The scatology of Guided by Voices: The reunion tour in 3 lyrics

So, this isn’t a typical review. You can find those elsewhere (a nice one with photos from Chicago here and an accurate one from Minneapolis here.) Instead, this is a view of Guided by Voices filtered through three of my favorite lyrics from songs performed by the band on this tour.

I wish I could give a shit, just a little bit.

–”Lethargy,” Guided by Voices

Of course, Guided by Voices does give a shit, more than a little bit. Why would a truck driver, a graphic artist, an attorney and a recluse reconvene 16 years after their last parting to join someone like Robert Pollard on the road for a month if they didn’t care? If nothing else came across during the two shows I caught this week — Minneapolis on Tuesday and Chicago on Wednesday — it is that this band cares a great deal about rock ‘n’ roll.

The reason they were able to return at all was that their fans do as well. I was pleasantly surprised at the packed houses at both — First Avenue in Minneapolis holds 1,500 and the Riviera in Chicago holds 3,000, and both were seemingly nearly full — and wondered if the band would have broken up in the first place had this many people given a shit back when it was a going concern. These are certainly the largest crowds Guided by Voices has faced in its career, reunion or otherwise, and without a doubt the most that this lineup, which disbanded in 1996, has seen.

All of that is by way of saying that the engine that drives the band and its fans is a deep passion about music. It’s no stretch to consider Pollard an amateur historian or rock ‘n’ roll, and any dedicated fan, who must surely have dozens of Pollard’s records on the shelf, must be as well. That history is brought to bear as the band performs the kind of show its members grew up on. Long on great songs and energy, short on bells and whistles, it is the kind of show that soars or falls based on the strength of the songs and the passion with which they are performed.

And we’re finally here and shit yeah, it’s cool.

–”Echoes Myron,” Guided by Voices

Guided by Voices for so long was a basement/garage entity that when it hit the relative big time of a large indie label and tours in large clubs, its members seemed as awestruck at the turn of events as their fans were in finding a group in the early 1990s that played this kind of music this well. Yes, for fans at these reunion shows, it is unbelievably cool to be afforded one more chance to see the “classic lineup” of the band run through some of its most beloved songs, but the above line packs the most punch when it comes from the point of view from the stage. Shit yeah, it’s amazingly cool to be Pollard or Tobin Sprout or Mitch Mitchell or Greg Demos or Kevin Fennell and to have left your life — if not behind, certainly on pause — for a month while you relive (and, truthfully, greatly exceed) your finest moments as a band.

They are working so hard to recapture and enhance that the only real critique of the show is that the band is trying to hard. Not playing too hard, mind you. Rather, they are reaching for something that never was. Pollard used to do a high kick or two; now he does a dozen or so. He used to jump occasionally and twirl his microphone from time to time. Now, it is nearly incessant. God forbid a 53-year-old man prove that he’s in better shape than most of his audience, right? This mild criticism is simply that he has nothing to prove and yet performs as if everything is at stake.

As far as critique-worthy aspects of the show, that’s the one that’s easiest to take, and it means that these performances truly hit on all levels. One could quibble with the setlist — I wished for deeper cuts from Under the Bushes, Under the Stars, for instance — but it hits nearly all the high points. The songs are performed with emotion and passion and surprising dexterity.

They pulled into economy island
King shit and the golden boys
Plenty more where we came from
Top of the line
Don’t stop now.

“Don’t Stop Now,” Guided by Voices

The only question now, of course, is, what’s next? Is this truly just a reunion, a one-off after which the members will return to their lives? That would be my guess. While it was clear that Pollard reveled in the glow of a crowd the size of which he’ll never see again as a solo artist, he also has grown used to splitting the take in far fewer pieces and seems to revel in the creative freedom that was truly his once he left the GBV name behind (a freedom that has been a debit and a credit to these ears). However, does Mitchell want to go back to driving a truck? Could Demos be content to flip through a scrapbook to relive this brief vacation? Will Fennell be happy returning to whatever it was he was doing? One imagines that the “gee, Bob, these shows are going great… what do you think about sticking together?” conversations already have begun on the bus rides from town to town.

But one reason why the band may well feel like King Shit and the Golden Boys is the expiration date stamped on the entire affair. I’m a huge fan of GBV and Pollard, but I’ve let life get in the way of seeing Pollard’s solo shows in Chicago over the past six years. When word hit that Guided by Voices’ classic lineup was reuniting for what seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime tour, I bought tickets in two cities and arranged airfare in between without much consternation. If the band moves beyond the musical in its emulation of the Who and launches regularly scheduled “farewell” tours, I’m sure my interest, and the resulting willingness to part with cash, will wane.

I sense that Pollard realizes this… and that the reasons why he decided to move on from this lineup in the first place are rising again to the fore. He has nothing left to prove, and can consider this a victory lap that gives the band and its fans a chance at Dr. Phil’s best friend: closure.

So yes, they’re finally here, and it is pretty cool. And no, there aren’t more like them where they came from, because, despite protestations to the contrary, they do care. And because of it, so do we.