A little of both, frankly.
I jumped, I screamed, I played air piano like a tool.
Thats the power of rock n roll, kids.
And thats the power of the Hold Steady.
Is it the group hug that lives in the whoa-ohs of songs like Massive Nights?
The dramatic mustache of keyboardist Franz Nicolay?
Craigs adorably odd habit of pulling away from the mic between lines and mouthing nonsense into the front rows?
The lyrics that create worlds in your imagination?
Have your fingers ever looked like this?
Not really, I said, and resisted the urge to reach over and pat his disheveled head.
They had just given us so much, and now they had nothing left!
I wanted to hug every last one of them.
Which wasnt long… but it made my day, at least.
EW:How did you feel about todays Bonnaroo crowd?Craig Finn:It was super fun!
I cant believe they weresopumped in that heat.
If I was in the crowd, Id be like, Look, Im gonna take it easy.
Any big rock concert, part of the deal is sort of timing your blowouts.
[pause] It looks like theres a lot of people peaking early.
EW:I think a lot of people peaked last night.
I think Lollapaloozas just like 60 thousand people.
Were doing Glastonbury [in the U.K.], and from what I can gather, thats enormous.
Like hundreds of thousands of people.
The intimacy sucked me in immediately.
Its certainly a challenge.
Today, we kind of wanted to meet you halfway.
Thats always gonna work to our benefit.Franz Nicolay:Its not that hard to communicate joy.
EW:You guys also communicate these characters that people really grow attached to, have individual responses to.
