There seems to be a formula for Dashboard Confessional openers: the first band is always a highly crappy rock band, the second is always an intelligent perhaps remarkable singer/songwriter, and the third is another moderately to highly crappy rock band. Rhett Miller fell under the second category.

I first saw Rhett Miller in November with Dashboard, and it’s needless to say he was one of the more outstanding highlights of the evening. His silky, shiny hair and rugged Texan good looks tend to not be nearly as impressive as his country-tinged song-writing, which he showcased for his popular alt-country group the Old 97s. Needless to say, his emotional (bordering on downright “emo”) lyrics and folksy charm make him instantly accessible and instantly lovable.

His show tonight, just one stop on a national solo tour, found him playing alone on stage with just an acoustic guitar. Opening with the Old 97’s song, “Other Shoe,” it was a clear indication that the evening would be filled with much more than just the solo songs he wrote for The Instigator. As he spat along (the man spits when he sings perhaps just as much as Conor Oberst did, and let me tell you, I was covered in Conor spit after the Bright Eyes show), his sweet vocals mixed with his fumbling guitar playing, creating a fragile elegance to his set. However, this seemed to be the problem. Rhett tried to recreate the precise sound of some of his solo album songs, like “The El.” Unfortunately, “The El” is a more full folk-band song, this he switched between guitar parts, making it a nearly painful listen. That, however, did not stop the man from playing a total of 28 songs during the evening. (Oh yes, that is very true.) Some of the Old 97’s songs were much more appreciated, such as “Doreen,” which was my favorite song for the evening. Admittedly, Rhett put the majority of his love songs in the middle of the set, filled with “Hover,” “Nervous Heart” and his cover of “I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You,” just to name a few. (Seems like old emo-boys just seem to love playing the cover of “Falling in Love,” seeing as Ben Kweller did is just about a year ago when I saw him.) Rhett also debuted some songs for the new Old 97’s album, which sounded pretty darn good, especially a song called “Won’t Be Home No More,” which Rhett introduced as a song that would “almost definitely be on the new album.”

It was a good show. The evening seemed to go by pretty quickly, despite his hour and a half set and the large number of songs performed. The only problem I had was his solo interpretation of many of his more “full-banded” songs, which definitely detracted a bit from his over-all set. Rhett made up for that a large amount of the time with his super high energy performance (I’ve never seen an acoustic guitar player get that into it.)

Catch him live sometime, if you can. I know he’s doing some shows this fall with Evan Dando of the Lemonheads, who just put out a new solo record called Baby I’m Bored.

I also have a super-high resolution scanned copy of Rhett's set-list, so if you want a copy of it, feel free to ask and I'll e-mail it to you.

Posted at 7:17 p.m. on July 30, 2003

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Mahjongg, red light sting - February 20, 2005
Ted leo/pharmacists @ logan sq. (3-23-04)
Electrelane, perfect panther - February 19, 2005
Liars @ logan sq. auditorium (3-20-04)
Young people, goldfish - February 02, 2005
Mates of state @ bottom lounge (3-18-04)
Scotland yard gospel choir, new constitution - January 31, 2005


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all reviews by chris aque (2003-2004).