The original version of this story incorrectly stated that Jay Farrar was a former member of the band Wilco. Farrar is a former member of the band Uncle Tupelo. 1/27/10.
Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar celebrated the short, iconic life of beat generation pioneer, Jack Kerouac, with a short, twangy performance at the Boulder Theater.
Gibbard is the frontman for Death Cab for Cutie as well as The Postal Service, while Farrar is a former member of Uncle Tupelo and is the frontman for Son Volt. The two combined on an album in Oct. 2009 based on the prose of Kerouac called “One Fast Move Or I’m Gone.” They have been touring to promote the album and share the words of Jack Kerouac since.
The collaboration of Gibbard and Farrar combined an eclectic mix of genres into a mellow, pop-folk sound that kept the audience in their seats for most of the show.
Chris Algeo, a 19-year-old freshman journalism major at Front Range Community College, said he enjoyed the genre-transcending experience.
“I’m a pretty big Kerouac fan and I love Death Cab too. It was good to see them spread out genres,” Algeo said
While Gibbard and Farrar’s musical personas were a large reason for the alternative country mood, multi-instrumentalist and current Son Volt member, Mark Spencer, gave the band folk-energy with his steel pedal guitar, electric guitar and electric organ playing. Spencer stood out as the most talented instrumentalist of the group and provided a key ingredient to the unique concert.
Scott Ogle, a 20-year-old freshman journalism major at Colorado State, said the show was different from what he expected.
“It was an interesting change of pace from what Gibbard usually plays,” Ogle said.
While much of the audience was intrigued by the interesting music coming from the indie rockers, many said they were there to hear Kerouac’s words sung by two important lyricists of the past decade.
“I really liked it,” said Kelsey Wuensch, a 19-year-old sophomore biochemistry major. “They were really talented, and I could see the relation to Kerouac’s writing.”
Not everyone in the audience liked the performance. Jason Snell, a 22-year-old undeclared major at Metropolitan State College in Denver, said he went to the show for his mother’s birthday and despite liking Kerouac felt differently about the songs.
“I read Kerouac’s poetry in high school, but the music was not my style,” Snell said.
The band surprised the crowd by returning to stage for a second encore despite a lengthy first encore. A mixture of people from college-aged hipsters to middle-aged and older music fans erupted in applause as they came back on to cover British folk singer, Donovan, for an energetic closing song.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Davis Brown at Brownfd@colorado.edu
