The Hold Steady - Heaven Is Whenever

The new Hold Steady album came out today. On my third listen already.

For a band that likes to call Brooklyn home, they sure do like to sing about hangin’ in Minnesota. In fact, on this one, they start right outta’ the gate on the opening track, The Sweet Part Of The City:

Back when we were living up on Hennepin, she kept threatening to turn us in. At night she mostly liked us... We were living in the sweet part of the city. The parts with the bars and restaurants.

And later on We Can Get Together there is:

She said Hüsker Dü got huge, but they started in St. Paul. Do you remember “Makes No Sense At All”?

Besides making me a little homesick for Minnesota, The Hold Steady are one of the few bands that get my off my butt and out to see live music. The other band capable of doing that is The Whigs, who my girlfriend and I jammed to last month in Scottsdale. I had a chance to chat with Whig’s lead singer Parker Gispert at that show. When I told him about of having met The Hold Steady’s lead singer Craig Finn at a show a couple of years ago, Parker replied the two bands were planning on touring together for awhile this summer.

When I got home, I checked out the tour schedule. No Arizona dates.

I wonder if my girlfriend could be talked into road-trippin’ to Denver and/or Santa Fe the second week in July?