The Replacements Slopping Their Way Back To Glory
“There’s a lot of good music here today, huh?” Paul Westerberg said. “Let’s put a stop to that right now.” If by “good” he meant “precise,” he might not have been kidding. A huge component of the Replacements’ legend is that you never knew whether they’d show up polished and professional or falling down drunk. They are especially known for sabotaging themselves at big events like label auditions and TV appearances and… Coachella. Would this, only the fourth Replacements concert since 1991, in arguably the highest profile venue they’ve ever played, be another one of those legendary faceplants? Actually, yes! Things started off well enough, with the band bashing through short, sweet tunes mostly from their earlier, more punkish records. But by mid-set Westerberg was slurring, his guitar playing was noticeably impaired, and he was omitting lyrics to well-known songs like “Androgynous.” For a while it seemed like this might go down as a classic ‘Mats self-destruction, but Westerberg chugged as much water as he could, and by the time the band tore into “Left Of The Dial” and “Alex Chilton” they were on fire again. Humorously, they left the stage early and returned for the only encore of the day, performing “Can’t Hardly Wait” and “Bastards Of Young.” I wish they would have kept going; they certainly hadn’t blown through all their best material yet. (“I Will Dare,” come on!)