Last month I had the absolute pleasure of seeing a Smiths tribute by local St. Louis cover band 120 Minutes. On April 12 my group showed up at Off Broadway, a small-sized venue I was visiting for the second time, seeing art rock band Cursive the year before.
120 minutes is made up of vocalist Jason Nelson, drummer Michael Rose, and guitarist Jim Wells, as well as many guests to play bass and other specialty instruments. This group is dedicated to the 80s, playing many dedicated shows such as aforementioned Smiths as well as The Cure, R.E.M, Talking Heads, Pixies, and many other 80s classics. This show had a 2-hour set (120 minutes, haha) of The Smiths’ best songs, some lesser-known and many sung loudly along to by the sizable crowd. Though the show was all ages, my group was one of the youngest there. Many people came up asking us how old we were, and told us stories about how they found The Smiths, as well as their excitement that the younger generation was getting into the band.
The Lead Vocalist, Jason Nelson, gave a great impression of Morrissey with voice and actions, the rest of the band and guest bassist, Max Hoppenbrouwers, all quickly switched from song to song, and throughout the set daffodil flowers were given out to the crowd. Later into the night Nelson got more comfortable with the crowd, giving out the mic and singing with excited members of the audience, everyone enjoying the music and making friends throughout the night, people of all kinds connecting through The Smiths’ discography. After the main set, 120 Minutes told us not to go just yet, and after a brief intermission came back to play another hour of 80s classics, going until nearly midnight even though I had been out for nearly 5 hours at that point and my combat boots began to loudy disagree with my tired feet, I, and much of the crowd, never faltered, staying until the last song before being cast out into the night, right next to the well known Cherokee street, small bars and restaurants still open in the cool spring night.
120 Minutes play regularly around St. Louis, just this week they are playing at an 80’s night on Friday at Diamond Music Lounge along with other tribute bands Duran an Duran and Sweep the Leg, there seems to be a large audience in St. Louis that enjoys these nostalgic shows, and I’m just happy to find places I can still listen my favorite music live even if I’m 40 years late to the party.
