Bob Mould: Rockwood Music Hall 2019

Rock trailblazer Bob Mould is back with his 13th solo studio release, Sunshine Rock. It's our New Dig this week, so you can read more about Sunshine Rock in my review, but in this FUV Live show, you get an inside look from Mould himself. (Listen and watch video below)

Sunshine Rock is the fourth consecutive album where Mould works in his trio with drummer Jon Wurster of Superchunk and the Mountain Goats and bassist Jason Narducy. Even though this show was a solo performance, Mould shared that these new songs are very much the result of the trust found in that collaboration. His move to Berlin comes into play too, and he told us more about that change when I caught up with Mould in a mid-set conversation.

On that note, I have been a fan of Mould’s work dating back to 1985 when I first heard Hüsker Dü's “Makes No Sense At All," a single from the band's album, Flip Your Wig. What grabbed me was the odd and amateurish nature of the music video, which placed their version of Sonny Curtis's "Love Is All Around," the theme to “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” right up against the driving power pop of “Makes No Sense At All.” It was alluring, off-the-wall, and appealing all at the same time. The strikingly strange posse of the three guys in the band, Mould, the late Grant Hart, and Greg Norton stood out: a chubby lead singer with an unusually husky voice playing (of all things) an Ibanez Flying V guitar, a long-haired dude on drums, and a guy with a handlebar mustache playing bass. I thought to myself, “It makes no sense at all, but I love it.”

After that, WFUV warmly embraced what ended up being Hüsker Dü’s final two albums, 1986’s Candy Apple Grey and 1987’s double album, Warehouse: Songs And Stories. Both albums, along with Mould’s 1989 solo debut, Workbook, would become fixtures on my radio shows on WFUV. Many years later, getting to know Mould, interviewing him and ultimately hosting this career-spanning FUV Live performance at Rockwood Music Hall is a thrill and a privilege I’ll always treasure.

Setlist:

• Hoover Dam
• Your Favorite Thing
• See A Little Light
• Sunny Love Song
• The Descent
• Sinners and Their Repentances
• Western Sunset
• Sunshine Rock
• Hey Mr. Grey
• If I Can’t Change Your Mind
• Sin King
• Voices In My Head
• No Reservations
• Makes No Sense At All

[Recorded: 2/11/19; Engineers: Hear No Evil and Jim O'Hara; Producers: Carmel Holt and Sarah Wardrop]