand to help them out with a number.