Scenes From The Old 97's' 15th Anniversary Performance of Too Far to Care.
Austin may have been the first stop for the Old 97's on their 15th anniversary tour in support of their 1997 breakout release, Too Far to Care, but as even the band acknowledged from the stage of Dallas' House of Blues on Friday night, it was this second show that truly felt like a celebration. Like that should come as a surprise: Fifteen years after that album's release and a good two decades after the band's formation in the recesses of Deep Ellum, the 97's remain an area favorite. And for good reason, too: All these years later, the band is still as renowned as ever for their high-energy live displays and their throwback-cum-garage take on the alternative country genre that they helped define.
As such, the House of Blues was indeed jam-packed with Old 97's superfans on Friday night, and, throughout, the appreciation the stage performers showed their audience (and vice versa) was palpable — from the first notes of Too Far To Care opening track “Timebomb” to the newer material the band closed their night with once the TFTC tracklisting was a distant memory in the set.
No, the 97's may not have been adding much to their formula on this night — the point, actually was to do the exact opposite — but they hardly needed to. This crowd knew what it wanted to see, and this band knew what to do to please them.
And please they did.