The Bottle Rockets The Sportsmen’s Tavern, Buffalo November 4, 2006 By Kevin J. Hosey
John Horton and Brian Henneman - Roots rock's new guitar army?	The Bottle Rockets played a great show at the Sportsmen’s Tavern in Buffalo November 4 that could best be described if words were not to be used in the sweaty, smiling, eyes wide-open gazes people kept giving each other during and after songs. Steam Donkeys drummer/vocalist and Flatbed multi-instrumentalist John Brady may have said it best when, looking just like the above description, he said to me midway through the band’s set, “Damn, I didn’t know the Bottle Rockets rocked so hard,” and then compared the band to a honky tonk Badfinger (not bad, John, but stop stealing my job, OK?) The St. Louis roots rock (working man’s rock to some people) band, touring on its new (and excellent) Bloodshot Records’ CD, “Zoysia,” opened with a basically bluesy roots rock song that developed into a Crazy Horse monster of a tune, with great, raw guitar from singer Brian Henneman and John Horton. The next tune was “Mountain to Climb,” from the new CD, a fast, slightly poppy rocker with an intro guitar line a bit reminiscent of “My Sweet Lord/He’s So Fine,” but the guitars stayed rootsy and fuzzy as Henneman sings of a woman who is a bit of a project but worth the effort.
The Bottle Rockets followed this up with the mid-tempo stomper “Middle Man,” also from “Zoysia,” about adjusting and living away from the edges and trying to get along. Following the long, loud and wild applause the band received after their fist stop, Henneman remarked that “I realize we’ve played all the wrong cities these last 13 years,” alluding to this being the first time the Bottle Rockets played Buffalo. Let no one say Henneman doesn’t know how to play to a crowd, particularly a hard-drinking one listening to his band. The Bottle Rockets then kicked into a song that sounded like a good blend of late 1970s-1980s rock/Thin Lizzy and hard country to me, “Suffering Servant,” in which Henneman tries to figure out just what and how much he needs to do to please his partner/spouse, but you can tell he is nearing or at his limit. The band slowed things down a bit for a moment on “Feeling Down,” a much more honky tonk song from “Zoysia,” then launched back into a heavy but melodic tune before some really good, fast, chunky power pop meets roots rock. The smoldering, mid-tempo rocker “Happy Anniversary,” also from “Zoysia,” built to an epic in a good way, the rocking maelstrom capped by a wild, raunchy guitar solo by Henneman. “Blind” started with Henneman’s voice and softly strummed guitar singing at first about a guy with absolutely no success/luck with women, then mentioned a biracial couple but eventually turned into a funny anti-Britney Spears rant, especially Henneman’s criticism of seeing her stage costume in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during a recent visit, then of an “American Idol” winner who lacked only talent.
The song may have been the most country sounding tune of the night. Switching gears a bit, the next song, “The Bottle in My Hand,” “Can You Handle It” or something similar, added some Southern rock to its roots rock (no surprise); the next song, also thick, upbeat rock swelling to a big climax, was appropriately ended by Henneman with the end riff from Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s “Cinnamon Girl.” The roots rock continued at a fevered pace before the Bottle Rockets played the slower, almost chant-like at times “Align Yourself,” noting people's differing and ever-changing allegiances (KKK, GOP, CIA) often used by these people to define themselves. As the 20-song set neared its end, Henneman, joking with bassist/vocalist Keith Voegele and drummer/songwriting partner Mark Ortmann, told the story of the band finding some serious success in Europe, including an amazing reaction they received at a Spanish music festival that included sing-alongs and waving arms, and asked the crowd to do so for part of one song. After a few more tunes, the band kicked out on older song, “Welfare Music,” another fine tune that takes some time to build. The Bottle Rockets ended the regular set with a roaring cover of the mid-tempo CD title song, “Zoysia,” about life in a small rural town and its direct and indirect effects on social, political and just real-life issues and matters. This is another Crazy Horse-like guitar epic, and Henneman and Horton were incredible, ripping off screaming line after line.	Brian Henneman and Keith Voegele share a special rock moment - and chord
	The four-song encore was highlighted first by the band playing an old, rollicking favorite, “1000 Dollar Car,” a smart, sometimes sad and angry song many people sang along with, then by the song to close the evening, a supercharged cover of J.J. Cale’s “Call Me the Breeze,” which was as playful as it was downright perfect to end the show. Sadly, we missed the openers, Flatbed, due to us watching the end of the Buffalo Sabres’ hockey game, and we caught part of Otis Gibb’s solo set, in which he performed virtual stand-up country folk music. The songs were entertaining and not too novelty-like, and Gibb connected well with the crowd.