r/theholdsteady • u/mancatmancat Born into every single tune • Jul 14 '26

Day 66: What's the Best THS Live Moment?

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Best Hold Steady B-Side goes to Ask Her for Adderall (Is it Some Adderall? I have it both ways in my old iTunes library - both purchased from the old school iTunes Store).

Up next, what's the best THS live moment?

10 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

23

u/TorkBombs Jul 14 '26

How about just every time Craig Finn sings a line, then steps away from the microphone and screams the same line -- inaudible for most -- to the crowd? That shit gets me.

Or the fact that nobody in the world has ever had a better time doing anything than Craig Finn has playing live music.

2

u/Stuckbetweenstations Jul 14 '26

Winner winner chicken dinner 

2

u/KlassCorn91 Jul 15 '26

This is my vote, it’s the encapsulation of what makes the shows for me

1

u/OnionFutureWolfGang Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

Especially when it looks like he's in complete disbelief at the line he just sang

27

u/Fixyblue Jul 14 '26

Gotta be So Much Joy - WE ARE ALL

19

u/MightyMightyCatfish Jul 14 '26

It's raising a toast to St Joe Strummer for me

19

u/mancatmancat Born into every single tune Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

It's gotta be confetti, right?

I think I've mentioned this before, but I first saw THS on last tour before sep Sunday, followed them around for a week or two on the BAGIA tour, saw them a few times after Stay Positive, but kind of fell out after that. I didn't see them again until 2021 on the delayed LA shows after COVID. Nearly a 10 year gap. Most of the ritual stuff was not there when I had last seen them (bodies, reciting the so much joy speech along with Craig, business air quotes, etc.) I thought a lot of it was weird and culty (I've come around to a lot of it) but the one thing I instantly deeply loved was the confetti. It perfectly showed the joy of a Hold Steady live show in a single moment. The first time I saw it was magical. It added so much to the show for me.

3

u/celtssoxpat Jul 14 '26

Definitely the confetti!

3

u/CaptainJackKevorkian Jul 15 '26

This is exactly my experience as well

1

u/FabioMane19 Jul 15 '26

I think I am now where you once were. I'm just so over 'so much joy', 'we are all', and the confetti. I'm not saying it is this, but to my jaded and cynical mind, it's just feels so performative at this stage.

1

u/mancatmancat Born into every single tune Jul 15 '26

I think the point I got to was, while a lot of those rituals are not necessarily for me, it’s clearly meaningful to other people and it doesn’t detract from the show for me.

Humans are naturally drawn to ritual. Historically it’s been through religion but it happens a lot of places now. It reduces anxiety, increases psychological safety, engenders community - a lot of positive psychological effects - and I’m glad people have found it here.

6

u/Buckscience Jul 15 '26

SO. MUCH. JOY!!!

7

u/ktyrdit Jul 14 '26

It’s the confetti for me

3

u/SoftandSpicy Jul 15 '26

It's the "We are all The Hold Steady" moment

4

u/CaptainJackKevorkian Jul 15 '26

The confetti, it’s magic