Damien Jurado at Velour

Let’s begin by saying that Velour is an all-ages venue. This means you often get some drunk kids at a show. But by drunk, I mean DRUUUUUUUUUUUUUNK. One young man was stumbling drunk on, and I’m quoting here, “two beers and three sips,” and struggled the entire evening to keep his mouth closed. Provo needs to build up some tolerance.

But let’s not focus on the negative.

Despite this — or because of it — Wednesday night Damien Juardo played one of the best shows we’ve seen at Velour. Combined, we’ve seen Damien a handful of times (Bryan caught him in Kansas City at recordBar (RIP) years ago when DJ had a nasty case of the flu).

This show, it turns out, was to be Damien’s last solo acoustic show for the next 2-3 years. Once the new record comes out in March he will be touring with a full band and choir. The result was what amounted to a song-packed greatest hits show. With a brief lecture on the folly of youth tossed in for good measure. [1]

Tough to describe how good this show was. The sound was spectacular; Damien’s voice is a wonder. Tons of stuff from Maraqopa, deep cuts, new stuff, and “Sheets” was given one last turn around the dance floor before being put out to pasture for a couple of years. [2] It felt like a special show.

Damien drove in from Seattle specifically for this show and was driving back that night. We trust the patron saints of the American Interstate system watched over him and we didn’t just catch this final show.

Shot of the set: Probably would have be Timmy the Teeth holding his PJ-clad son stage right.

[1] Bryan and Damien are the same age so you could say there were a quorum of grumpy old men at the show.

[2] Damien: “I get that people love this song… but… I’m so sick of it.”