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Soul Coughing Dazzle Die-Hard San Diego Audience on First Night of Surprise Reunion Tour: Concert Review
New York art-rockers Soul Coughing, a group that seemed even less likely to reunite than Oasis, delivered a strong set on opening night of their tour.
But maybe the least-likely ‘90s-era reunion of the year isn’t actually that of the Gallagher brothers, which seemed eventually inevitable: it’s Soul Coughing, the proudly weird cult-favorite NYC-based jazz-meets-poetry-meets-alt-rock foursome whose drugs-and-disparagement 1999 breakup was discussed in excruciating detail in singer Mike Doughty’s autobiography, “The Book Of Drugs,” leading fans to believe it would be impossible for the band members to talk again, let alone play music together. Like their indie-leaning recently re-resurrected ’90s compatriots Pavement, Soul Coughing never had a huge hit or a bunk album, which meant that over the course of the 90-minute set, the bulk of the audience knew (and was excited for) every single song. It’s arguable that the softer ones actually sounded best: as Doughty plucked the two-chord lick that starts “Sugarfree Jazz” there was an audible murmur in the crowd, and “True Dreams of Wichita,” was likewise warmly received, as was “Screenwriter’s Blues,” one of the best songs ever written about Los Angeles.
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