On This Day In Stoner Yodel History: December 31
Todd Snider and the Bottle Rockets play final show at historic St. Louis rock club
By Daryl Sanders
On this day in 2006, Todd Snider and a revamped Nervous Wrecks lineup played the second night of a two-night bill with The Bottle Rockets, which would be the final two nights of music at the St. Louis nightclub Mississippi Nights.
Rumors the historic rock club would be closing had been circulating in the city for some time. In a special to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published on Dec. 30, Thomas Crone wrote:
“Although the venue has been curiously tight-lipped, word has been circulating for weeks that the two-night stand of Todd Snider and the Bottle Rockets will be the final performances at the long-running music club.
“The selection of these bands would be a fine way to end the run: Snider’s been a popular performer in St. Louis for a while now, while the Bottle Rockets are arguably, on any given night they’re playing, the best rock ‘n’ roll band in the city.”
The lineup for The Nervous Wrecks that night was Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack on electric guitars, Molly Thomas on violin, Peter Cooper on bass and Mark Horn on drums. That lineup minus Thomas had performed a warm-up gig at 3 Crow Bar in Nashville on Dec. 23 under the name Elmo Buzz and the East Side Bulldawgz.
“They were packed,” Womack says of the two St. Louis shows. “They were full to the gunnels. You couldn’t put another person in there with a shoehorn.”
Snider doesn’t remember much about those shows beyond the fact it was the club’s last two nights of music, but he does remember one thing a young woman shouted from the audience.
“She yelled, ‘I want to be on what you’re on,’” Snider recalls with a laugh.
Snider didn’t say what that might have been.
The set list for the 2006 New Year’s Eve show:
“Happy New Year”
“Late Last Night”
“Thin Wild Mercury”
“Conservative, Christian, Right Wing Republican, Straight, White, American Males”
“Just Like Old Times”
“Ballad of the Kingsmen”
“The Devil You Know”
“Alright Guy”
“Crooked Piece of Time”
“Ballad of the Devil's Backbone Tavern”
“Alice’s Restaurant”
“Auld Lang Syne”
“Happy New Year, Baby”
“If Tomorrow Never Comes”
“Alcohol and Pills”
“This Land is Our Land”
“Doublewide Blues”
“Looking For a Job”
“Incarcerated”
“Play a Train Song”
“Bye Bye, Johnny”
“Johnny B. Goode”
“Looking For A Job”
© 2023 Daryl Sanders
what a show that must have been!!---super set list
Has it ever been Todd's practice to record his gigs from his soundboard, just to listen back himself or archive for future possible release?