Bad Copy

Mat and I have a history of seeing Dave Hause whenever he comes near Chicago and the night always results in a great show with an interesting venue story. Dave seemingly hasn’t played in the city of Chicago in years, unless you count a brief stint in The Falcon and a reunion of The Loved Ones. We once saw him out in Palatine where the venue felt more like an amphitheater with only a handful of people oin attendance and The Bronx opened and played most of their set on the ground with the crowd. We once saw him in Berwyn at a venue which was located next to an Italian restaurant, so the whole show smelled like garlic bread. And this night, we drove north to catch Dave and the crew in Evanston at a venue called Space.

The event was a family affair, with Tim Hause opening the show. Tim released his first solo album, TIM,  in January of this year to rave reviews. And while I have seen him play alongside his older brother for years, I had never seen Tim perform solo before. I found his songs to be inspiring yet sad and sweet. If you know the brothers’ work well enough, you can tell that he shares DNA with Dave. Some of the songs are written and sung in a way that is reminiscent of Dave’s early solo stuff. But, don’t for one second think that Tim is following in his family’s footsteps. He is carving out his own path. His songs stand alone, as does his album.

Dave and the Mermaid were up next. I had learned, only days prior to the show, that this would be one of three dates on the band’s tour in which they would be celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the release of Dave’s album, Devour, by playing the full-length cover to cover. You remember Devour, right? It’s that album that offered us “The Great Depression” and “We Could Be Kings” and “Autism Vaccine Blues” and “Father’s Son” which are all upbeat sounding bangers set to lyrics that remind you how both we and the world are about to careen out of control any minute. There’s also the slower tracks which are sometimes bitter, sometimes bittersweet and bring tears to your eyes when you hear them played live in an intimate room of strangers on a Friday night in Evanston. (Who was crying during “Bricks”? Sure as hell wasn’t me *sniffles*).

Hearing the album from start to finish was more of an intimate experience than I had planned. Using the term ’emotional rollercoaster’ somewhat encapsulates the feeling, but it was much more. Dave, who has always been and will always be the king of stage banter, touched on the writing process of the album throughout the set. He explained that he was dealing with loss and a divorce during that time, among other personal and societal issues, which lead to the A-side’s creation. But he did not want to just leave the listener with a number of songs about loss, self-sabotage, and self-medication. So he continued to write until he got what he felt was a solid and somewhat uplifting B-side of the album.

While Devour was the star of the night, the group opened the show with “Hazard Lights” and “Damn Personal” off their brand new album, Drive It Like It’s Stolen, which was released earlier this year. And when they had wrapped up playing the songs off Devour, they offered up another four tracks from their discography, including “Dirty Fucker” which was literally written to be a crowd favorite. And at the end of the night, as Mat and I walked back to our respective cars discussing what a hell of a show it was and how it was nice to get out of the house and team up for show coverage once again, I realized that there was not one weird venue issue this time around… except maybe for the fact they had these GIANT hanging lamps that looked like the inside of someone’s (how shall we say it in a classy way??) bum. It was a hell of a show.

Check out the photo gallery from the evening below!