I arrived at Cosmic Charlies at 8:40pm to hear from a friend that Will Oldham had been playing for quite some time. In fact, when I walked in he announced “we have two songs left.” My jaw dropped and my blood began to boil. How on Earth could this have been allowed to happen? Since when does the headliner go on before 9pm? At the end of the set, I got my answer: this first set was all new material played under a pseudonym I didn’t catch (The Chivalrous Mekons?). I calmed down considerably, but I would’ve loved to arrive earlier if I’d known music was starting that early.

Will was dressed a bit like Hank Williams Jr (right?) for the opening set. I wish I could speak to the change in or quality of the new material, but I only caught two songs and I was pretty angry through one of them. What struck me most was how much fun they were having; I suppose it’s hard to have a bad time when you’re performing in some goofy get-ups.

The regular set was as sublime as I’ve ever seen a Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy set. We got a fair number of his bigger songs (“I See a Darkness”) thanks to the reworkings on his new EP Now Here’s My Plan. The real show-stealer of the night was the silly, rocking performance of “There Is No God.” It was one of those rare concert moments that was both fun and powerful.

More photos after the break