Yup, the rumors were true and, in addition to The Sights, Tenacious D opened for Urge Overkill here in Chicago last night. I had a brief word with Jack Black before the show asking him not to, "show the hometown boys up too much" and he assured me he and KG were there first and foremost as UO fans.

All three bands turned in killer sets even if The Sights suffered a bit from the "let's get this band out of the way so we can start the show" reaction from some of the crowd.

I left half-way through Urge's set due to waaay too much alcohol so I can't say if there were any further guest stars later in the evening. I'll write this up at Lost In Guyville in more detail later...

here's a review of the show i saw at http://www.moviepoopshoot.com

PERFECT PITCH

By David Thomas

February 17, 2004

Valentines Day is a time to celebrate romance. Saturday night, a reunited URGE OVERKILL turned the holiday into a celebration of rock n’ roll at the Double Door in Chicago. The night was the first of two sold-out affairs in the band’s hometown, and it was the first time they’d played in the city in seven years.

Nash Kato and Edie Roeser remain from the original band and the two men appeared older if not wiser for all their much reported rock lifestyles. They demonstrated through a 70-minute-plus set that their catalogue still stands up and perhaps the swanky charm of their riffs and upbeat choruses still resonate with today’s WHITE STRIPES-loving music listener.

Before URGE even took the stage, impressive Detroit trio THE SIGHTS laid out 1960s inspired garage rock with plenty of skill and delivery. The normally boomy club sounded better than average and soon after THE SIGHTS left the stage the sight of two acoustic guitars gave away the upcoming secret guest act.

Jack Black and Kyle Gass soon took the small stage and offered up their “Tribute” to URGE OVERKILL. TENACIOUS D favorites like “Dio,” “The Road,” and “Double Team,” a special sentiment on Valentines, delighted the crowd. Black was especially giddy and it carried over to his introduction of URGE and when he sat in on a few songs during the encore.

But everyone who bought tickets for the show were there for URGE OVERKILL’s return and the band had them from the opening “Ticket To LA” to the closing of “Sister Havana.” Kato was decked out in a bright orange shirt and trademark white vest. A few more bags adorned his eyes but otherwise the slim frontman looked the same. Roeser had added some pounds but his intensity buoyed the set as a young backing band more than adequately filled in on rhythm.

The set sampled a variety of tracks from throughout their years and even featured a new song that was as strong, if not slightly derivative, of their past material. “The Candidate” offered a timely political commentary more than ten years after it’s release while others like “Erica Kane” seemed to fall a bit flat.

Black came back to the stage to introduce the band, again, for the encore proclaiming “I’m now in the band!” Unfortunately, his back-up vocals from the keyboardist’s mic were drowned out during the encore. His cowbell contributions during “Sister Havana however were clearly heard as Kato and Roeser dueled on guitar leads during the finale.

Every element of the show made for a good night to be a rock fan. There wasn’t much thought to appearances, trends or marketability. For once the music, even if dusted off after seven years, seemed to be enough.

Well, the above nicely sums up what happened.

The Sights blew me away and tenacious D killed the crowd. Jack Black is also a gentleman and apparently is used to dealing with incredibly drunk idiots like me trying to talk to him. To my credit at no point in my brief conversation did I say, "You fucking rule" even though I was certainly thinking it...

I only stuck around for about five or six songs into UO's set -- begging off due to drunkeness and the fact I'm seeing them in Minneapolis next week -- but the boys seemed to be in fine, if somewhat shaggy, form.

By biggest regret is missing my friend Chris, who's playing keyboards for UO right now, duet on cowbell with Jack Black...it was his vocal mic that was apparently not loud enough to carry out JB's backing vox too.