On January 20, Steve Gunn played at Cafe du Nord in San Francisco. In the 00s I frequented the venue and saw many shoegaze shows. It was nice being back, as it is a lovely, medium sized, low light venue. As I approached the stage, I noticed the fog machine was going and smelled like rose petals. Sachiko Kanenobu, the opener came on a little late and took a bit to get situated, in fact Steve Gunn came out to help her with the guitar and set up (obviously, he is a big fan of hers). Sachiko is in her 70s and it was sweet that her grandson was at the show along with a handful of friends. It was a great set featuring both her 60s stuff and her newer album from 2023, which still had that old school folk vibe. Steve Gunn came out for a fantastic duet on “Aoi Sakana (Blue Fish)” from her Misora album (1972). For her, the final song she played was “Wings of Light (Hikari no Tori)” and she slapped her weathered guitar to create a bass and drum noise while playing. The sound she created resonated through the small venue and I loved the passion she put into this last song.
Steve Gunn came out right after to set the stage with his equipment and tune his guitar, wearing Japanese workwear and vans. He was his own roadie (and even sold his own merchandise), very DIY. After a short break, Gunn started with “On the Way”. This was my first time seeing him live. I came across Steve Gunn when reading that he was in Kurt Vile’s band, which piqued my interest. Steve wore finger picks on the first three fingers of his strumming hand adding to the intricate guitar sounds he creates. His vibe was gentle and his voice sounded like Kevin Morby, who is younger than Steve, so maybe Steve influenced him, perhaps they crossed paths in NYC, as I know they both lived and played there.
Steve did a cover of “I’ll Be Your Mirror” that I really loved, as I am a huge Velvet Underground fan! He had lots of pedals for effects on his voice, guitar and creating some percussion loops to make a sound so much bigger than a one man playing acoustic guitar. It was an ethereal and dreamy set, reminding me of all the shoegaze and space rock bands in the mid 90s and early 00s. Through the course of playing he seemed to grow more comfortable and enjoyed losing himself in the feedback. The crowd was many single men in their late 40s or early 50s and couples of a similar age range. They knew the songs and swayed to the melody. He ended with “Much love to all of you. Hope it won’t take as many years to come back to SF”. Lots of clapping and hooting ensued, then a short break, as Steve left the stage. He came back to play just one more song for an encore to end a dreamy, spellbound show.
Review and photos by Kristie Tacey
