Another year comes to an end, and as far as live music (my primary topic here on this blog), it’s been another exciting year filled with many, many memorable performances. I’ll have a list of favorite concerts soon, as well as my favorite photos. (Still working on that…) Unless I unexpectedly see some live music in the next two days, my final concert of the year was the Waco Brothers and the Deccas Friday (Dec. 28) at Schubas. The Wacos are making it a tradition to play shows just before New Year’s at Shubas every year, and they’re just about the perfect bar band for some year-end revelry. Bloodshot will soon be releasing a live album recorded at last year’s Wacos shows. On Friday, the band played the entirety of its 1997 record Cowboy in Flames, one of its best albums. That was fun, and then came a couple of encores including the Wacos’ country-punk take on “Baba O’Riley” and a terrific version of the Undertones’ “Teenage Kicks” with Tracy Dear on lead vox. There were leg kicks galore.
The opening act was the Deccas, a Chicago girl group doing ’60s-style pop tunes with three-part harmonies. I liked what I heard, and look forward to seeing and hearing more from the Deccas. Check out their myspace page.