Will Sheff had strep throat when he was in San Francisco performing with his band Okkervil River on Sunday night. Will was fueled by steroids and lemons and made it through an hour long set plus another forty-plus minutes after the encore break. He kept saying that he'd rather play than be trapped on the tour bus. Fortunately, Will's voice is naturally rough so except for the one or two times he lost his voice completely there was little degradation of vocals.
The six band members traded places and instruments on the small Cafe du Nord stage. The trumpet player was amazing. Accordions are making a resurgence! I couldn't see the full stage until the crowd thinned out between sets but I was still too far back to see everything.
Having mainly been exposed to Okkervil River's most recent LP, Black Sheep Boy, I hadn't realized how alt-country/folk the band can sound. At times reminding me of Wilco. And with the storytelling lyrics, I thought of the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle.
If you have a chance to catch the tour (and I recommend you do), you can e-mail in your song requests. From the official website:
Also, we’re taking requests for this tour, and they can be sent to the e-mail address requests@jound.com. Sets are filling up fast, so send those requests in soon. If you can, though, try to limit them to one or two – we’ve been getting a few e-mails for, like, 15 songs.
I was able to pick up a copy of the Black Sheep Boy Appendix disc which is as good as the brilliant Black Sheep Boy. Jagjaguwar has an mp3 from the album available for download: "No Key No Plan"
Here is a rough setlist pulled from several sources and not in any order.
Maine Island Lovers
The War Criminal
Lady Liberty
Latest Toughs
Black
In a Radio Song
For
Real
So Come Back
Okkervil River Song
A Glow
A Favor
Westfall
Omie Wise
Seas Too Far To Reach
