Confident Voices Define Indie Rock Genre at Cradle

Guided by Voices
Cat's Cradle

Guided by Voices is not, by any means, the original indie rock band. It has, however, absolutely defined the genre.

The definitive article, it seems, remains a mirage in the wide margins of the mainstream and the hot new single, yet the band remains an icon of the not-too-distant underground.

Icons have shows like Saturday night's at the Cat's Cradle.

Frontman Robert Pollard is the Mick Jagger of Generation X. His heavy-drinking, heavy-smoking, mic-swinging, fist-pumping, lip-pursing flamboyance wrapped the stage in unabashed, unrepenting confidence. Pollard was a madman who never once let the fans down -- which worked out well because the Cradle was packed to its guts.

From the start, with "From a Voice Plantation," a cut from the band's latest record, Pollard thrashed and wailed the crowd into something like a drug-fueled golden dream.

Indeed, new album Universal Truths and Cycles was ever-present, delivering both hits and misses at the show. "Cheyenne," light and poppy with a twinge of Lennon vocals, created a scene of hopping, smokey delight. Heavier "Everywhere with Helicopter" used brash guitar riffs and omnipresent cymbal crashing to unmitigated perfection. Indie pop introduced itself to grunge rock with hundreds of fans to happily bear witness.

"Skin Parade," however, illustrated the downside to Universal Truths and Cycles, where radical rambled with unpleasantly obscure. About the time of Pollard's final screechings, the crowd -- for the first time -- silently beckoned for the next song.

This moment was easily forgotten as track after track of quality music strutted into the audience's ringing ears. "Glad Girls," perhaps the band's best live song, simply jubilates, "Hey hey, glad girls only want to get you high." Reckless and fun chorals resulted in hundreds of flattened cans underfoot in a scene of bliss-induced bouncing.

Also impossible to ignore was "As We Go Up, We Go Down," an appropriately placed piece of mellow pop genius.

The show ambled along this way through nearly three hours, two encores, an on-stage cooler of beer and a fifth of Jack Daniels.

No question about it -- the spectacle of on-stage performance more than equaled the music on this night. For a final, wowing display of devotion, fans banded together to wail out the lyrics to "A Salty Salute" in a scene akin to a shady after-hours Irish tavern, bringing the band out for another extended encore.

Finishing the show with The Who's "Baba O'Riley" and the Beatles' "Hard Day's Night," guitarist Doug Gillard took control with lick-for-lick authentic guitar solos.

Said plainly, Guided by Voices rocked the Cradle in every way imaginable. The band got drunk, the band played enchanting music, and the band showed Chapel Hill the meaning of indie rock and the meaning of fun.

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.