San Francisco, CA
Review: Acclaimed ’90s rock act visits Bay Area for first time in over 25 years
Mike Doughty sure knows how to get a crowd on his side.
“I just want you to know that you are literally the most attractive people we have ever seen in our lives,” the Soul Coughing frontman said. “You freak me out — too (expletive) beautiful.”
Yet, he didn’t really need the sweet talk to gain the audience’s favor on Saturday night (Sept. 14) at The Fillmore. The thousand-plus fans that filled the legendary San Francisco venue to capacity for the first of two nights were clearly already in his corner and ready to enjoy their first Soul Coughing concert in at least a quarter of a century.
And the vocalist-guitarist and his formerly estranged Soul Coughing mates — keyboardist/sampler Mark Degli Antoni, bassist Sebastian Steinberg and drummer Yuval Gabay — certainly sounded great during this local stop on their long overdue reunion tour, powering through 21 numbers of jazzy hip alt-rock tunes in roughly 90 minutes.
The whole thing felt so natural and, well, necessary that it left one wondering how it could’ve possibly taken the band members 25 years to get this show back on the road. Sure, the New York City outfit parted on acrimonious terms in 2000, after putting out three highly enjoyable records during a five-year span, but other acts have certainly buried the hatchet much quicker than this when there was a payday involved.
Still, the consensus mood at The Fillmore was “better late than never” as fans swayed to the music in the packed room and sang along to Doughty’s curiously appealing vocal work, which mixes goofy Beat poetry, rap, one-liners, scatting, deadpan delivery, repetition for the sake of repetition, pure nonsense and rare insight.
Granted, that latter doesn’t always factor into the equation — as Doughty illustrated, first in English, as he sang “Bus to Beelzebub.”
“Get on to the bus that’s gonna take you back to Beelzebub,” he sang. “Get on to the bus that’s gonna make you stop going rub-a-dub.”
And it didn’t sound any more insightful when he mixed in a little French — “Voulez-vous the bus,” he sang — even though, we know, that usually does the trick.
The Soul Coughing songbook is littered with those type of oddities — this is probably a good place to mention that that same song ends with Doughty just repeating “Yellow No. 5” (yes, as in the controversial food dye) over and over again. Yet, he gets away with those lines — in part, due to that great deadpan delivery, but, probably more so, because he often wears cool Beat poetry/jazz cafe hats.
Taking the stage right around 8:30 p.m., the band kicked off its first Bay Area show of the 21st century with a fine version of “Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago.” It was the first of 10 tracks that hailed from “Ruby Vroom,” the group’s 1994 full-length studio debut that turns 30 later this month.
Continuing into “Down to This” (another “Ruby Vroom” offering), Doughty sold his lyrics almost entirely with pure rhythm and cadence, dropping words like notes plucked from Steinberg’s upright bass. Things got even groovier as the troupe ventured into “Irresistible Bliss” — the 1996 sophomore outing that lives up to its title and stands as the band’s best album — for “Collapse,” which proved to be a fine showcase for Gabay’s towering mix of power and technique on the kit.
Even the second (and third) tier Soul Coughing material — “White Girl,” “Sugar Free Jazz,” etc. — was well worth hearing on this night, since the band was operating in such a zone and, well, it just felt so good to be hearing Soul Coughing back in the live arena.
Doughty can be quite chatty in his solo shows, which might have something to do with the fact that there is a lot of space to fill when it’s just you and a guitar up there on the stage, but he was pretty quiet, for the most part, between songs.
He also seemed to downplay the whole front man vibe, instead just coasting through the gig in low gear and showing relatively little energy. I kept wanting him to cut loose, and take the whole thing to a higher level, but he never did — even during what should have been a barnburner of a encore with the Soul Coughing anthem “Super Bon Bon.”
Yet, there were so many highlights — including “Casiotone Nation,” “St. Louise Is Listening” and the main-set-ending “Screenwriter’s Blues” — that it would be wrong to categorize this show as anything but a success, as Soul Coughing rose from its long slumber to once again delight Bay Area fans.
Here’s hoping this is a reunion with legs.
Setlist
1. “Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago”
2. “Down to This”
3. “Collapse”
4. “White Girl”
5. “Sugar Free Jazz”
6. “The Idiot Kings”
7. “Blue Eyed Devil”
8. “Disseminated”
9. “Rolling”
10. “Lazybones”
11. “Misinformed”
12. “Bus to Beelzebub”
13. “Casiotone Nation”
14. “St. Louise Is Listening”
15. “True Dreams of Wichita”
16. “Mr. Bitterness”
17. “I Miss the Girl”
18. “Moon Sammy”
19. “Screenwriter’s Blues”
Encore
20. “Circles”
21. “Super Bon Bon”
Originally Published:
After Sunday’s 3-0 loss to the Washington Nationals, the San Francisco Giants headed back to the West Coast. They’re going back to the Bay Area, too.
The Giants have a date with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series at Oracle Park starting Tuesday night.
