Two concerts, one song
In 2017, my friend Eric invited me to Texas to present at SXSW with him. His bright idea was to take a look at songwriting from a data perspective (his specialty). I would represent the art side. We used our favorite music of the previous year (2016)1 as our data set. Eric did most of the work, honestly. Maybe another time I’ll go further into depth on our findings.
Beyond just presenting Decoding Songwriting With Data for our little hour in our little room2 in the giant conference center, we dove all the way in and saw a lot3 of music.
One night we made our way to the big NPR showcase at Stubb’s (an outdoor venue). We were there to see Sylvan Esso. One of the bands earlier on the bill was New Orleans-based Hurray for the Riff Raff. I was curious how their live show would play out, as I had bought their 2014 critical breakthrough album Small Town Heroes after reading a billion glowing reviews and at least three gushing ones.
My reaction to the album was a shrug; it didn’t impress me much4. It felt like perfectly serviceable Americana—traditional song structures and melodies, plenty of banjo and fiddle, all capably executed—but it didn’t stand out to me at all. As often happens with me and music foisted upon me by critical raves, that I invest in that doesn’t connect with me (see also: Animal Collective’s Merrriweather Post Pavilion, Steely Dan, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Muse, The Smiths), I began to resent the time I spent trying to like it. To (unfairly) hold that against the artist. I’m not saying it’s fair. I’m just saying I did it. Anyway, a few years removed from my experience with Small Town Heroes, this night at Stubb’s seemed like a good chance to really see what Hurray for the Riff Raff was all about. Their set, pulling primarily from 2017’s even-more-critically-acclaimed The Navigator, was solid. I sensed I had unfairly dismissed them. And that was before their best song of the night, the finale “Pa’lante.” Frontperson (and songwriter) Alynda Segarra sang it practically in flames. A confrontation. A declaration. A provocation. A revolution. The band matched Seggara’s fire—as they spat out the lyrics, I realized I had underestimated their lyrical prowess— building to a chill-inducing crescendo.
And not just proverbial chills. The real things. I got ‘em just now, listening to the studio version and thinking about the live version. It was epic. It was transcendent. It was a bona fide spiritual experience. They took me somewhere else. For a moment, I was not in Austin, Texas. So big it was. So powerful. I hope to never forget how it felt to exist in the same air as that song in that moment.
I saw two of my favorite bands (Spoon, Sylvan Esso) put on pantheon performances that week. But “Pa’lante” refuses to stand down, declaring itself all these years later as a highlight.
I pled with the gods of music to forgive my unbelief. This artist, undeniably, had it.
Then I forgot about Hurray for the Riff Raff until 2024, two albums later.
That’s when their 2024 album The Past Is Still Alive nudged itself into being one of my favorites of the year since the day it came out. I love it. No reservations.
So of course I made sure to make it down to Urban Lounge when they came through town in the spring. Fantastic show. Airtight songs, none clocking in over 5 minutes. Just a masterclass in songwriting with zero fluff.
And then what happened?
Well, first they played a punk-y cover of Pixies. But that’s not the reason I’m writing. I’m writing this because they then dove headfirst into a sprawling and messy and uneven “Pa’lante.” And guess what? It was unequivocally the worst song of the set. Noisy (but not in the good way). Messy (but not in the good way). Unfocused.
The best I can say about that night’s version of the song is: Segarra was reaching the whole time, grasping for something that—on this particular night—was not within reach. Segarra never gave up, pushing this word, rat-a-tat-tatting that one. But it just never quite worked.
What to make of it?
Two nights. The same song5.
Does the latter reduce the former? Does the former lose its luster because of the latter?
Nope.
The lesson for me is not even for Hurray for the Riff Raff. It’s for me:
Be in the moment. Let each moment be itself. Like the Bible says in Matthew, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.” As an artist, for me, all I can be is in the current moment, whether that’s singing a Tom Petty cover or playing a little electric guitar on my friends’ songs. I can’t remake something that happened before; that very truth was one of the many glories of playing music with my dear friend Pat Campbell (who would’ve, no should’ve turned 55 yesterday): he almost never played one of my songs the same way twice. He taught me to just let it be what it’s gonna be rather than trying to force some idea on it.
I would bet big money that someone at Urban Lounge the same night as I was there thought “Pa’lante” was the best song of the night. They might’ve cried. They might’ve gotten the chills. It might be forever imprinted on them. Meanwhile, I was there but not really there, holding up that night’s performance to something that happened in Texas seven years prior, rather than just existing with everyone in the room on that night in 2024.
Mine were:
1 Heart Like A Levee / Hiss Golden Messenger
2 Jet Plane and Oxbow / Shearwater
3 A Moon Shaped Pool / Radiohead
4 Young In All The Wrong Ways / Sara Watkins
5 Lemonade / Beyonce
6 Blackstar / David Bowie
7 Shine a Light / Joe Henry & Billy Bragg
8 You Want It Darker / Leonard Cohen
9 Little Windows / Teddy Thompson & Kelly Jones
10 The Promised Land / Ryan Tanner
11 Teens of Denial / Car Seat Headrest
12 Awaken My Love / Childish Gambino
Those aren’t half bad. Re-ordering them, I’d probably omit Car Seat Headrest and put Beyonce at 3.
Where I learned, by the length and enthusiasm of the line of data folk waiting for Eric afterwards, that Eric was something of a data god.
Spoon (one of my favorite shows, not just at SXSW, ever)
The New Pornographers
A Giant Dog
Maggie Rogers (in a tiny club, no less!)
Hamilton Leithauser (I wanted it to be better than it was)
Rocket From The Crypt
Black Lips
PWR BTTM (pre-cancellation, maybe the buzziest show of the weekend)
Sylvan Esso (another favorite)
Hurray For The Riff Raff
and then we trekked out to Luck Ranch for another party:
Willie Nelson
Conor Oberst
Parker Milsap
Felice Brothers
M Ward
Phoebe Bridgers
Insects & Robots
Shout out Shania Twain.
Last week I saw Hurray for the Riff Raff for the third time, this time opening for Norah Jones. And, surprise, they didn’t play “Pa’lante” at all. Segarra did duet with Jones on a particularly moving cover of Lucinda Williams’ “Drunken Angel.”
Playing in the moment is what You, Madison Arm and Lower Lights do magically and one of the reasons I love watching, listening to live the above gifted musicians. It is never the same twice, unless it is recorded :). You keep creating great music with great synergy and love for what your are doing.
In a week of moments, that was the most surprising and one of the most indelible. I will still put that song on every couple of months to transport back to the moment, and as the song says “feeeeel something”. The moment that stands out to me from the performance was the “Juan Miguel Milagros Olga Manuel” delivery during the earth scorching Pa’lante ending. That was the chills part to me.