Grand Champeen play the Soul Asylum songbook - live @ 7th St. Entry, Minneapolis 4/14/06

In March of 2009 when I offered up Grand Champeen's out-of-print debut, Out Front By the Van, I spoke of  them as a "Whiskeytown cum Soul Asylum sonic amalgamation."  When they toured for their next and finest album, Battle Cry For Help, I attended a couple of their shows.  In fact, in the midst of one of those gigs I thought it couldn't hurt to yelp out a request for say, a Soul Asylum cover.  They could have ridiculed me.  They could have ignored me.  Or, they could have played a damn Soul Asylum song...and luckily, they obliged.  I want to say "Cartoon" was the title in question, but don't hold me to that.  It turns out my suspicion of Grand Champeen worshiping at the alter of Pirner & Co. was confirmed many times over to a very lucky Minneapolis crowd in the spring of 2006, when they proceeded to do their best impersonation of a Soul Asylum tribute band for close to two hours.  Now, you might say why put on such a production for the very town Soul Asylum reside in?  In short, G/C stuck to the band's earliest material (i.e. the Twin/Tone and A&M albums), virtually as if Soul Asylum called it a day after they released And the Horse They Road in On.  These days, we're blessed if the real McCoy plays anything at all prior to Grave Dancers Union.  Even in the twin cities, Grand Champeen came to the rescue to fill a very prolonged void. 

This show is culled from an audience tape, but a decent one at that.  The track list speaks for itself.  Perhaps this was just a one-off gig, but if that's the case, to see and hear such an unlikely concept come to life must have been a colossal treat.

01 All the Kings
02 Tied to the Tracks
03 Closer to the Stars
04 Easy Street
05 Crashing Down
06 Marionette
07 Can't Go Back
08 Sometime to Return
09 Chains
10 Broken Glass
11 Sun Don't Shine
12 Stranger
13 Long Way Home
14 Spinnin'
15 Never Really Been
16 Standing in the Doorway
17 Nowhere to Go
18 Made to be Broken
19 Freaks
20 Be On Your Way
21 Cartoon
22 Heavy Rotation
23/24 medley

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