By Rachelle Greenberg, Photos by Chaz Dykes of ChazDPhotography
The Violent Femmes played to two sold out shows this past Monday & Tuesday at Jannus Live in St. Pete. The original show date was scheduled on 9/28/24, however, that got postponed due to hurricane Helene.
This spring tour consists of no opening acts, just the Violent Femmes. They performed their first two albums in this order; Hallowed Ground (aka their sophomore album) and of course their debut album, self-titled, Violent Femmes. The band originally wanted Hallow Ground to be their first album, but instead, chose to go with the poppier sounding album to release first. This contained such popular hits as; “Blister in the Sun”, “Add it up”, and “Gone Daddy Gone”.
They wrote all their songs on these two albums while they were in still high school! From Milwaukee, they were discovered in 1981. While performing on a street corner, The Pretenders’ guitarist James Honeyman-Scott heard them outside the Oriental Theatre (where The Pretenders would be playing later that night). Chrisie Hynde invited them to play an acoustic set after their opening act. The rest is history.
Once the kazoos started to play, the band hits the stage. Out comes founding members; Gordon Gano (lead vocals, guitar, fiddle, and banjo), and Brian Ritchie (bass, xylophone, and vocals). They are joined by John Sparrow (drums and percussion), and Blaise Garza (saxophone, contra-bass saxophone, and keyboards). Before the flashback of musical excellence that was about to pleasure our ears, they announced they were going to play all of Hallowed Ground (1st set), then after intermission, play all of their debut album, and then humorously told us they would then come back for 2 encores.
The Violent Femmes unique sound doesn’t come from your typical, run of the mill instruments. Gordon would switch between guitar, banjo & fiddle! Brian Ritchie didn’t just play a regular bass, he played an oversized acoustic monolith that filled the outdoor courtyard. He also jumped on the xylophone. Other instruments included; oversized bass drum, saxophone, contra-bass saxophone, trombone, cajon, keyboards, a conch shell, and a charcoal grill (yes, you read that right).
From young to old, all generations were represented enjoying highlights throughout the evening which included the xylophone solo during “Gone Daddy Gone”, the charcoal grill’s drum sound through the first set, and the contrabass saxophone used during, “It’s Gonna Rain”. The band’s (punk rock-ish) energy did not match the age of these veterans, and Gordon’s vocal range didn’t seem to succumb to time whatsoever.
The last show on this tour is on Friday in Tallahassee where they will be joined by the Tallahassee symphony! If you have the opportunity, try to see them during their upcoming summer tour, you’ll thank me later.
Now go out & support local live music … because “Rockin’ Out is what I do”!