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So, San Francisco probably wanted to get out of Washington, D.C., with a win. That didn’t happen at Nationals Park on Sunday afternoon.
Nationals reliever Andrew Alvarez, the third pitcher used by the team on Sunday, picked up the victory with 4 1/3 innings of work. Giants starter Robbie Ray absorbed the loss, falling to 2-3 this season.
Ray worked six innings, giving up seven hits, three runs (all earned), walking one, and striking out seven Nationals. If the Giants’ offense had found a way to tack on some runs, then Ray’s outing wouldn’t have looked so bad.
The Giants’ bats, though, had eight hits. The big number for Giants manager Tony Vitello to look at in the box score after this one was, well, pretty big. San Francisco left 10 runners on base on Sunday, going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. This indicates that San Francisco had plenty of opportunities to score some runs.
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They just didn’t get the job done.
Let’s go to the bottom of the fifth with the Giants and Nationals in a scoreless tie. With nobody out, the Nationals’ Keibert Ruiz connected for his third double this season. Nasim Nuñez scored to put Washington up 1-0.
With one out, Curtis Mead sent a Ray pitch over the left-field wall, a two-run blast that gave the Nationals a 3-0 lead.
San Francisco had a scoring threat in the top of the eighth inning. With runners at first and second base and nobody out, Casey Schmitt grounded into a double play. Matt Chapman, who was on second base, went to third. But the Giants were unable to bring him home.
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Rafael Devers and Drew Gilbert went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Giants, producing half of the Giants’ hits.
The Giants fall to 9-13 this season, sitting in fourth place in the National League West Division. The Nationals’ record goes to 10-12, good enough for third place in the National League East Division.
All eyes now turn toward Oracle on Tuesday night. It’ll be a chance for two longtime rivals to renew their rivalry.
Baseball fans know that the Giants-Dodgers matchups usually are must-see TV.
That’s probably going to be the case once again as Giants fans watch their team battle the Dodgers. Those lucky to have tickets to the three-game series at Oracle Park will show up in Giants colors, hoping to see Los Angeles head back to Southern California with either a series loss or a Giants’ sweep.
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Buckle up, Giants fans. It’s about to get rowdy at Oracle Park.
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The 4,140-sq-km bay is the largest estuary on the west coast of the US. Before 2018, this species of whales wasn’t known to stop seasonally or consistently in the bay, bypassing it on their migration route down to Baja California and back up the Arctic, said Josephine Slaathaug, who led a recent study on gray whale mortality in the bay.
One of San Francisco’s busiest freeways remained shut down Saturday, creating major traffic delays and dampening business for some local restaurants and shops.
All eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 just before the Bay Bridge are closed as crews work around the clock to rehabilitate the roadway. The 55-hour shutdown, which began on Friday night, is scheduled to last until Monday morning in time for the commute.
The closure has forced drivers onto detour routes, leading to heavy congestion for those trying to reach the East Bay, including Oakland and Berkeley.
The impact is being felt beyond the roadways.
At MoMo’s, a restaurant across from Oracle Park, staff found business noticeably slower.
“A little bit more mellow than usual. We usually see a little bit more foot traffic, a little bit more people on Saturdays,” said Daniel Bermudez, executive chef at MoMo’s.
Bermudez believes the freeway closure may be discouraging visitors from coming into the city this weekend, despite favorable weather.
“The weather is beautiful today. It’s nice and sunny. So we have plenty of tables outside,” he said.
With the San Francisco Giants playing an away game, the restaurant had hoped fans would still gather to watch, but turnout during game time remained light.
“This is kind of like our off-season Saturday. A lot slower than our baseball weekend,” said Casandra Alarcon, general manager at MoMo’s.
Other small businesses in the Mission Bay and South of Market neighborhoods reported similar trends, saying most of their customers are regulars who live nearby rather than visitors.
“A little bit slower for sure. Before, we had tourists come and walk to the baseball park,” said Ajaree Safron, manager at Brickhouse Cafe & Bar.
Caltrans has shut down eastbound lanes between 17th and 4th streets to repave the 71-year-old roadway. The goal is to extend the life of the Bayshore Freeway by another decade.
City and transportation officials said the timing of the closure was intentional, noting fewer major events scheduled in San Francisco this weekend, aside from the Cherry Blossom Festival.
Westbound lanes remain open, and officials said traffic heading into San Francisco from the East Bay has not been significantly affected.
“Getting into the city, it wasn’t too bad. Regular [traffic], what we expect on a Saturday morning,” said visitor Andrea Inouye.
While the closure has posed challenges for businesses, some workers said they are taking it in stride.
“Hopefully, it’s not for too long and we get past it, and get back to our normal routine,” Bermudez said.
Despite early concerns about widespread gridlock, transportation officials said the region has avoided the worst-case scenario. Traffic remains heavy in areas near detours, but the anticipated “carmageddon” has not materialized, in part because many drivers chose to avoid the area or take public transit.
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