Lou Barlow + Elliott Smith | Green Street Grill | October 4, 1998
By PHOENIX STAFF | October 25, 2006
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Elliott Smith in the late 90s |
Mondays were the nights to hang at Green Street. The music was always good, the food cheap, and half the Boston music scene would be in attendance. So it was no surprise when Lou Barlow picked Green Street as the place to offer a formal goodbye to all his friends and fans in town. And, as sad as it was to loose the Sebadoh frontman — to LA, of all places — Barlow did it right. He didn’t slink out of town like so many have. He brought pieces of his stereo, a whole box of singles, and all kinds of other yard-sale stuff with him to give away to the crowd as he performed his farewell set. There were others who played, but by far the most famous guest performer was Elliott Smith, who’d taken a train up from Brooklyn and apparently gotten quite loaded on the way. Elliott had played some great sets in Boston, which was for a while sort of a second home to him; this didn’t match up to any of those by a long shot. He forgot lyrics. He apologized for playing badly. He had trouble tuning his guitar. But he was among friends. And the whole feel of the night was that here in Boston (well, Cambridge, actually) you could be among friends even if you didn’t know every single person by name. |
Were you there? Wish you were? Seen better? Tell us about it below.
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Topics:
Live Reviews
, Lou Barlow, Mission of Burma, Elliott Smith, More
, Lou Barlow, Mission of Burma, Elliott Smith, The Pogues, Less
