Review of Super Suckers & Jesse Dalton at Hodi's 4/21/16

On Wednesday night with all of the 4/20 celebrating in full swing, the place to be in downtown Fort Collins was Hodi’s where a triple bill delivered the kind of rock ‘n roll we mostly just dream about. After an opening set by the growingly infamous local fav Little Vicious, with a set by Jesse Dayton, the best guitar player to lay down some hot licks in the Choice City since like forever. This “other little trio from Texas”…made up of guitar, bass and drums of course, was damn proud of their country roots and paid musical tribute to country icons like George Jones while delivering enough heat to make me ask more than once…..”Who are these guys?” Jesse, the lead singer and guitar player developed his chops as the touring guitar player for Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson so his “bad-assness” is certainly well earned. Think Reverend Horton Heat meets James Hetfield (Metallica) and you will relate to the level of player we are talking about here. And that was just getting us started on our musical journey. The Super Suckers set that followed was simply put…outrageous! It is rare to see and hear a band play with the kind of balls out rock ‘n roll energy these b….ad asses projected for 90+ minutes.
Led by lead singer Eddie Spaghetti on acoustic guitar and accompanied by his three piece band plus special guest Jesse Dayton on co-lead guitar, this band defied categorization with songs that covered a range of influences from straight country to folk to straight-ahead rock n’ roll while never leaving behind the fundamental spirit baked into every legitimate rock band to ever plug in an electric guitar. Playing songs of their most recent album Get The Hell as well as some catalogue pieces from their previous work on the Sub-Pop label, these boys out of Seattle very ably reminded us of the kind of intensity that has come out of that city from the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and others. In a world increasingly made up of packaged formulaic “rock bands”, these guys believe it when they call themselves “The Greatest Rock-N-Roll Band In The World”….and after last night….so do I.