TOMMY STINSON AT FIRST AVE: Five years since he last played here with a band, Stinson didn't waste any time letting us know what he's been up to once he took the stage-he-rode-in-on late Friday night. "You guys get to be the test market," the ex-Replacements bassist told the half-full crowd after playing the first two of more than a half-dozen new songs."That's what happens when you're the home town."
The new stuff had all the comforts of home -- basically the same late-era-'Mats sound he has never really abandoned, but with a decade more of wisdom and weariness behind them and a feisty two-guitar band that included the Figgs' Mike Gent on guitar and Stinson's fiance Emily Roberts on backup vocals. Maybe the best new tune had a Keith Richards-ian snidely sung hook, "I love the way you destroy me." He also showed a new side in "Match Made in Hell," saved for the encore, with a playful bounce and rich melodic structure. Among the older highlights were acoustic versions of Bash & Pop's "Friday Night (Is Killing Me)" and "Nothin'" mid-show and, during the encore, Perfect's "Seven Days a Week" and his rowdy 2006 solo nugget "Motivation."
Anybody hoping that a famous local frontman would show up for the show got their wish, though maybe not the one they were thinking: Stinson's Soul Asylum bandmate Dave Pirner walked out with his hoodie up at the start of the encore and told an offensive Abe Lincoln joke he said he learned from Muhammad Ali. He then proceed to take part in a cover of "Teenage Kicks" by inexplicably throwing around a few guitars and slamming them to the ground ("Don't let him touch my guitars," Tommy admonished). He returned for "My Generation" and blew the lyrics a little bit.
Go figure: It took a member of Soul Asylum to show up and make it feel more like an old Replacements show, for better or worse.
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