Last Night: Jason Isbell, Will Hoge and the 400 Unit
Will Hoge (left) and Jason Isbell (right) were billed as co-headliners at Sticky Fingerz last night, but there was no question that it was Isbell’s show. With an obligatory bottle of Jack Daniels conspicuously displayed, they and their backing band, the 400 Unit, played about an hour of the loud roots rock that Isbell cultivated with the Drive-By Truckers until he went solo last year. He didn’t let DBT fans down – “Decoration Day”, “Outfit,” and “Never Gonna Change” were some of the noteworthy Isbell-penned Truckers songs on the set list. But the group also proved it could pull some tricks out of its hat with a cover of Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic” and a version of “Psycho Killer” not far removed from the Talking Heads original. Isbell will likely always be associated with the Truckers, popular as that group has become, but he showed last night that he’s an exceptionally strong live act on his own.
Photo by flickr user elawgrrl used under Creative Commons license.
