The Dream Syndicate
Live at Raji's

The swan song...that's how they define the last concert to celebrate their activity before stopping forever. It's not an original idea, you know. Someone else did it before us, for example, The Band, when Robbie Robertson chose December 4, 1976, to gather friends and play one last time all together at the vast Winterland in San Francisco. Martin Scorsese even made a film about it, The Last Waltz.
We are more modest, we meet here at Raij's the last day of January 1989, we won't have guests like Neil Young, Bob Dylan, or Joni Mitchell but just our friend Peter Case who will play the harmonica on a few pieces.
This way it's more intimate, we've always been discreet even though they assure us we have something to boast about, even more than the Band... They say we are among the founders of the Paisley Underground.

You know, it's that genre of music that picks up with the guitars the psychedelic jingle jangle and the raga-rock of the big electric ballads that was before the Byrds, even though I must confess I've always had a thing for the Velvet Underground.

The Long Ryders of our friend Sid Griffin, Dan Stuart's Green on Red, Naked Prey, and even Rain Parade of that bastard David Roback joined us. Because he took Kendra Smith who played the bass with me and from then on it wasn't the same. Then Karl Precoda left too and I had to remake the group. Why am I dissolving it? Well, firstly without Kendra and Karl, the dream is over and besides, we weren't even able to get a review on Debaser!

Tonight we are playing for the last time, I have with me Paul Cutler who is criticized for being too invasive, for making people miss Karl's twanging, but you'll see what he's capable of in this concert!

The hall is full, there's a presenter who warns a record will be made from the evening and launches us with his " Ladies 'nnnnn  gentlemen.... The fabulous  DREAM SYNDICATE!!!"  

Well, we start as usual with the tortured four chords and the distorted guitar of " Still holding to you" and  I immediately feel good. Dennis on drums is a rock, he's been with me from the beginning and then the guys are doing the chorus with the right tone, the audience is as warm as always... Come on, let's knock them all down!!

 We lay down a memorable couple from our first album, "Until Lately" and "That's what you always say", our guitars have never been in such good shape, the two rhythm buddies are magnificent, so why are we dissolving?

"Burn" is increasingly beautiful, it grows every time we play it, it is both moving and dry, it reminds me of the songs I listened to in the summer in my childhood with shorts on, what was it called?....I don't know, memory plays tricks.

We perform "Merritville" and damn it!...it always gives me chills and tonight Paul's guitar fills it with adrenaline that I hardly recognize it! They say I make the verses of my songs bleed, that I sing exclusively about tragic stories and losers, but I don't make music to entertain! I need to express my emotions, to bring out my demons, to throw my guts in your face. And here, singing on this stage, night after night, I know it will make me recall feelings I'd rather forget and yet every night I'm forced to remember.... "everybody says I don't care /but I'm just trying to remember/ the days of wine and roses".

This is a special night and I want to stretch this memory and this song to infinity because the days of wine and roses stick with you for the rest of your life.

Even "Medicine Show" I want to do it very long until I slowly fade out, this is my favorite album!

Now  listen to how beautiful " Halloween" is, it was a piece by Karl,  you can tell by the jingle of the guitars... but why did you leave? To do what, then?

Come on, let's close one more time with "John Coltrane Stereo Blues", our sister ray...playing it for five years, a hundred and fifty times a year, the same basic chord on which to make a thousand variations and improvisations as if it were a jazz piece is stimulating but also terribly tiring.

This time it was the last, I notice my guitar has a broken string, we unplug the instruments from the amplifiers, someone at the mixer plays the tape of "Good Times Bad Times " by Led Zeppelin, people disperse, I am tired.

Ah, for those who don't know, I am Steve Wynn, singer and guitarist of this GREAT band.