Craig Finn is My Gateway to Patterson Hood: A Show Preview
Most descriptions of a person as a drug aren’t meant as a compliment (unless they’re awesome). But describing Craig Finn and The Hold Steady as a gateway drug just makes sense—especially because it sounds like something he might sing about.
When Finn and Drive-By Truckers frontman Patterson Hood bring their co-headlining “Devils in the Details” tour to the Tractor Tavern on Nov. 5 and 6, Craig will once again serve as my gateway drug to an artist that will be new to me.
Now, most co-headlining tours feature a short set from one act followed by a full set from the other. If we’re lucky, they’ll play a song or two together. That was true for Billy Joel and Elton John’s tours, and when I saw Phoenix and Beck at Climate Pledge Arena in 2023.
But this tour is different. Finn and Hood will share the stage the entire night, taking turns leading songs from their solo catalogs as well as from their bands’ albums.
Meaning: Craig will play Patterson/Drive-By Truckers songs, and Hood will play Finn/Hold Steady songs. Which will be amazing.
My experience with Craig as a gateway drug has taken me across the country and introduced me to incredible openers and co-headliners. I once traveled to Minnesota to see The Hold Steady play the State Fair, where The Dillinger Four and Bob Mould opened. A little over a year later, Craig returned the favor by opening for Mould in Seattle.
I even remember listening to a random Pandora playlist ages ago that included The Mountain Goats’ “This Year” followed by The Hold Steady’s “Girls Like Status,” which includes the line:
“It was song number three on John’s last CD / ‘I’m going to make it through this year if it kills me’ / and it almost killed me.”
At the time, I wasn’t that deep into The Mountain Goats, but hearing those tracks back to back made me pause and wonder if they were connected. They were—and that discovery is one of the main reasons I’m seeing The Mountain Goats this year at The Neptune.
Craig Finn as a gateway drug strikes again.
When I saw that Bob Mould show where Craig opened, it just made sense. There was already that State Fair performance where The Hold Steady gushed about having Mould as an opener. To see the two frontmen trading roles later felt like another stop on the gateway drug tour.
So, going into a show where Craig Finn shares the stage with Patterson Hood and the Drive-By Truckers catalog also just makes sense. It also tracks that Craig released Always Been (featuring the insanely cool Fletchers) and Patterson dropped Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams earlier this year—both solid albums from frontmen of great bands.
Takeaway: I’m looking forward to injecting some Patterson Hood at the Tractor through the gateway drug that is Craig Finn.